Hellion finish their North American Tour with “Halloween In Hellion” at Paladino’s Reseda, CA 10/31/2014

by MARK LITSKY (with several pictures contributed by BJ Carello)

HELLION Paladino’s 10/31/2014

This was the last show of Hellion’s 21 show North American Tour.

Hellion released a 5 song mini-album on CD October 7 in the U.S. entitled “Karma’s a Bitch“. On April 1st, the band released “To Hellion And Back” – a 2 CD set that chronicles the band’s beginnings from 1982 to the present and also includes some new material.

This tour marked the return of Hellion in almost 12 years with original founding member and driving force Ann Boleyn, formed in 82 they were a part of the now infamous LA Metal Scene.

Hellion’s line up includes some heavy hitters with Ann Boleyn on vocals, Drummer Simon Wright(AC/DC, Dio, Queensryche, Operation Mindcrime, UFO), Keyboardist Scott Warren (Dio, Type-O Negative, Heaven & Hell), Rhythm Guitarist Georg Dolivo (Rhino Bucket), Bassist Greg Smith (Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, Plasmatics) and Lead Guitarist Maxxxwell Carlisle, who is quickly becoming known as serious shredder.

The set list included a mix of new and old songs.

Ann showed she can still belt it out with her powerhouse voice. This band is a tight group veterans and it showed. Simon Wrights drum solo was one of the set’ highlights and he never disappoints. Maxxwell Carlisle shredded a killer solo. Be sure to check this guy out.

The show sounded incredible with Kelly Grey (Operation Mindcrime/Queensryche) at the sound board. The show ended with a killer cover of “The Green Manalishi (With a Two Prong Crown)” — that song was originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac in1970 and was covered by Judas Priest in 1979 on “Hell Bent For Leather”.