HALLOWEEN L.A.D.Y. 6 TRACK 1985 ITALIAN METAL EXTREMLY RARE LABEL

$

200

DOMESTIC $ 6 EACH ADDITIONAL $ 1Review from fanzine  SUNG IN PERFECT ENGLISH.  Italy’s Halloween fall into the niche between traditional 80s metal and glam metal. While the music is much better than that of typical hair bands, the songs are simple, polished, and contain hints of the sleazy elements associated with many glam artists. The songwriting and musicianship are sound excellent and feature some impressive guitar work and singing. The album L.A.D.Y. is one of the rarest Italian outputs ever. Halloween are a true cult in the underground even if they released just a demo and this short EP. Their style was labelled as a combination of glam metal and traditional one and I can agree with this because the sounds are bound to the old heavy metal while the vocals tended to be a bit more melodic. Even a few riffs that we can already hear from the first track “The Night…Samahain” are more melodic with that truly 80s touch that drives me crazy. The tempo is not fast at all and it is important just to accompany the awesome melodies of the guitars. There are various arpeggios breaks during this song as the vocals remain more or less unvaried with the harmonious style.

The production always you to hear all the instruments clearly with the bass pounding behind the other instruments. “Evil Power” is a dark song with the notes at the beginning and the gloomy sounds by the guitars. The early doom elements taken from Black Sabbath are more present and often the singer’s sounds similar to Paul DiAnno’s one on the Iron Maiden debut, creating a perfect contrast. The heavy metal restart is just great as the drums remain on mid-paced tempo to sustain the epic style of the guitar notes. The classic palm muting riffs are often mixed with the more melodic scales and everything always results harmonious with a dark hint.

The title-track is more dynamic in the riffs and the incredibly plastic, bombastic drums in pure 80s style are just great. This is the song in which the most “glam metal” elements are present but they are always perfectly mixed with the classic heavy metal. The choruses are great and they contribute in adding a heavier sensation of catchiness, along with the great lead guitar work. At the end we can even hear the moaning of a girl during a sex affair. “Angel in Black” is quite heavy and this marks the return of the heavy metal style as the refrain is more melodic and always distinguishable. This song also features a quite long solo section in the middle and that’s good for the whole dark/epic atmosphere.

The last “On the Streets” is a short drum beats outro with metallic sounds and the angry riffing of the guitar. The belligerent soul of the band is present here under the form of gloomy music and “chains and leather” style, ending a very good, hidden gem in the Italian metal panorama. This EP is so difficult to find but maybe one day I’ll have the change of finding it