{"id":52985,"date":"2016-10-13T07:35:34","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T12:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=52985"},"modified":"2016-10-13T07:35:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T12:35:34","slug":"helix-rock-it-science-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2016\/helix-rock-it-science-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Helix | Rock It Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"helix-rock-it-science\"Gimme an H – H – E -E – L – L – I – I – X – X. Watcha got? Helix! And watcha gonna do?!<\/p>\n

Helix is out with yet another greatest hits compilation. It\u2019s a nice retrospective of their career, starting with songs from their first independent release up through their 2014 release Bastard of the Blues<\/em>. The most interesting aspect of this release is the inclusion of a brand new song, a rebuttal to the resident KISS loudmouth \u201c(Gene Simmons Says) Rock is Dead\u201d. <\/p>\n

The first two songs \u201cBilly Oxygen\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re a Woman Now\u201d first appeared on their independent 1979 release Breaking Loose<\/em>. They\u2019re both decent songs but a far cry from what would be called Metal. \u201cBilly Oxygen\u201d starts out like the Sweet classic \u201cBallroom Blitz.\u201d It\u2019s more mid-70\u2019s Glam Rock than head banging Metal but it\u2019s a good song and shows a lot of promise for what the band could do. It\u2019s got a cool lead solo and an interesting bass breakdown in the middle. \u201cYou\u2019re a Woman Now\u201d is reminiscent of some good ol\u2019 Led Zep. It starts off like a slow early \u201870s Bread tune but then starts rocking like a top of their game Foreigner. It features a nice mix of both electric and acoustic guitars.<\/p>\n

The next few songs are their most popular, featuring lead screamer Brian Vollmer\u2019s famous wail. These include songs like the romantic \u201cHeavy Metal Love,\u201d \u201cDeep Cuts the Knife\u201d and the song that really got their career moving, the classic metal tune \u201cRock You.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also included are lesser known songs like \u201cShock City Psycho Rock,\u201d an R&B scorcher that sounds like a mix of AC\/DC and Meatloaf on steroids, and \u201cEven Jesus (Wasn\u2019t Loved in His Home Town),\u201d a Rock and Roll Revival!<\/p>\n

Last but not least is the aforementioned new Gene Simmons song. They proclaim, \u201cRock and Roll didn\u2019t die of old age. It was murdered.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s not clear who they\u2019re indicting but they clearly disagree with Gene\u2019s sentiment. As they sing, \u201cWe don\u2019t need no God of Thunder to tell us what is great.\u201d It\u2019s not a bad song but it\u2019s not a great song either. It\u2019s certainly timely and topical but people aren\u2019t going to be humming it in 30 years when people are still chanting, \u201cGive me an R\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like the final song, this compilation isn\u2019t bad, but it\u2019s not great either. The best thing about this release is it spans their entire career. Also, the production is very good. The problem is trying to understand the target audience. Die-hard Helix fans probably already have most, if not all, of these songs (aside from the new one, of course). For them, they\u2019d be better off simply downloading the new song. It might also appeal to the uninitiated who only know them for their biggest hit. But listeners interested in hearing more from these Canadian heavyweights would probably be better off buying their earlier greatest hits package, R-O-C-K – Best Of 1983-2012<\/em>, which contains a whopping 21 tracks, including two bonus tracks. This obviously exposes new listeners to a lot more material compared to the slight 12 tracks on offer here.<\/p>\n

Although this is a decent release with a lot of great songs, it\u2019s simply not an essential purchase by any stretch of the imagination. But it does show the evolution of a very good rock band, one with impressive longevity, which has proven it\u2019s much more than simply a one hit wonder.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBrian Vollmer (vocals)
\nKaleb Duck (guitar, vocals)
\nDaryl Gray (bass, vocals, keyboards)
\nChris Julke (guitar, vocals)
\nGregory “Fritz” Hinz (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\t\u201cBilly Oxygen\u201d
\n2.\t\u201cYou\u2019re a Woman Now\u201d
\n3.\t\u201cHeavy Metal Love\u201c
\n4.\t\u201cRock You\u201c
\n5.\t\u201cDeep Cuts the Knife\u201c
\n6.\t\u201cWild in the Streets\u201c
\n7.\t\u201cGood To The Last Drop\u201c
\n8.\t\u201cShock City Psycho Rock\u201c
\n9.\t\u201cGet Up! \u201c
\n10.\t\u201cMake \u2018Em Dance\u201c
\n11.\t\u201cEven Jesus (Wasn\u2019t Loved In His Home Town) \u201c
\n12.\t\u201c(Gene Simmons Says) Rock is Dead\u201c<\/p>\n

Website: planethelix.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: Perris Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins – Columnist — Gimme an H – H – E -E – L – L – I – I – X – X. Watcha got? Helix! And watcha gonna do?! Helix is […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":52988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13652],"tags":[12795,12796,12794,2317,1103,2491,11794,981,12797,12793],"class_list":{"0":"post-52985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2016","8":"tag-bastard-of-the-blues","9":"tag-breaking-loose","10":"tag-brian-vollmer","11":"tag-cd-review","12":"tag-hard-rock","13":"tag-heavy-metal","14":"tag-helix","15":"tag-perris-records","16":"tag-r-o-c-k-best-of-1983-2012","17":"tag-rock-it-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}