Hellion was one of the cult bands of the 80's, a band that won its
fair share of acclaim but never got the breaks it deserved.
Formed by and fronted by the charismatic Ann Boleyn (later to
become founder of
New Renaissance
Records), the band attracted
the attention of Ronnie James Dio and his wife Wendy, the latter
of which became Hellion's manager for a time.
A debut mini-LP was released, but the band broke up soon afterward.
Boleyn recruited a different lineup and released what is probably the
band's best-known album, Screams In The Night.
Hardly the most complex or original album in existence, Screams'
rather basic, anthemic hard rock/metal sounds a bit dated now
(particularly songs such as "Bad Attitude" and "Easy Action", which
are almost glam in their approach), but on the other hand it delivered
some old fashioned headbanging pleasure, and it remains a cult
favorite for many.
That lineup also disintegrated, and in an interesting twist, most of the
original lineup was recruited for the next two albums, neither of which
generated the same interest as the first two.
In the intervening years the band has been an on-again, off-again
affair, recording sporadically, yet Boleyn and crew
are still alive and kicking, with their
latest album, Karma's A Bitch, released in 2014.
