Kate's Acid Hellbender Review
Kate’s Acid
Hellbender
High Roller Records
2026
If you clicked this review, you probably already know the name. If not, let’s fix that. Kate’s Acid is fronted by the legendary voice behind Belgian Speed Metal Pioneers Acid, the band responsible for ripping out early ‘80s staples like “Maniac”, the Self-titled record, and “Engine Beast”. They only dropped three albums before disappearing, but that was more than enough to leave a permanent scar on the scene, especially for those of us just discovering Metal at the time.
A few years back, Kate assembled a new lineup and started tearing up stages again. Now that era has an official release under the banner Kate’s Acid. Why the name change? No clue, and honestly it doesn’t matter. The music tells the story.
On “Hellbender”, the band picks up right where Acid left off: raw, street-level Heavy Metal pulling from Speed, early Thrash, and Traditional Metal without trying to modernize or sanitize it. This isn’t nostalgic, it sounds like the kind of record you’d’ve dubbed onto a tape, blasted in a muscle car, and driven far too fast to. Pure motion music.
Kate’s voice is still ridiculous. No decline, no polite comeback performance, she sounds locked in. The high notes still cut, the grit is intact, and surprisingly she even leans into a few restrained moments that border on ballad territory, something the original band barely touched. Don’t worry, though: this isn’t a soft record. It’s built for late nights, bad decisions, and blown out ears the next morning.
Getting this in my inbox was a genuine surprise. Acid meant a lot to me growing up, and hearing Kate still out there swinging and doing it convincingly, rules. The band behind her clearly understands the assignment too; they’re not imitating the era; they’re operating inside of it.
I’d love to see them hit the U.S. for an East Coast run, but realistically they’ll probably dominate the European festival circuit instead, and these songs will absolutely destroy live. “Hellbender” isn’t a legacy release. It’s a continuation of the original formula.
Standouts – “Hellbender”, “Do Not Burn The Witch”, “Taking Back My Wings” and the ballad “Air Raid”.