HELLULOID — Slash Metal

HELLULOID — Slash Metal. A Horrific metal classic-" eight breathtaking tracks function as a curated tour through specific horror subgenres rather than a generic splatter collage" Review by Mark J.

(Independent, 22 April 2026)

Melbourne. April 2026. A new relatively unknown band drops an amazing debut full-length called Slash Metal with a tracklist that reads like someone stapled a Dario Argento watch list to a bad-pun generator: "Stalk Like an Egyptian," "Death by Hydrophobia," "Aquatic Necrotics." The title itself is a pun that shouldn't hold and absolutely does — thrash/speed/black metal colliding with slasher cinema, the slash of a machete and the slash of a pick arriving at the same blood-soaked destination. And the debut album is a flawless, powerful metal masterpiece.

Helluloid formed in 2025 and went full-commitment on the high concept from the start. Their stated aim — to create an aural experience befitting of the horror films they pay tribute to — could easily be the setup for a novelty act. Horror metal as a genre has enough charlatans flying the flag of cheapness that genuine craft tends to get buried in the wreckage of bands who thought a skull logo was enough. Slash Metal is different. It has the structural tightness of a band that knows its influences and has worked out which parts are worth stealing.

The eight breathtaking tracks function as a curated tour through specific horror subgenres rather than a generic splatter collage. Tubular Hell opens proceedings with the inevitability of a bad decision — the Exorcist reference is too obvious to need spelling out and too right to ignore. City Beyond the Cemetery digs into Lovecraftian territory with explicit references to Dunwich and the seven gates, placing it squarely in The Dunwich Horror and Fulci's The Beyond zone. We are Going to Eat You! is the zombie picture, Aquatic Necrotics and Death by Hydrophobia the creature feature double, and closer As the Credits Roll is the meta-horror ending — a wink at the audience who survived the runtime. There's real curatorial intelligence at work. This isn't random horror signposting; it's an eight-track taxonomy of fear built by people who've actually watched the films, probably in the wrong order at an impressionable age.

Musically, the vigorous thrashy blackened speed approach hits differently once you clock how warm the production is. The muscular guitars have actual body and grit rather than the scooped digital sterility that plagues so much contemporary underground metal, and the drums rattle without clipping into ProTools perfection. The whole thing has an analogue pulse that makes complete sense given the band's devotion to an era when horror was shot on film and distortion pedals were physical circuits you could break your hand on. The band has veterans of many awesome bands, and it is very evident with the high level of skills on display. Everything from the intense vocals to the crushing rhythm section and utterly sizzling riffs is exceptional.

The Acid Bath comparison that's circulated captures that Southern-sludge-meets-horror aesthetic, but the execution owes more to early Slayer/Whiplash, early Possessed, and the raw end of Toxic Holocaust than anything from New Orleans. The Wes Craven comparison nails the tone more accurately than the sound — that specific combination of genuine menace and populist accessibility that Craven mastered, where the thing is actually frightening but also enormous fun. Plus, it also has that sweet old-school crossover feel that I love.

Stalk Like an Egyptian is the record's high-water mark, a title that should be terrible and instead becomes the album's thesis statement. Horror filtered through an irresistible hook, delivered with a grin that doesn't soften the threat. That balance between genuinely unsettling and self-aware is exactly what separates Helluloid from the seventeen bands putting skulls on their logos because it looked good at the time. Retrospectre earns its pun and its place. As the Credits Roll closes the film correctly.

For a band who didn't exist eighteen months ago, Slash Metal is an absurdly assured debut — the kind of record that makes you check the release year twice because it sounds like thirty years of formation should sit behind it. Watch this space, if you can see anything in the dark.

Plus, they have a fucking cool VHS-style box-limited edition of this album, and it looks so sick!!!: