I’ll admit to writing Helloween off as a bit of a third rate Iron Maiden clone band back in the day, and I just let them pass me by. Now having heard a couple of these tracks before release, I was quite blown away at how good they were. I decided to take the plunge and invest my coinage in a copy of this, their latest album. This is their 16th studio outing and I have ignored most of them. Mustaine takes the credit for inventing this style of speed metal, but these guys have carried the torch for the Euro version and inventing Euro Metal, which is very big in Germany. This is somewhat of a celebration album for the band, as original guitarist Kai Hansen and vocalist Michael Kiske both returned on vocals – it was billed as Pumpkins reunited. Along with current vocalist, Andy Deris (ex Pink Cream 69), they had three vocalists sharing the limelight. That will be fun keeping all those egos in check if they ever tour this line up!
Onto the songs! This is a really strong album, and as well as being musically very strong, the melodies are top drawer. For those of you who are getting sick of growly bloke metal and who yearn for the days of metal having hooks and choruses with some great playing, then this is what you have been looking for. Best Time is a freakin’ awesome tune and has a killer chorus and hook. Sky Fall is a monster of a tune, weighing in at a whopping 12.11 minutes and is my favourite track on the album. An honourable mention goes to Down In The Dumps, which is just as awesome.
I hope they keep this line up together as this is a killer album. I would love to hear more from them. I think it’s time to check some of their back catalogue.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
