HEART OF A KILLER - 1993 / WINTERS BANE
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ENGLISH
Back to Metal Hammer España online magazine, for the eighth time.
Here is the link and below, the english translation.
LABEL: MASSACRE RECORDS
RELEASE DATE: 1993 (no further info)
MEMBERS:
TIM OWENS – Vocals
LOU ST. PAUL – Guitar
DENNIS HAYES – Bass
TERRY SALEM – Drums
Tracks:
WAGES OF SIN
BLINK OF AN EYE
HEART OF A KILLER
HORROR GLANCES
THE SILHOUETTE
REFLECTIONS WITHIN
HAUNTED HOUSE
NIGHT SHADE
WINTERS BANE
CLEANSING MOTHER
Videos:
One day, while I was rummaging around a local record store in Valladolid, I came across this artifact. And at a bargain price! I did not have to think twice. What a purchase that was. When I recall that day, many years after, I remember feeling very lucky necause I got to find an album like this in the most unlikely place. I still think the same way, and on top of that, I'm also aware that HEART OF A KILLER has to be an album difficult to find. I realize that, most likely, the only reason for this record to be in that store, one spring day of 1998 (this record had been released five years earlier), was the skilled foresight of the shop's owner, confident of selling it to some JUDAS PRIEST fan. Because the legendary english band was back then going through a second youth thanks to the recent release of JUGULATOR (1997), the powerful, let's call it comeback album, by the bunch from Birmingham after the departure, a few years prior, of ROB HALFORD, and for this new era of the band they had brought a young and fairly unkown american vocal prodigy to the fold, called TIM OWENS, which was known as RIPPER becaise of his passion for the british band.
That very same person was the singer and main attraction (at least at first) on Heart Of A Killer, the debut album by WINTERS BANE, a more than proficient metal band hailing from Akron, Ohio.
What happened after Owens joind Priest has little or nothing to do with Heart Of A Killer, but it is true that this person's popularity skyrocketed. Judas Priest became a household name again, before themselves damaging their own legend with such a dreadful album as DEMOLITION (2001), a movie (entertaining, although full of cliches, and which Priest washed their hands of) called ROCK STAR (what a name; it was directed by STEPHEN HEREK), which was supposed to be loosely based on Owens life, was premiered in 2000, and the singer went from anonymity to find himself among the options as the next chosen vocalist of tons of well known bands during the six or seven years which his tenure with Priest lasted.
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| Winters Bane, clockwise: Salem, Hayes, Owens and St. Paul |
Ever since, Owens has taken part in lots of projects and I am not aware of most of them, but I think is safe to say that, out of all the records with him at the helm that I've listened to, some of them by very famous and accomplished artists, like Priest themselves, ICED EARTH, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN or the current KK'S PRIEST, Heart Of A Killer is my favourite of them all. I won't waste a single minute writing about how bad (and I do not think Owens is to blame for it) Demolition is (a flop which most likely hurried the end of the collaboration between Owens and Priest), but according to what I've listened to by KK's Priest, although predictable and all that, is ok, and the same goes for an album like THE GLORIOUS BURDEN (2004) by Iced Earth. Not to mention Jugulator, which perhaps hasn't aged all that well, but which is a very good record that I thoroughly loved back in its day. Well, objectively speaking, none of those record can come close to the summit of genius that this Winters Bane's debut album represents. This band's history after this record is far from being long, but its potential was undeniable.
The info concerning its creation is scarce, but it seems like it was recorded in Germany, and it was produced by someone called TORSTEN HARTMANN. It is, although not in its entirety, a concept album. There are hundreds of records of this sort, but I do not think that those who devote just a few songs, instead of all of them, to the proper fiction are many. FATAL PORTRAIT, KING DIAMOND's debut album of 1986, comes to mind, but it's the only one. On Winters Bane's record, the first six tracks tell the story of judge COHEGAN, who sentences some criminal to die. Before the execution, the prisoner breaks free and tries to kill him, until he's eventually gunned down. Soon after, the judge has to undergo surgery to be transplanted a new heart, and it turns out that the donor is that man he sent to his death. This is what the artwork, by famed ANDREAS MARSCHALL, is about, although it needs to be said, as fun fact, that it has a mistake, for the name of the judge is misspelled as COHAGEN on a newspaper's clip.
