Hellion

Los Angeles heavy metal outfit Hellion came into being in 1982 under vocalist Ann Boleyn, a determined and magnetic figure whose vocal prowess was widely viewed as secondary to her entrepreneurial drive and flair for self-promotion. Between asserting direct descent from the famously beheaded monarch and establishing the New Renaissance imprint specifically to issue the band’s recordings, Boleyn secured considerable attention and modest commercial traction for Hellion across the 1980s, even though the group’s releases remained sporadic and uneven. Early activity included multiple demos plus a split single alongside fellow female-fronted act Bitch, culminating in a six-track EP issued in 1983; at that stage the lineup of Boleyn, guitarists Ray Schenk and Alan Barlam, bassist Bill Sweet, and drummer Sean Kelly operated under the management of Wendy Dio, spouse of metal icon Ronnie James Dio. Headlines followed in the metal press, fueled by Boleyn’s bold myth-making and theatrical gestures such as arriving for a Troubadour performance inside an armored vehicle, though she generally avoided sexual imagery on the band’s artwork. Despite the visibility, major labels stayed uninterested, and after further delays marked by the exit of Barlam, Sweet, and Kelly to form Burn, Boleyn and Schenk pressed forward independently with the 1987 album Screams in the Night on their own New Renaissance label. The same approach produced 1988’s Postcards from the Asylum EP and 1990’s The Black Book LP, the latter accompanied by a novel Boleyn herself had written; both efforts relied on session players and delivered heavy rock that aimed for anthemic impact yet leaned heavily on era-typical metal tropes. Recognizing limited public response, Boleyn disbanded Hellion, channeling her efforts into New Renaissance—which had become a hub for underground speed metal—and issuing the 1997 retrospective Up from the Depths. Subsequent one-off revivals, almost always alongside Schenk, yielded the Live and Well in Hell LP in 1999, the 2000 EP The Witching Hour, the Queen of Hell compilation also from 2000, and the Will Not Go Quietly LP in 2003.