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Burning Star (album)
''Burning Star'' is the debut album by American heavy metal band Helstar, released by Combat Records in March 1984. Recorded at Sunrise Studios in the band's hometown of Houston, the original cover features a grim reaper-type of figure in a red robe holding a fireball and scythe. European and subsequent re-releases of the album feature a different cover with a spacecraft exploding. While the band's later releases leaned more towards a mix of power metal and thrash metal which the band became known for, their debut effort was more akin to traditional heavy metal with inklings of what was to come. The song "Run With the Pack" which ends side one on the original release is one of their most well-known songs and is played at every show. Track listing All tracks written by Helstar. # "Burning Star" – 3:50 # "Toward the Unknown" – 4:44 # "Witch's Eye" – 3:03 # "Run with the Pack" – 6:38 # "Leather and Lust" – 3:26 # "Possession" – 3:28 # "The Shadows of Iga" – 5:00 # "Dra ...
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Helstar
Helstar is an American heavy metal band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1982 by guitarist Larry Barragan. They were an influential force in the American power metal genre emerging in the mid-1980s. History Early days and Combat-era (1982–1986) Helstar began with a basic heavy metal style in 1983 with two demos, followed by their first studio album in 1984 titled '' Burning Star'' for Combat Records, making them label mates with Megadeth and Exodus. Struggles within the band and management issues led to changes in the band's line-up. After a year they released the '' Remnants of War'' album, also on Combat, produced by Randy Burns. The band played their first arena show in December 1985 opening for Stryper at the Sam Houston Coliseum. Metal Blade-era (1987–1989) In 1987, they briefly moved to Los Angeles with another line-up change, with guitarist Rob Trevino departing, and it is believed that the song "Abandon Ship", from the 1988 album '' A Distant Thunder'', was dedicated to ...
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Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. Comprising a land area of , Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties). It is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the ...
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Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by both List of U.S. states and territories by area, area (after Alaska) and List of U.S. states and territories by population, population (after California). Texas shares borders with the states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, states of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south and southwest; and has a coastline with the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Houston is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas and the List of United States cities by population, fourth-largest in the U.S., while San Antonio is the second most pop ...
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Heavy Metal Music
Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distortion (music), distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic Beat (music), beats and loudness. In 1968, three of the genre's most famous pioneers – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple – were founded. Though they came to attract wide audiences, they were often derided by critics. Several American bands modified heavy metal into more accessible forms during the 1970s: the raw, sleazy sound and shock rock of Alice Cooper and Kiss (band), Kiss; the blues-rooted rock of Aerosmith; and the flashy guitar leads and party rock of Van Halen. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence,Walser (1993), p. 6 while Motörhea ...
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Combat Records
Combat Records was an American independent record label founded in 1983 and based in New York City. The label specifically was for heavy metal and punk rock acts, Notable artist include: Megadeth, Circle Jerks, Nuclear Assault, OZ, Death, Dead Brain Cells, Possessed, Crumbsuckers, Agnostic Front, Agent Steel, Dark Angel, Heathen, Zoetrope and Exodus. In 2017, it was announced that Combat was being relaunched by Megadeth bassist David Ellefson and Thom Hazaert as a new label imprint under their EMP Label Group. History Combat Records was the in-house heavy metal label for the independent powerhouse distributor Important Record Distributors. Important had several offices in the United States that promoted and sold Combat's releases. Important Records was also home to Megaforce Records in the mid-1980s and produced Metallica's ''Kill 'Em All'' and '' Ride the Lightning'' (prior to Metallica's transfer to Elektra Records), Anthrax's ''Fistful of Metal'' and many other ear ...
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Remnants Of War (album)
''Remnants of War'' is the second album by American Heavy metal band Helstar, released by Combat Records and Noise Records in August 1986, and the final by the former. It was recorded following a lineup change and a change of studio to Mad Dog Studios in California. The sound of the album was a gradual progression from the traditional heavy metal style of the band's debut album, '' Burning Star'' towards the power-thrash sound that the band forged throughout the 1980s. Track listing All tracks written by Helstar. # "Unidos por Tristeza" - 0:48 # "Remnants of War" - 3:45 # "Conquests" - 3:47 # "Evil Reign" - 4:32 # "Destroyer" - 5:04 # "Suicidal Nightmare" - 5:20 # "Dark Queen" - 4:00 # "Face the Wicked One" - 5:16 # "Angel of Death" - 6:18 Personnel * James Rivera James Rivera (born April 15, 1960) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the heavy metal band Helstar. He was also the singer for Seven Witches between 2002 and 2005. Biography Rivera got his st ...
