I have been living with The Spectrum Of Human Gravity by Hellfox for a few weeks now and no matter how many times I have listened to it – and trust me, that’s been a fucking lot – I cannot find anything wrong with it whatsoever.
Across its nine track, 35 minute plus runtime, The Spectrum Of Human Gravity doesn’t put a foot wrong, and this concerns me.
Debut albums aren’t supposed to be this good.
Yet, no matter how hard I look for something, anything, to prove that Hellfox are mortal like the rest of us and prone to the occasional mistake or bad choice, I can’t find a damn thing.
In fact, the more and more I listen to this record – did I mention it was a fucking lot? – the more and more I’m convinced that my album of the year list just found a new contender for its top spot, and considering some of the new releases I’ve been lucky enough to have cross my virtual desk so far in 2025, that’s saying something.
Hellfox are pitched as an Alt-Rock band with Melodic Death Metal tendencies, and even though I can see why, there’s a lot more to this band than that.
They are heavy as a Dwarf-Star imploding on itself, but never at the expense of actually writing a song that has a tune. Believe it or not, that is a trap that a lot of bands fall into, thinking that to be a proper metal band – feel free to add your own subgenre as a prefix to that – all you have to do is to be a wall of fucking noise, and even though I am a fan of a wall of fucking noise it doesn’t work unless you have the musical chops to back it up. Hellfox do.
There isn’t a single song on this album that isn’t a song. Perfectly played, monstrously massive, loud as a jet engine to the earhole, yes, but each one flows with the grace of a ballet dancer. Admittedly a ballet dancer that’s covered in tattoo’s and would probably kick the shit out of you if you looked at them funny, but in an elegant and sophisticated way.
The rhythm section of Priscilla Poe Foresti and Federica Fedi Piscopo are the heartbeat of The Spectrum Of Human Gravity, keeping the blood pounding through the veins of Hellfox at all times with vast basslines that you feel in your bones and drumwork that fills out the sound with surgical precision. Vocally, I’ve already praised the dual work between Priscilla Poe Foresti and Greta Hammonia Antico, but suffice to say the contrast of the formers demonic growl and the latter’s angelic tones is the soundtrack to the eternal battle of the conscious mind.
And yet, in among all this brilliance, I have to save special praise for Gloria Naflekt Kap guitar work. I cannot emphasise how fucking good she is, with a natural talent for knowing where a song should go, and what it needs to get it there, that has to be heard to be believed. You can teach anyone to pick up a six-string and noodle away to their hearts content, but what you can’t teach is the ability to know the path the track needs to take and being able to guide it along its way.
The Spectrum Of Human Gravity is a dark record, it is a heavy record, it is a melodic record, it doesn’t have a dull moment on it and it never lets you down. It is fucking proper and Hellfox are gonna be huge.
RATING: 5 OUT OF 5
RATING SYSTEM:
- 0: Fucking Shit
- 1: Shit
- 2: Not Bad Shit
- 3: Pretty Good Shit
- 4: Amazing Fucking Shit
- 5: The Best Shit You Will Ever Hear
PRESS SOURCE: ASHER MEDIA RELATIONS. Jon Asher – Music Publicist. Facebook @AsherMediaRelations. Instagram @AsherMedia. Tweet @AsherMedia.
