{"id":105949,"date":"2026-03-20T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105949"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:19:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:19:42","slug":"album-review-kates-acid-hellbender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-kates-acid-hellbender\/","title":{"rendered":"KATE\u2019S ACID – Hellbender (2026) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

KATE\u2019S ACID
\nHellbender<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHigh Roller (2026)<\/span>
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Back in the 80s, speedy metalheads Acid were quite the cult act. They issued a trio of full-length gems, the best being the brace consisting of the self-titled debut and its follow-up, Maniac<\/em>, both of which were issued in 1983. The Belgians released a third and final outing, Engine Beast<\/em>, in 1985 and then split. Kate de Lombaert fronted Acid back then and now she\u2019s running her own offshoot, Kate\u2019s Acid, who formed in 2020.<\/p>\n

Hellbender<\/em> is the debut album from the quartet, which also features guitarist Geert Annys, bassist Camilo \u201cThunder Screamer\u201d Ortega and drummer Ashley \u201cAsh\u201d Ysewyn. Obviously not quite recapturing the flair and rawness of old Acid, this is still an engaging and fun platter which kicks off with the fizzing title cut. It\u2019s an ideal way for Kate and crew to introduce themselves; no gimmicks just straight forward high octane metal. The riffs are tight and precise, hastily weaving their magic alongside the equally energetic drums.<\/p>\n

Kate\u2019s voice is still a weapon with added husk and vibrato, but on this album she shows versatility too. On the mid-tempo \u2018Taking Back My Wings\u2019, Kate steadies her tone, crooning with a coolness to the cocksure riffs. The closing \u2018Air Raid\u2019, meanwhile, boasts balladic strains as Kate\u2019s warbles effectively layer the slow-burn. It\u2019s not the way I expected the album to end, but for those expecting a speed metal extravaganza then look elsewhere.<\/p>\n

In spite of the vintage Iron Maiden-esque vim of \u2018The Lightning Conductor\u2019 and the emphatic strides of \u2018Valkyrie\u2019, this album has more in common with New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, especially on \u2018Do Not Burn The Witch\u2019 and the brawling biker barroom rocker \u2018Riding Out\u2019. It\u2019s all rather unspectacular with each song following basic structures, and although I don\u2019t see Hellbender<\/em> making any notable charges into end of year lists, it\u2019s still good to have Kate de Lombaert back in business.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KATE\u2019S ACID Hellbender High Roller (2026) Rating: 7\/10 Back in the 80s, speedy metalheads Acid were quite the cult act. They issued a trio of full-length gems, the best being the brace consisting of the self-titled debut and its follow-up, Maniac, both of which were issued in 1983. The Belgians released a third and final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,6027],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-kates-acid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105950,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105949\/revisions\/105950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}