RuneWalsh2112 I've been listening quite a lot to this album recently in my preparation to my first Helloween gig! Initially, this album sounded like a huge improvement over it's predecessor "7 Sinners" due to the omission of ridiculous rockers like "Where The Sinners Go" and "Are You Metal?". But my opinion changed dramatically after witnessing the band in a live setting.

The Helloween/Gamma Ray gig I saw featured a total of 5 tracks off "Straight Out Of Hell" with "Nabataea" and the title track being the most obvious setlist addition choices, even though Andi Deris wasn't able to sing the high pitch chorus line of the former. The other three tracks on the setlist included the extremely cheesy power ballad "Hold Me In Your Arms" and the crowd interactive "Live Now!" where Deris divided the audience in two and made one half shout 'Live Now!' while the other half had to sing the melody line that followed the shout. The fifth track was "Waiting For The Thunder" and I kind of feel that it's one of the borderline filler tracks that doesn't actually have much momentum to it. Luckily, the band more than made up for their songwriting with an energetic live performance and an amusing encore number with a guest spot by Kai Hansen!

I'm actually kind of confused about the band's setlist track choices seeing that they managed to leave out my personal favorites like the classic power metal tunes "World Of War", "Far From The Stars" and "Burning Sun", the latter has allegedly been previously featured on the setlist. I guess the band wants to mix things up during their live performances even though most people who go to their shows are primarily there to hear Helloween's classic power metal sound.

The album features another unexpected deviation from the power metal format in the drum and vocal track titled "Wanna Be God", which reminds a lot of the first part of "We Will Rock You", but the track really has no momentum to it since it ends prematurely leaving behind the full band conclusion, which was perfected by Queen. Overall, this is another mixed bag for Helloween who, in my opinion, haven't been able to deliver a solid album since "The Dark Ride". Allow me to note that I have yet to hear "Gambling With The Devil", so this opinion may actually change once I do so.

**** star songs: Nabataea (7:03) World Of War (4:56) Far From The Stars (4:41) Burning Sun (5:33) Straight Out Of Hell (4:33) Years (4:22)

*** star songs: Live Now! (3:10) Waiting For The Thunder (3:53) Wanna Be God (2:02) Make Fire Catch The Fly (4:22) Church Breaks Down (6:06)

** star songs: Hold Me In Your Arms (5:10) Asshole (4:09)

UMUR "Straight Out of Hell" is the 14th full-length studio album by German power metal act Helloween. The album was released through Spinefarm Records in January 2013. It is now the fourth consequitive album with the same lineup, which probably bears witness to a harmonic group of musicians. The opposite has in periods plagued the band. "Straight Out of Hell" was recorded with producer Charlie Bauerfeind at Mi Sueño Studio, Tenerife, Spain, which to my ears sounds like a nice relaxing place to record.

...and I think it´s rubbed off on the tracks, which more of them feature a nice positive uplifting atmosphere. Fast-paced and energetic double pedalling, melodic lead guitar themes and epic choruses, which are no surprise, but what we expect from Helloween. They are no one-trick pony though, and the album includes heavier tracks too. Album opener "Nabataea" can even be labelled semi-progressive and a track like "Wanna be God" also stands out quite a bit. The latter sounds like a heavier twin to Queen´s "We Will Rock You". The songwriting is professional and most of the material are memorable and rock hard. The sound production is for the most part very well sounding, but I think the snare drum sound takes a bit of power out of the music, which means that even the most hard pumped double pedal parts, sound less powerful than they could have.

At 60:00 minutes I think the album is a bit too long and there are a couple of tracks on the album that I could have done without, but with musicians/composers this skilled an album like "Straight Out of Hell" can never be less that really good (despite a few fillers). A 3.5 star (70%) rating is fair.

Conor Fynes 'Helloween' - Helloween (8/10)

Even before there was "Keeper of the Seven Keys", the German power metal titans Helloween were flying high. Although they hadn't yet redefined the genre with which they would be most associated, there are plenty of monumental riffs and falsettos to behold in the band's early canon. Drawing upon the styles of Judas Priest and the melodic gallop of Iron Maiden, Helloween's debut EP sets a solid foundation for the glorious power metal to come. For any fan of Helloween, or slightly thrash-infused speed metal, this self-titled release shouldn't be missed.

