In a way, the re-release of partial discography of the veteran American band, HADES, was to mark another piece in Metal's wide history. I think that Cyclone Empire did justice for this underrated group that put their mark on the mixture of Progressive Metal and old school US Thrash / Speed / Power Metal. I say that if the Danish ARTILLERY got their albums re-released, why not do a tribute to its US counterpart. The band's debut, "Resisting Success" was originally released in 1987, under Torrid Records and was distributed by Combat Records. It seemed that in the band's history it was the first official HADES maneuver from NWOBHM oriented Metal into the harsher frontiers of US Thrash / Power Metal with additional progressive means. The overall production of the release is equal to other such production of the mid to late 80s of mostly Thrash. Something close to early METALLICA, TESTAMENT and ARTILLERY.

The remastered album is mainly composed of the original tracklist plus some bonus goodies supplied by Cyclone Empire. After the long epos of "Masque Of The Red Death", on its three parts, there is the emergence of one of the first HADES's official tracks, "Gloomy Sunday", which is a very good piece of the band's older image. It may sound generic in comparison to their later material, yet it still has that finer edge of vintage Metal. This track is also a good reminder of the band's earlier vocalist, Paul Smith that showed his NWOBHM roots with his great voice. The coming tracks afterwards were a so called gimmick that many bands use and that it to release different mixes of two of the original album's tracks. Let's just say I think they would have been better off with those, although the remix of "The Leaders?" was quite good. The follower, "Easy Way Out" is another HADES old Heavy Metal fling. It might be lesser than the band's earlier output, yet still impressive. Last add-on track, "Sledgehammer Press (LePage Version)", is a late instrumental version of one of the band's early demos made by one of the band's earlier guitarist, Scott LePage. One thing is for sure, he showed great talent on prowess on this one.

As for the rest of the album, it actually depends on if you know it or not. For new listeners it will be a wonderful lesson on how to make a quality Metal release with such a progressiveness that didn't hurt the flow of the material. There is much thrashy like intensity following the tracks along with great complexities of smashing rhythms. The riffages are amazing and really give a solid idea of the mixture this band did with their old school approach. There are tons of resemblances to various of acts in US and both in EU but those are way too vast to mention. Therefore it can be recognized that this band is a multi diverse figure and their artistic nature is well evident in their music.

Although "Resisting Success" is a great showcase for a debut and it has some massive outcomes to offer. "The Cross", "The Leaders?", "Widow's Mite", "Resist Success" and "Nightstalker", were all well done tracks. The performances of great players as Alan Tecchio (Vocals), Dan Lorenzo (Guitars) and also the "ex" Scott LePage (Guitars) made that fine impression that those were young dudes but in a pro level. However, I asked myself quite often, what will I remember from this album? I will probably remember the band's awesome talents on making such incredible riffages and intelligent passages and solos, yet, what about the tunes? The only track that made a memorable impact was "The Cross", yet, the others, which as I mentioned that were great as well, didn't leave that same mark. It is not about being catchy, it all comes down to the formation of a memorable track. So all that I can say is that this album, the band's style and performance were equally formidable, yet, it was rather hard to keep them stuck in my mind as hits should do for a long period of time.