Hellcome is a band from Portugal that is starting to make waves in their scene. They play thrash metal which contains a definite melodic bent, making for some hard-hitting songs that get your neck snapping in short order.The band is made up of guitarist Josι Lourenηo, Hugo Meireles on drums, vocalist Antσnio Oliveira, and bassist Paulo Fernandes. I spoke with Josι recently to find out more.
antiMusic: Please give us the history of Hellcome and introduce us everybody.
Hellcome: We have been playing together since we were kids in high school, jamming and rehearsing through the years. We all came from the same neighborhood, and it felt very natural for us to come together and play. All the band members are inspired by all sorts of different music and when we mix all the different influences (metal, grunge, atmospheric, traditional) all things come together and we feel complete as a band.
antiMusic: Is "Stars and Dust Through the Black Abyss" your first record?
Hellcome: We have recorded two different demos in the past; it was all part of a developing process. Now with "Stars and Dust", we feel that it's our truly first original and distinctive recording that captures the uniqueness that we've been seeking.
antiMusic: Tell us about the two songs on your demo, either what they're about or something interesting that happened while writing/recording them.
Hellcome: These two songs, both instrumentally and lyrically came like a major step forward. We've truly tried to stretch our boundaries and go on a "off the beaten path" route, including melodic sense, experimental sounds, and all these different influences. All things kept together by a solid frame and nice arrangement.
antiMusic: The record title as well as the two song names, "Stars Fall at My Eyes" and "Supernova" suggest an affection for space or science fiction themes (kind of like Hawkwind). What can you tell us about this?
Hellcome: This affection for the space themes came out naturally; the music itself led the things in that way. We wanted to cut down these earthly chains and let our minds wanderer.
antiMusic: Who is responsible for the songwriting within the band?
Hellcome: Most of the songs come from melodies and riffs that I take to rehearsal room, then as band we make them together, arrange it and introduce all these flourishes.
antiMusic: There is a strong sense of melody in the songs. Do you have to work hard to maintain both the melodic sense of your songs along with the crunchy bits or do you just naturally write like this?
Hellcome: The conjugation between crunchy and melodic is very natural for us; the hard part is to make them sound appealing. Our goal is to create our own distinctive sound so that people can recognize that as a Hellcome song.
antiMusic: Some of your songs have a bit of a Metallica feel, particularly in "I Am Life" where Antσnio is sounding a bit Hetfield-ish. Are they an influence and who else contributed to the sound of Hellcome?
Hellcome: "I Am Life", is one song from our first demo. Naturally we have lots of different influences and bands that we like to hear, Metallica, Paradise Lost, Sepultura, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. But most of all, we try to create a Hellcome sound.
antiMusic: With the release of your new demo, are you looking for a record contract or do you intend to go the indie route?
Hellcome: We aim to maintain our characteristic sound, either if we keep the indie route or go for a record contract, our fans can be confident that we won't defraud them. We'll be true to ourselves. Either way we will try to take our songs to the largest number of people.
antiMusic: Your media release states that you've won some music contests in your country. Tell us about some of these highlights.
Hellcome: Those victories were really fulfilling experiences, mostly because some of them were conquered in adverse environments. It felt very good to know that people could connect to a band that they hadn't heard before. It gave us strength to go forward and further evolve.
antiMusic: Are you guys happier in a studio or on stage?
Hellcome: We greatly appreciate the adrenaline rush that we get when we go onstage, to act out of control and see the expression on the people faces. The energy of a live concert is electrifying; we can really feel the thunderbolts raining all around. The studio work is more cerebral, it's an opportunity to polish every bit of the song.
antiMusic: I imagine you're no different than most other bands who dream of releasing a record and going on a big tour. Which bands would you be most comfortable fitting on stage with?
Hellcome: Of course the dream of any young band is that they may have the possibility to share the stage with any of their dream bands, in front of huge crowds, playing in different cities every day. Our vision is to gain one fan at a time; one by one our audience will grow and hopefully we can do all of that. It would be great to also have the chance to play in North America.
antiMusic: Most metal fans are familiar with Moonspell. Beyond them, what is the Portuguese metal scene like?
Hellcome: There are plenty of bands in the underground music scene and plenty of clubs where the bands can go onstage regularly. In our town (Oporto), the scene is getting bigger year after year. All of the old bands are still in activity, and there are new bands coming up in a weekly basis. The quality of the bands also suggests that some of them can go further.
antiMusic: What's next for Hellcome?
Hellcome: We expect to keep playing together, amuse our fans and ourselves.
Morley and antiMusic thank Hellcome for taking the time to speak with us.