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Rock Hard (magazine)
''Rock Hard'' (also ''RockHard'') is a German music magazine published in Dortmund, with other language editions in various countries worldwide, including France, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The magazine focuses on hard rock and heavy metal content, including reports, interviews, specials, reviews and news. Next to the German edition of ''Metal Hammer'', it is the leading magazine for metal and hard rock in Germany. German news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' has called it the ' ("central organ") of heavy metal fandom in Germany; others have dubbed it a ' ("cult magazine"). Founded by Holger Stratmann, more than 300 issues have been published in Germany since 1983; it has been published monthly since 1989. ''Rock Hard'' magazine is independent from major media companies. Its slogan is "critical, competent, independent". Since 1990, magazine employees have also organized the Rock Hard Festival, which has been held annually in Gelsenkirchen on the Pentecost weekend since ...
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Metal Forces
''Metal Forces'' is a British publication founded in 1983 which promotes the music genres heavy metal and hard rock. ''Metal Forces'' was well known for its coverage of unsigned bands through its ''Demolition'' feature and championed the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, HellsBelles, Overkill, Death and Poison long before they had secured record deals. They are credited as contributing in this fashion to the success of the band Anacrusis. Dave Reynolds, a former writer for ''Metal Forces'', has claimed that the magazine was the first to coin the terms thrash metal and death metal. A ''Metal Forces'' compiled vinyl album, ''Demolition – Scream Your Brains Out!'', based on the magazine's popular ''Demolition'' column, was released in 1988 through Chain Reaction Records featuring Anacrusis, Atrophy, Hobbs' Angel of Death, Aftermath and the Chris Barnes fronted Leviathan. In addition to metal acts, the magazine also featured interviews with alternative rock acts such as Nirvana ...
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Power Metal
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contrast with the heaviness and dissonance prevalent, for example, in extreme metal. Power metal bands usually have anthem-like songs with fantasy-based subject matter and strong choruses, thus creating a theatrical, dramatic and emotionally "powerful" sound. "Riffs became labyrinthine, vocals scorched higher altitudes—and they even managed to crank out some more volume." The term was first used in the mid-1980s and refers to two different but related styles: * the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal; * a later, more widespread and popular style based in Europe "American metal such as Queensrÿche, Attacker, Jag Panzer, Iced Earth, Liege Lord, and Savatage; European bands such as H ...
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Thrash Metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work. The lyrical subject matter often includes criticism of The Establishment and concern over environmental destruction, and at times shares a disdain for Christian dogma with that of black metal. The language is typically direct and denunciatory, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk. The genre emerged in the early 1980s as musicians began fusing the double bass drumming and complex guitar stylings of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) with the speed and aggression of hardcore punk. Philosophically, thrash metal developed as a backlash against both the conservatism of the Reagan Era and the much more moder ...
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James Rivera
James Rivera (born April 15, 1960) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the heavy metal band Helstar. He was also the singer for Seven Witches between 2002 and 2005. Biography Rivera got his start singing with power/speed metal act Helstar, a band established in the early 1980s in Houston, Texas. Rivera and guitarist Larry Barragan are the only remaining original members of the band after numerous lineup changes. In addition to Helstar, Rivera has sung with several other metal bands (most notably Destiny's End and Vicious Rumors) during his music career and belonged to several tribute bands. Rivera, along with Helstar's other founding member Larry Barragan, rebuilt the original band with guitar player Rob Trevino, bass player Jerry Abarca and drummer Russ De Leon (now substituted by Michael Lewis). In 2007 the band released ''Sins Of The Past'', a re-recorded best-of including the most famous Helstar songs. In 2008, came a new brand full-length studio album c ...
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Helstar Albums
Helstar is an American heavy metal band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1982 by guitarist Larry Barragan. They were an influential force in the American power metal genre emerging in the mid-1980s. History Early days and Combat-era (1982–1986) Helstar began with a basic heavy metal style in 1983 with two demos, followed by their first studio album in 1984 titled '' Burning Star'' for Combat Records, making them label mates with Megadeth and Exodus. Struggles within the band and management issues led to changes in the band's line-up. After a year they released the ''Remnants of War'' album, also on Combat, produced by Randy Burns. The band played their first arena show in December 1985 opening for Stryper at the Sam Houston Coliseum. Metal Blade-era (1987–1989) In 1987, they briefly moved to Los Angeles with another line-up change, with guitarist Rob Trevino departing, and it is believed that the song "Abandon Ship", from the 1988 album '' A Distant Thunder'', was dedicated to h ...
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