Genre: METAL, MELODIC ROCK

Released by: Frontiers Records

Release date: July 8th 2016

Line up:

Alessandro Conti (vocals)
Guido Benedetti (guitar)
Luca Venturelli (guitar)
Leone Villani Conti (bass)
Luca Setti (drums)

Track List:

1. Inle’ (The Black Rabbit Of Death)
2. Together Again
3. Cloudrider
4. Efrafa
5. Never Say Goodbye
6. The Great Escape
7. They Must Die
8. Beware The Train
9. United
10. The Showdown
11. Last Breath

Remember the movie Rock Star? You know, the one with Marky Mark and Rachel from Friends, where Mr. Funky Bunch was a singer in a tribute band and got to realize his dream of singing with the actual band, finding out it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be then went unplugged singing grungey songs at a coffee shop? OK, so we all know his movie was loosely based on Tim “Ripper” Owens who had previously sang in a Judas Priest tribute band and was offered the position in the band when Halford decided to try his hand at a solo career. Luckily, Owens managed to do pretty good for himself never winding up in a flannel shirt singing lame songs at a Starbucks. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie (minus the ending,) but it made me think about the chances of that actually happening outside of that one time. There have been a handful of other singers to go on and replace legendary voices from the remaining members of bands seeing YouTube videos and whatnot. Well, it gave me another question that I’m just now getting around to answering. What if a band that was initially put together as a tribute band decided to embark on a career making their own music?

Trick Or Treat Review Framed

The answer my friends (isn’t blowing in the winds) is the band Trick Or Treat (not to be confused with the great movie featuring Skippy of Family Ties fame as a metalhead) that started out in 2002 as a tribute band for Helloween. I hate that I’m just now finding about these wacky Italians as their upcoming album, Rabbits Hill Part 2, is an absolute blast. They’ve not shaken their foundation as a Helloween tribute band entirely, as that is a tremendous influence on their sound (and keen sense of humor,) but they’re not a Helloween clone. High energy and high spirited Power Metal, Trick Or Treat aren’t afraid to add elements outside of the genre into their songs, adding some progressive riffing and traditional metal leanings throughout. The voice of Alessandro Conti is certainly the biggest part of the band giving them the Helloween sound, but it can’t be helped. On songs like “Efrafa,” “Together Again,” and “The Showdown” are such great songs, on an album that is full of great songs.

Trick Or Treat are yet another band that I have been lucky enough to stumble across and will have to go back and check out their other albums. Even with this being a Part 2, I think this is an excellent album to meet the band. Rabbits Hill Part 2 is some of Power Metal’s finest musicians and songs.