No Remorse records 2020
Hittman are a US band very close to me. If fact their debut album from 1988 was a benchmark for my route into US power metal and led to the discovery of many bands I hold in high regard to this day. Back in 2018, my dream was realised seeing these guys perform on stage at Keep It True in Germany. Having left with the guitar picks and their two releases to date signed, I thought the journey was complete. Roll on in time and a full reunion was on the cards with a new album included. Like I said I had high expectations here, in summary, it doesn’t disappoint at all…
This is the bands third album, 88’s S/T debut (absolute classic) and 93’s ‘Vivas Machina’. The latter didn’t figure so well, you have to remember around this time the whole scene was moving towards and was fully fledged into a different style of hard rock and metal. US power metal fell out of favour, but for those die-hard fans. The PR material accompanying this release states for fans of Queensryche, Dio, Iron Maiden and Fifth Angel (I’d also thrown in Leatherwolf). I would wholeheartedly agree. But I don’t want to put Hittman out there as sounding like others, there are their own band and merge and combine many sounds bringing together a classic metal album with a few melodic sections added. The lyrical content maybe dark for the album title track and opener (reflecting modern politics with a sci-fi twist), but we have a touch of aggression included in the music. By this point I was wondering where the release was going. However, fears were unfounded on the remainder of the album!
Maintaining the gift of melody, singer Dirk Kennedy gives you a good performance. Classic Hittman hits you with ‘Code of Honour’ which could easily be from their debut era (it is an older song re-imagined). The band have not adopted a classic nor modern style, they have just recorded the way they know best. The balance and mix is great, the vocals are not too loud, the mids are fully represented and when it’s time for the guitar to wail for the solo’s, you had better believe it’s here. ‘The Ledge’ I could say is epic, its mid paced metal, very modern-ish Maiden and Queensryche combined with an awesome dreamy main guitar riff. ‘Total Amnesia’ picks up the pace and reflects on what appears to be an opinion of a life in music back in the day. The melody oozes out of the guitars, the energy, the twin guitar harmonies, classic material pure and simple.
Moving onto ‘1000 Souls’, Hittman infect your mind with easy, catchy sounds. This is a happy place to be. Little touches of guitar augmentations add depth to the sound rather than basic chords. The time changes for the chorus take a surprising but effective turn, again with melody, the ability to captivate the listener. It’s a good piece of song writing. ‘Out in the Cold’ is an older track re-ignited (along with ‘Code of Honour’), yes you hear it, but you also hear the present day energy. ‘Love, ‘The Assassin’’ has some great drumming intro parts accompanying the guitar intro. The tempo and structure of the main song has a darker path, but then you know what, Hittman give you some big production values as we progress and really do tell a story, not a theatrical performance but they are good at portraying the subject matter of each track through their music. I am still in awe as I was as a teenager by the skill and ability to surprise you with keeping the melody very high in terms of importance.
I think this a great album, how can a band still create amazing songs that have so much melody and grip for the listener and they are not at the top of the artist tree is beyond me! Ok, so these are one of my most influential bands, in this time in music and doing what I want to do, I don’t want to be too biased, but buy this!!! Ha ha. Yes it’s a fantastic release, it was a pleasure to listen to many, many times and brings to the front that there is a lot of talent in this band and hopefully they have the support of the industry and fans to progress more so than their previous untimely hiatus in the early 90’s.
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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