intothewellsabyss

Jul 13, 20235 min read

Hallows Eve — Tales of Terror

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

38 years ago this month, Hallows Eve brought us “Tales of Terror”!

On July 12th,1985, Hallows Eve released their debut full-length studio album, Tales of Terror via Metal Blade Records in the USA and Roadrunner Records in Europe.

“Brian (Slagel) came in exactly at the right time and brought us out. He was part of our team and he was for other bands as C.O.C. and SLAYER. He was like a show-host or circus ring-leader saying: “Hey, look at this” or “check out these guys” to the world. Like P.T.Barnum saying: “Look what I found!” He also produced “Death And Insanity” and I think that is one reason why that album is considered a classic definition of Thrash today”. — Tommy

Background:

The album contains the songs “Hallow's Eve”, “Valley of the Dolls” and “Metal Merchants”, the same tracks that were previously included in the 1984 demo of the same name.

"Valley", "Merchants" and "Eve" was our demo, recorded in one afternoon. The rest was recorded as a studio closed for good and we got a sweet deal on those songs because: a) the studio was closed; b) the engineer secretly pocketed the money; c) and we told him these were demos; d) and we did it in five days. Basically we sneak in at night with the engineer like Ed Wood made his films." — Tommy

For the compositions, the band developed a style based on fast rhythms and aggressive riffs, featuring melodic passages and the typical Speed Metal sound. The vocal parts were set both in high tones and in low, almost guttural timbres, interpreting the various moments focused almost exclusively on themes of horror. The topics covered are in fact related to the title of the album, which means tales of terror, and concern for example:

alien invasions song “Outer Limits”:

“You'll be seeing the end of the world alien forces from out of the sky”

the madness of a man who believes he is living in a horror film; the refrain of “Horroshow” reads:

“My brain is mildew I lost reality long ago now I live in a Horrorshow!”

a haunted house subject of the song The Mansion , which tells of supernatural presences summoned by black magic:

“As you're climbing the stairs she's waiting

For you and she's dead!

Close the door feel the presence of Black Magic!”

Due to the characteristics listed above, when it was released, it sparked interest among Thrash Metal fans, being one of the early examples of the genre.

“It’s a style, we could have done it as Hard Rock, but I like to go as hard as possible. I think we have obvious Punk influences as in ‘There Are No Rules’ and ‘Suicide’ and prog tendencies such as ‘Hallows Eve’ and ‘Goblet of Gore’”. — Tommy on the Thrash Metal and Punk elements of the album.

It also received good reviews, being particularly appreciated by German Metal magazine Rock Hard, which gave it the rating of 9. With this release, the group were also among the forerunners of Heavy Metal focused on topics related to the genre of horror, if we exclude some previous songs such as “Black Sabbath" of the homonymous band (1970) and “Phantom of the Opera” by Iron Maiden (1980), this was an early example of a concept album in the horror genre, similar to those made by King Diamond and Death SS.

Speaking on the song "Hallows Eve", Tommy stated;

“These are Skully’s riffs, but my lyrics and the arrangement of Skully’s riffs were mine. Skully and I are basically endless pits of music and lyrics. Pete Palumbo, the guitarist who took David Stuart’s place, said I was the most prolific songwriter he’s ever known. I have eight full albums of recorded demos no one has heard and there is more than that waiting. As for Skully, he is a musical genius and has been criminally ignored!”

Skully left after the recording of the album. Here's what he said about his parting with the band;

"I left the band after Tales Of Terror was recorded. It was not because I was pissed at my bandmates or anything like that. It was musical direction and I was young and stubborned. I always considered myself to not be a good guitarist, but a sadistic guitarist. That is how I play my instrument and write my songs. I wanted the music to become more evil and dark and extremely fast and aggressive. I am no means knocking on what Tommy, Stacy, David and Ron were doing, we just had different styles. My influences come from bands such as Celtic Frost, Mayhem, Venom and the mighty Bathory."

Album Layout & Editions:

The album was released on cassette and vinyl, both formats were manufactured and distributed in the USA by Combat Records under license from Metal Blade, which used Roadrunner Records for European distribution. It was released for the first time on Compact Disc in 1990 and was later reissued in 1994 and later in 1997. It was also was released as a remastered version in the “History of Terror” box set, released in 2006. The album did not employ a particularly elaborate production and was released without the lyric booklet.

“It (Tales of Terror) is what it needs to be and is perfect. I may have turned up the over-all reverb a bit, but that was my doing anyway. The original idea was to musically tell little horror stories and people got it”. — Tommy

The album displayed a rudimentary cover depicting a hooded figure armed with an ax and flail. On the back, the song titles were included, as was a photo of the group taken in the woods, along with the names of the musicians and of those who collaborated with them in the making of the album.

In 2011 it was re-released for the first time by a different label than Metal Blade, by the Brazilian label Encore Records.

Critical Reception:

While Hallows Eve were never a huge “mainstream” success, “Tales of Terror” is highly regarded in the underground Metal community. Here is just one review by the 4th Horseman on Metal Crypt, for example;

“Tales of Terror" was the debut back in 1985 and this album just keeps on crushing with one killer and inhuman speedfest after another! "Plunging To Megadeath" opens up the madness and it is more brutal and fast than the title implies. If you have heard this album (or this song in particular) you would not debate me when I say that vocalist Stacy Anderson had one of the best vocal ranges in all of metal (unfortunately he is no longer in the band). In his harsh moments, he sounds like Ironsword's Tann – only heavier and a hundred times faster. And in his high pitched screams, he could put most helium inhaling power metal vocalists to shame. Worth noting are his ground shaking growls that miraculously transform into Earth shattering shrieks, all within the same grunt/scream! And the music gets very melodic at times, so this is not some directionless growl galore. These are not exactly growls either…just very heavy and low vocals – like what you would hear on an Ironsword record, but a little more growl like. And then there are the clean vocals with the high screaming.”

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

▶ Listen to “Tales of Terror” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/tales-of-terror/56821299

▶ Link to listen to “Tales of Terror” via Spotify: Tales of Terror

▶ Watch the official promo video for “Hallows Eve": https://youtu.be/iGhBLwiWxoM

▶ Watch the live video for “Plunging to Megadeath”: https://youtu.be/teTpEFs02ng

▶ Follow Hallows Eve on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialhallowseve?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells

Hallows Eve — Tales of Terror

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Album Layout & Editions:

Critical Reception:

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