As for Winter's Bane musical style, they use to be jumbled within the immense realms of the power metal genre, but as it usually happens with this tag across the pond, it has much more in common with thrash metal than in Europe. Thus, Owens former band has more to do (save for some obvious differences) with some other american bands of the sort, like Iced Earth (again), SANCTUARY, or even an outfit like METAL CHURCH, than with almost any other european stalwart of the genre thay may come to mind. In fact, I remember this album had a sticker on it, as a way of enticing the buyer, which read Power / Speed / Thrash from Ohio.
On the other hand, and as it usually happens in all traditional metal, this music comes from the most obvious of places, and this record is just another exercise in Judas Priest worshipping. YOu just have to listen to the singer's overwhelming vocal power, and I dare say that a record like the very famous PAINKILLER is the most notorious mirror in which Winters Bane looked at themselves when writing Heart Of A Killer.
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| The pictures of Winters Bane to be found are almost non existing, so here's a current one of Owens, performing with KK's Priest |
I said earlier that Owens was the obvious attraction of the album, at least when listened to after his joining Priest, and for a reason. Almost no one can replace Rob Halford and this record makes clear why Owens was the chosen one. But there's much more, because as much as is true that DENNIS HAYES' chops on bass guitar are not the most noticeable feature on Heart Of A Killer, you have to give a lot of credit to the guitar playing and the drumming. I'm no scholar concerning these issues, but it surprises me how musicians like LOU ST. PAUL and TERRY SALEM haven't become better known and more relevant. The former's tone is awesome, and he seems to hide a very deep bag of tricks and a superb good taste when it comes to use them. What a beast. Salem does not lag behind him, and far from exhaust the listener with the usual and ubiquitous machine gun double bass drumming (the record is not the fastest one you are going to listen to either), he plays in a much more subtle manner, letting his kit breath while not forgetting to show his nuances with the feet. Lots of variety in this sense and a more than blatant resemblance (that's what I believe) with the amazing work than the great SCOTT TRAVIS did on Painkiller.
WAGES OF SIN opens the album and the plot about Cohegan in a very thrilling fashion, worthy of the story to be told, with the sound of the pouring rain and Owens' narration over a clean guitar and a simple percussion. This track will end up being the longest on the record, but only thanks to that beginning. Once it truly starts, we already know what the album will all be about: the singer introduces himself with an over the top scream, even before he begins to properly sing, and St. Paul displays enough guitar riffs in just one song to fill up half a record, besides a very long guitar solo which is also quite remarkable, with those nuances on drums I already talked about and which are difficult to explain without listening to them. Wages Of Sin explain those tense moments before the execution, although it implies that the prisoner could not be guilty, something which would contradict the rest of the story.
BLINK OF AN EYE is faster and deals with the moment in which the judge enters to witness the execution, the prisoner breaks free and attack him. The guards shoot him down when he's trying to strangle Cohegan, but de judge's already weakling heart succumbs to the pressure. The beginning is kind of dramatic and I love it, but the rest of the song gets even better, mostly during its second half, after an early guitar solo and more tension puling up, until it ends the same way it started. Owens knows he can do whatever he wants with his pipes, but he choses to avoid abusing the listener's patience with unnecessary displays, and even when pushes his own limits even further, to make make the first assertion clear (screams, some falsetto singing, etc), he does it in a way which does not stand out for any bad reason.
The beep of a flatline and HEART OF A KILLER's great main riff lead to the chapter about Cohegan's surgery, through what it seems to be the surgeons' own conversation while operating. This is a simple song when it comes to the music, but the expected guitar solo is replaced by a long and much more melodic ending which is an abrupt change of mood. Cohegan admits feeling himself different, and when the song is over you can still hear the beating of a heart.
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| A younger Ripper Owens with Judas Priest |
An even better riff introduces the awesome HORROR GLANCES, a number which thrives on different changes of pace and which has to be the best song on the record so far. Kudos to the hypnotic and sinister two-voiced refrain, recited by Owens, until he screams the name of the song in the last sentence. During the second verse, the singer is just out of control, hitting some high notes which are not within everyone's reach. Cohegan realizes what has actually happened, and he can relive all the crimes committed by that whose heart he carries inside now.
The album takes the level up a notch con with the speedy and straightforward THE SILHOUETTE, which features some more prominent bass lines by Hayes, already close to the ending, when the song is about to face the guitar solo. Madness takes control of Cohegan who, amidst his delirium, believes he's seeing a shadow willing to terminate him. He decides to defend himself with a gun and, after shooting, he realizes is his own wife who lies dead on the floor.
REFLECTIONS WITHIN finishes the story in a more diverse and proggy fashion, thanks to the keyboards played by GERHARD MAGIN. This is the least striking chapter of the plot and it also has to be my least favourite song on the whole record, but it's a good song anyway. Same as Wages Of Sin, it begins with a narration (Cohegan is found guilty of the murder of his wife), until the main riff claims the spotlight replicating the last seconds of said narration. The keyboards can be listened to, but only as as support for some more melodic moments in which Owens just talks, instead of sing. Apart from that, more of the same, although with more variety. Cohegan asks his relatives for their forgiveness and prepares to die, hoping to leave all his horrible memories behind, product of the crimes committed by the former owner of his heart. But, apparently, one of them, related to a murder which took place inside a room full of mirrors (Horror Glances tells about it) will never go away.
The beginning of HAUNTED HOUSE feels a little bit rushed, but it all gets better when the song eventually settles. This is the shortes song on the album and contains a horror story in which Owens almost wrecks his own throat during the refrain.
But not as much as in NIGHT SHADE, which starts with some clean guitar playing once again, plus some keyboards on the background. When this section is done, the whole band joins and the singer strains his pipes brilliantly on some words, but the scream he comes up with when the song speeds up (if the bitch she feels the need) is completely amazing and worthy of being listened to. I'm not very much into those kinds of vocal excesses, to be honest, but this is barbaric and it won't be the last display of the sort to be found in this song. Night Shade then takes a little breath, after which will be St. Paul who has his moment to shine with a great solo, with the help of the outstanding footwork of Salem during the faster bits. This song seems to be about what is known as the drug of the witches, or Atropa Belladona (Deadly Nightshade), a venomous plant that in the song is used by those witches for their own evil purposes.
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| What's my name? |
WINTERS BANE is an instrumental piece with different paces and another extraordinary proof of St. Paul's skills to successfully put several riffs together. That part where the song slows down is not very much of my liking, but at least it serves as the floodgate for another amazing guitar solo.
And I guess I could say that the best is saved for last, for CLEANSING MOTHER might be my favourite song on the record most of the days. It also happens to be the fastest and heaviest song on it at times, although it has different atmospheres and the beginning does not seem to point in that direction. The lyrics might convey some kind of environmental message, because the song tells how Mother Nature takes matters into its own hands to get even with the human race, taking advantage of all its resources to terminate it. St. Paul shines again as a soloist and the drums claim for themselves the role that the Earth has in the text, destroying everything in their wake.
This is all that there is. This band's career would not last very long, although I have enjoyed what little I've listened to from their short discography (above all, the blazing REDIVIVUS, with which Winters Bane came back in 2006, of course without their famous former singer), but the truth is that, not only is this album good enough on its own, but it also has to be one of the main reasons why Owens has not ceased to work with very important people ever since, and has ended up having the reputation he has today.
See you next time!
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