Hellion Sounds (#1761)

[layzee]

Back in 2004/2005, I was in my "doujin music phase" (thanks to S.S.H.) and Hellion Sounds was one of the many Japanese doujin artists I stumbled upon while in my search for similar sounding music.

Even back then, I noticed similarities between S.S.H.'s and Hellion Sounds' music (synth guitars) and at one point, it occurred to me that maybe they were actually the same entity. But that was just a passing thought.

Fast forward to now, while searching for an arrange of "Unrest - Hoist the Sword with Pride in the Heart" (Sekaijuu no Meikyuu 3) that doesn't split my ears like the original version does (as painfully good as the original song is), I came across Hellion Sounds' arrange of it, and finally, this page.

Anyway, it has been around 8 years since I discovered S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds, and three points can be made:

1) S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds have similarities in the music, but also differences.
2) In those 8 years, I have never come across any evidence that S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds have or had any connections (apart from being doujin music artists), let alone being the same entity.
3) Finally, therefore, S.S.H. is not part of the "Hellion Sounds" unit and should be removed.

Just my little bit of history, my over-analysis, and my acknowledgement that that (linking S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds) was an easy mistake.

Unless of course, you have some exclusive knowledge I don't have. In that case, spill it.

[CHz]

Eru has always been kind of coy about Hellion Sounds. He's absolutely part of it (he's posted music from at least one album under his own name, among other obvious signs), probably even the ringleader, but I'm pretty sure he's never flat out admitted whether it's just him or a group. The oldest version of HS's site obliquely referred to the discography as "works by members of Hellion Sounds" as though there could be more than one member, although note that nothing about how I phrased that actually guarantees it.

I've always figured HS was multiple people, if just to explain why the guitar quality can vary wildly between realness and various degrees of fakeness on the same album. (also the different arrangement styles, etc.)

To address your post, I swear I had something somewhat solidly showing that S.S.H. had contributed something under the Hellion name, but I can't find whatever that was. Documenting is a good idea! Anyway I guess I'll remove him for now.

[layzee]

Originally Posted by CHz

I've always figured HS was multiple people, if just to explain why the guitar quality can vary wildly between realness and various degrees of fakeness on the same album. (also the different arrangement styles, etc.)

I haven't (nor have any plans to) listen to HS's discography so I can't comment on that.

Originally Posted by CHz

To address your post, I swear I had something somewhat solidly showing that S.S.H. had contributed something under the Hellion name, but I can't find whatever that was. Documenting is a good idea! Anyway I guess I'll remove him for now.

Having a closer look, it seems Eru (of HS) does have pretty big connections with S.S.H. (e.g. he was one of the guest arrangers in the Lost Childlen/Children arrange album), though not HS itself.

I had a look through my collection and the closest thing I could find that supports your theory was this:

Artist: Eru+ゆう+あず♪+埼玉最終兵器（弟）…略してEyas!!
Title: Finalfantasy Main theme -Live arrange with dear my friends-
"Album": Eyas
Date: 2003
Comment: Eru+ゆう+あず♪+埼玉最終兵器（弟）…全員の頭文字をとり・・・略してEyas!!「Eyas」には まだ巣立ちできない雛という意味があるそうです

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information in the tags. In any case, "Dear My Friends" is also an album that was released in 2004 which they were both on (and weren't added into vgmdb until 2012!).

[Zorbfish]

Originally Posted by layzee

Having a closer look, it seems Eru (of HS) does have pretty big connections with S.S.H. (e.g. he was one of the guest arrangers in the Lost Childlen/Children arrange album), though not HS itself.

That doesn't really mean anything as that project was organized by PHOENIX Project and Eru is friends with Yu. Same with all the other artists on that album. It was simply a Lost Child tribute.

[CHz]

Just dropping a note here that Eru's current biography on the Aether site straight up says he's part of Hellion Sounds.

当サイトの管理人。「Aether（エーテル）」というサークル活動も同時に行い、
その他にも「HellionSounds（ヘリオンサウンズ）」「P∴Rhythmatiq（プリズマティ ック）」
などなど、多数のサークルを友人らと立ち上げては様々な活動を続けてます。

[CHz]

Yuji Takase has the first Hellion Sounds album, The Sentence of Death, on his works list, so there's two. 8)

That's the only Hellion album he lists and his list is pretty extensive (though not 100% complete).

[niki]

Old discussion I know, but that's awesome to know about Takase.

Eru for some reason I always assumed. Wasn't his Aether website closely linked to Hellion Sounds' first releases back in the day ?

SSH being part of HS has been a long time speculation, reinforced by his ties to Eru. I can't say I ever 100% felt he was behind any specific track though, especially back then when his style was still pretty unique. I can't say I ever heard Takase either, though, and even most tracks I assume to be by Eru sound different from his usual style. They really did a great job of this whole mystery heavy metal band concept. ^^

[Illidan]

Hey guys, some juicy news: I got to talk a bit with Takase (awesome guy, go buy his stuff if you like it!) and I was able to gather some info about Hellion Sounds, here's his reply:

Hellion Sounds(Aether)のEruさんとは15年くらいお付き合いがあります。

知り合ったきっかけは、Eruさんが同人活動をはじめるのに、
先に同人活動をしていた私たちにアドバイスを聞いてきたことがはじまりです。
私はそのときMTK2というサークルで同人活動をすでにやっていましたので。

Eruさんはそれから、友達のアレンジャーさん達と協力して、同人CDを作りはじめました。
そのメンバーが姫川紫音さん、あず♪さん、ゆうさん、埼玉最終兵器さんたちでした。

そしていくつかCDを作った後、Eruさんがヘヴィメタルで激しいアレンジCDを作りはじめ、
そのアレンジに生演奏のギターを入れてほしいということで私に声がかかりました。
それが「The Sentence of Death」というCDで、Track.9の「J-E-N-O-V-A from FINAL FANTASY Ⅶ」
リードギターを私が弾きました。
私はシークレット・ゲスト扱いなのでアルバムには情報はありません。（Very Special Thanksで
名前は載っていますが）

So bottom line: Eru is the ringleader, and the members are Shion Himekawa, Azu♪, SSH and Yu-, while Takase was just a guest guitar player in the first album, together with Godspeed (some info from here, thanks CHz!)

I've also updated the first albums that I got recently and I'll update the rest when I get them. I don't have time to take scans right now but if anyone's interested (there's liner notes for each song) let me know and I'll try to take them.

[layzee]

Wrote a report/analysis regarding S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds here:

The connection between S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds - An analysis

Probably the closest thing to cement that connection (apart from the above post) is probably this:

Is there a connection/relationship between S.S.H. and Hellion Sounds?

[CHz]

[2006.12.31] Crimson Nightmare (HSCD-0005)

Track 9 reminds me of S.S.H.'s original electronic/techno/trance work Miso Nikomi Combinat 味噌煮込みコンビナート (2008). He has also heavy metal arranged this track elsewhere: 懐かしき東方の血 -MiS.Ver- from the album 東方幻奏響UROBOROS参 ～とある魔法と幻想の無限螺旋～ (2015).

This is actually a Hellion Sounds track we know the details of (perhaps the only one), Eru posted it on his site so it's definitely his.