[news] Helltrain's "Route 666" Celebrates 20 Years
Swedish Helltrain was founded in 2002 by Pierre Törnkvist on vocals & bass (Everdawn, Scheitan, Devil’s Force), Oscar Karlsson on drums (Raised Fist, Defleshed, Gates of Ishtar), and Patrik Törnkvist on guitar (The Moaning, Everdawn, Battlelust). The trio recorded a demo with three songs and quickly gained attention for their original sound, which mixed previous musical experiences in death, thrash, and black metal with arrangements and sounds from rock ‘n’ roll and punk. Their demo was, in fact, sent to only one record company—Nuclear Blast, which chose to contract Helltrain immediately.
The debut album "Route 666" was recorded in the band's hometown of Luleå and later mixed at Studio Dug Out by Daniel Bergstrand, known for his work with In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah, and Behemoth. The album was released on CD in 2004 by Nuclear Blast in Europe and has since been licensed three times in the USA, Poland, and Russia. For the US release, Jimmy Pop of Bloodhound Gang discovered Helltrain on the now-retired music site MySpace. Jimmy Pop released the record through his label, The Jimmy Franks Recording Company, with Universal Music handling distribution in the US.
The title track "Route 666" appeared on Bam Margera's (Jackass) TV series "Viva La Bands" and also on a compilation album released by MTV, featuring just four bands: Helltrain, HIM, Rammstein, and Bloodhound Gang.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Route 666", the record is finally being released on vinyl for the first time by Discouraged Records (Umeå, Sweden) in a very limited edition of 300 copies.
Pre-orders started on November 22, and the release is set for December 6.
https://www.discouragedrecords.com/
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https://helltrain.bandcamp.com/album/route-666
https://open.spotify.com/album/2l9KH0FYVOdzDKJNE8Zaaz?si=DbeLrkiEQ6WuDTr_mUAlwA
https://www.helltrain.net
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