HELL IN THE CLUB / LET THE GAMES BEGIN (2011)

It seems that over the last couple of years, Italy is tryin' to comeback in to the melodic hard rock/sleaze scene with some really impressive albums. And let's face it, Sweden may be in the first position in this scene but from now on she has a big competitor!

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN" is one of these albums that grabs you from the first notes and in the end it leaves you hungry for more! Hell In The Club is the brainchild of several members of well-known Italian metal bands Elvenking and Secret Sphere. The band consists of Davide 'Dave' Moras on lead vocals, Andrea 'Picco' Piccardi on guitars, Andrea 'Andy' Buratto on bass guitars and Federico 'Fede' Pennazzato on drums. The production is big and the influences from bands such as Bon Jovi and Skid Row are more than obvious in most of the tracks! The singer Davide 'Dave' Moras is doin' a good job on the leads and the guitar sound is 'fat' with some excellent riffs and solos! "Never Turn My Back" and "Rock Down This Place" are my two personal favourite tracks from this debut album. "On The Road" is a monsterous track! It's a track that could easily be released by Skid Row or Bon Jovi in their hey dayz! Well done! "Natural Born Rockers" is a heavier cut while "Raise Your Drinkin' Glass" and "Forbidden Fruit" are both anthemic stadium rockers.

All in all, this is a very good album. It has some excellent moments here and an 80's, early 90's feeling in the whole result. The fact is that "Let The Games Begin" will end up high in this year's Top 20 albums.
HeavyParadise's Rating :8/10

Track List:

01. Never Turn My Back 02. Rock Down This Place 03. On The Road 04. Natural Born Rockers 05. Since You're Not Here 06. Another Saturday Night 07. Raise Your Drinkin' Glass 08. No Appreciation 09. Forbidden Fruit 10. Star 11. Daydream Boulevard 12. Don't Throw In The Towel