Oh yes my fiends, I dare say to pull the velvet drapes back and prepare yourself to be shocked and amazed by the latest offering from Italy's very own-Rival Skulls! If you cannot tell already, I am ECSTATIC with HELL OUVERTURE because this is where I knew the band could be, even way back when I was listening to THE DEATH MASKS for the first time. And while this may only be their third full-length album, I feel comfortable in saying that the Rival Skulls have found their niche. They sound extremely comfortable and the result is not only the band's greatest release to date, but also my favorite horror release of the year and that's saying a lot because there have been some really good releases this year (The Crimson Ghosts, The Vladimirs, Ghoultown, The Horrifics, The Other, Blitzkid, etc.). One thing that makes HELL OUVERTURE so appealing to me is that it doesn't become predictable. You have songs like "Luciferian Path" and "Vampyrism Theory" that are in your face, jaw-breaking rock tunes with huge hooks and melodies while there are others such as "Alone" that's set up around an acoustic atmosphere and "The Horned Angel" with as much energy it has, contains a beautiful intermission-like breakdown. Another thing is that every song stuck with me after I stopped listening to it. Every song has memorable riffs or has parts where Michelle just leaves a burning impression on you with his bombastic vocal styling. For you AFI fans out there, "Spiral Dance" and "Ravenchild" are strongly influenced by the band and could easily be in the their catalogue. As for favorite songs, that'd be tough. That's like asking which of your fingers you'd want to keep but the answer is easy; all of them! I wholeheartedly suggest picking up HELL OUVERTURE because I guarantee that it will have you moving and will keep that horror rock fueled fire in your heart growing and engulfing all that is around it with every track.