From the EPK: HELLSTEDT is the artist name of Mircea Nestor. Based in the Swedish city of Norrköping, Mircea writes, records, and independently releases alternative metal music. HELLSTEDT's personal take on metal blends influences from a wide range of genres, reflecting the artist's lifelong passion for music in all its breadth. Well, one thing is for sure, this isn't your standard Metal or even Rock release. Only having been active under this name for a couple of years, there already was the release of a debut album in 2024, named "For No One In Particular". He easily could have used that title for this one, and added part 2, as the variety on "All Right As Rain" is wider than the Grand Canyon. It goes from almost silence, like in the opening song "Morgana", up to Punk and pure Metal. The latter van be experienced on "This Home". And then you have everything in between.

The thing is, I don't mind a band that can vary their music as much as they can and/or dare, and I will applaud every band that tries to do just that. by the way, on "This Home" Mircea Nestor has a bit of vocals where he sounds a lot like original FAITH NO MORE singer Chuck Mosley. If only he would use that kind of voice more often. "Cavalcade" is an example of how this guy mixes Rock with Metal, but in his own, personal way. That is fine, but unfortunately for him it does take someone like me a number of tries before my brain can dissect and accept what he is trying to do. That is something that I feel will work against HELLSTEDT, as a lot of people buy (or download) a full album after just a glance, after a short listen. And they might experience whet I did, get a feeling that "All Right As Rain" is just a lot of noise put in a very particular order.

The Punk song on "All Right As Rain" is "Nothing", but only at times. It is just about the heaviest and most intriguing song on the album. But somehow, I can't get behind what HELLSTEDT is trying to achieve with his album. It just doesn't gel with my ears or brains, and certainly not with my heart. I am known for having an interest in a wide variety of Rock and Metal, but there are limits, and HELLSTEDT has stepped outside of them, making me see "All Right As Rain" as a forgettable album.