Beyond the Boundaries of Sin

The last time underground heavy metal legend Mark Shelton attempted to start a new band, Circus Maximus, in 1992, its eponymous LP was unscrupulously co-opted by their label and credited to Shelton's main squeeze, Manilla Road, against his wishes. And while there were obviously no such concerns 20 years later with Hellwell and its 2012 album, Beyond the Boundaries of Sin, the musical departure was ironically not as extreme this second time around. Flawed as it was, Circus Maximus saw Shelton experiment with numerous foreign styles for its rather reckless and bloated prog-metal efforts, yet Hellwell could easily be summarized as "Manilla Road with keyboards," which may not be as daring, perhaps, but is arguably much more cohesive and satisfying, given there is very little wrong or worth tampering with about the original article. That being said, there's nothing like sampling one's favorite dishes with a different kind of garnish now and then, and Shelton's co-conspirators, drummer Jonny "Thumper" Benson and especially keyboardist/bassist E.C. Hellwell (note the name) are obviously key contributors to these variations. So with that in mind, get ready for the surprisingly bubbly state fair organs introducing "The Strange Case of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes," an otherwise metallic (think Deep Purple as performed through a N.W.O.B.H.M. prism), quite literal account of one of America's earliest known serial killers (discounting the everyday politician and army general, of course), who lured dozens of helpless victims to his Chicago hotel under the auspices of the 1893 World's Fair. That organ persists, but takes more of a backseat to Shelton's familiar six-string dominance, on the ensuing "Eaters of the Dead" (this one based on the Michael Crichton novel), provides an insistent, jittery springboard for further improvisation on "Keepers of the Devil's Inn," but not even its novelty can rescue the uneventful "Deadly Nightshade." Instead it's a sort of back-door return to Manilla Road's widescreen, mythological metal, compositional tableau for the 25-minute "Acheronomicon" trilogy that winds up maximizing the marriage of familiar and unfamiliar instrumentation here, culminating in part three's brilliantly realized "End of Days" — a fitting soundtrack for Shelton's evocative tall tales. Again, the end results aren't so drastically distinctive as to alienate regular Manilla Road fans, but one can certainly understand why Shelton and his collaborators saw fit to record them under the Hellwell banner, where these compelling songs will be safe from the historical expectations hanging over that other, classic band. Recommended.