Hellec - Hellec [2018]

Early in 2018, after two years in a state of limbo, Envy announced a comeback show with their original vocalist, Tetsuya Fukagawa. With additional line-up changes, they also announced three new members, specifically Yoshimitsu Taki (from 9mm Parabellum Bullet) and Hiroki Watanabe (from Heaven in Her Arms / SZKN).

A few months later, this album, Hellec, quietly dropped on the world and then disappeared. There was minimal fanfare, no advertising, and the band members were likely so caught up with their new band duties that they had to put this project on pause.

Hellec is a supergroup. On the guitars is Yoshimitsu Taki, the new guitarist of Envy and guitarist of 9mm Parabellum Bullet. On drums is Hiroki Watanabe, new drummer of Envy and drummer of Heaven In Her Arms and SZKN. On vocals is Shingo Nakazawa, drummer of Mynameis…, Henoa, Heliotrope, and Seth. With the pedigree of these members, I’m sure you can understand how high my anticipation was for this.

In 9 songs and 17 minutes, Hellec drops some of the most satisfying and intense Japanese screamo I’ve heard in years. Each song is short enough not to wear out its welcome and is jam-packed with apocalyptic riffs, overly complicated drum beats, and tortured screams. Honestly, it can be a little overwhelming to take in the whole thing. It’s not often that bands combine epic tracks with such urgency. For instance, Envy gives their epic melodies room to breathe, occasionally stretching songs past the 10-minute mark. In contrast, Hellec takes a similar amount of melodic scale and compresses it into sub-2-minute tracks. As a result, each track has a bit of “blink, and you’ll miss it” quality. And at the same time, it makes the re-listenability of the album irresistible.

I found a similar quality in 2002’s self-titled release from the Australian screamo group Love Like… Electrocution. Each of those tracks would change riffs and parts so quickly that I had to listen to each track repeatedly to absorb everything going on. There isn’t quite the same level of compositional schizophrenia in Hellec’s songs, but the songs themselves have such an epic scope that ending them in short order makes you want to re-listen endlessly.

Vocals are another area that elevates this release. Shingo is normally a drummer for some of Japan’s best screamo bands, so taking on the mic in this group gives him a chance to be upfront. His screams remind me of Nitro Mega Prayer’s Nakano and Dip Leg’s Miyazaki. This type of screaming is almost exclusive to Japan, or at least the most practiced there. Glad to see the tradition continuing here.

Hellec formed in first few months of 2017, so I wonder if the band’s performances acted as a sort of “try-out” for two of the members joining Envy. Although the music style isn’t quite where Envy is at today, they would’ve been highly similar back in Envy’s earlier days.

Right before the release of this album, Hellec all but stopped playing live shows. There was a two year gap between 2018 and 2020 where they didn’t play out at all. But starting at the end of 2020, they’ve played every few months. I’m hoping we’ll get some new music soon!

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