I have to commend Ann Boleyn for sticking with her guns throughout her career and staying tough when corporate music entities were trying to make her change her darker singing style to a more "radio-friendly" sound like Pat Benatar. Ann was a big fan of the darker, more heavier European style metal going on back then, especially when you consider that another very similar up-and-coming vocalist named Doro Pesch was fronting a soon to be well known female fronted band named Warlock who at that time were burning up the scene in Europe.But, Hellion were playing in L.A. at a time when glam metal was infiltrating the club scene back then; even bands such as W.A.S.P. and Motley Crue were glamming up their sound a bit to fit in ...and the raw hard-hitting dual guitar power metal sound from Hellion was hard for that scene to swallow, let alone a female fronted band of that genre. After putting out several releases over the years from the early 80s and even at one time being managed by Ronnie James Dio himself, the band decided to start writing for a concept album while on tour in the late 80s for the Monsters of Rock tour in the former Soviet Union (Hellion was the first metal band to play in the then U.S.S.R.!) - Ann meanwhile, retreated to Scotland (for a much needed break from L.A.) and began writing a novel she decided should accompany the new album debut as well; this story hovers around her life's darker experiences deriving from her ancestors supposed inherited magical powers that come back to haunt her (but problems with the publishing company preempted this for quite some time). Finally, the new album would be called "The Black Book", and what a power metal fest it truly is! It's just too bad it came out when it did because in the early 90s the atmosphere was about to change with the emerging grunge and rap scene. I, along with most others would easily bet that if this would have come out a few years earlier things would have been different for the band Hellion. Enough of the band bio...So, how good is Hellion - The Black Book?Aside from all of their problems, it is absolutely a miracle in itself that they came out with this masterpiece at all, in my opinion. Compared to all of their previous releases, this is the way they should have all sounded! The mix and production is far better than those before it so it really sounds right at home cranked like good power metal should be! If you want honest to goodness incredibly wicked vocals, synchronized crunching duel guitar-work with polished solos, and tight hard hitting drums (listen to the double-bass mastery of 'The Warning') that are delivered direct from a time when it was a do-or-die way of life for many, it doesn't get much better than this album! You'd be hard-pressed to find a vocalist that can keep up with Ann Boleyn's incredible power and range, or guitar virtuosity of Chet Thompson (who was private schooled by Randy Rhoads) - A definite 'must' in your old-school metal collection!