As opposed to the more refined atmosphere and fantasy vibe of their later work, the Helloween of 1985 are much more in tune with the typical topics and sounds of metal. As opposed to singing about mythology, quests and autumnal holidays, Helloween are writing about Satan, murder, and war. As you might guess, "Helloween" is a fair bit darker and more aggressive than their future sound. Anyone who has heard Iron Maiden's "Killers" before should know what to expect. In twenty six minutes, Helloween manage to run the gamut of human misery. In contrast with the subject matter, Helloween bring many of their trademark choruses to the mix here. In particular, "Starlight" and "Warrior" stand out as great tracks that could have fit on later albums.

Although Kai Hansen was the driving force behind what made early Helloween so good, it shouldn't come as a great surprise that his vocals aren't as technically impressive as those of Michael Kiske or Andi Deris. Although his singing ability would ferment and mature in his time with Gamma Ray, Hansen's vocals don't have the same operatic bravado that later Helloween vocalists would bring to the table. That's not to say, however, that he is a bad singer. Kai Hansen's raspier style fits the early Helloween's thrashier leanings. Particularly on the Judas Priest-esque "Victim of Fate", Hansen pulls off a few pretty impressive falsettos. The latter vocalists' contributions may have brought a greater finesse to the band's sound, but Hansen's more weathered voice gives Helloween an added sense of heaviness that they may have partially lost as the years went on.

Especially considering this is the band's debut EP, the quality of the production is surprising. While not as fine-tuned as the either "Keeper of the Seven Keys", the sound quality would not sound out of place on a professional full length. The guitar duo of Hansen and Weikath are, without a doubt, the strongest aspect of Helloween's sound. Although they were both in their early twenties at the time of the EP's recording, they already have a firm grasp of the neoclassical leads and speed-oriented riffs that would define the band's later sound. As far as the lingering question of whether Helloween were already innovating power metal as early as this EP (as opposed to pioneering it with "Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. I"), the essential elements of power metal were already in the mix, but the songwriting and slight thrash edge may lure the style closer to being rightfully called speed metal, or perhaps a Teutonic adaptation of NWOBHM. Regardless of any arbitrary genre-tags however, "Helloween" is a fitting companion to "Walls of Jericho", and precursor to the band's better-known "Keeper of the Seven Keys" duology. Although it may be a pre-debut EP with the appearance of a fans-only apocrypha, "Helloween" is an excellent album and one of the better releases from one of metal's best-loved acts.

adg211288 Despite being the pioneers of the so called European brand of power metal, and remaining to this day one of the genre’s most highly regarded acts, Germany’s Helloween have had a pretty up and down career. Straight Out of Hell is the fourteenth studio album from the group (or fifteenth if you count the non-metal re-recordings album Unarmed (2009)), released in 2013. Helloween has never had the most stable of line-ups but are currently in one of their more stable phases, having remained constant since the release of Keeper of the Seven Keys - The Legacy (2005). The current line-up of the group has, in my opinion, produced some of the best albums of the group since Andi Deris took over lead vocal duties from their iconic former frontman Michael Kiske, including Straight Out of Hell’s direct predecessor 7 Sinners (2010) but even more so, Gambling with the Devil (2007), which I personal regard as the best of the Deris era, as well as the second best Helloween release overall, only bested by the classic Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I (1987). While I wasn’t personally very enthralled with Keeper of the Seven Keys - The Legacy beyond it being another solid, business as usual Helloween release, and Unarmed being the very definition of a die-hard fans only release, after the last two proper studio albums I have to say I had a lot of hopes riding on Straight Out of Hell.

And early on in the album, with the opening track Nabataea, it seemed as if those hopes of mine had not only been met, but exceeded in every possible way. Nabataea easily ranks among the best songs from the Deris era and even gives much of the stuff from the classic first three albums a run for its money. The song shows a new side to Helloween which hasn’t been heard before expect in very small amounts on a couple of previous albums as the song is very much a symphonic power metal song. The symphonic element adds an extra layer to the Helloween sound which results in it being much more epic than ever before, while it retains all of the guitar driven heaviness that German power metal is characterised by. While still not a symphonic power metal album per se, the element is featured consistently across the album. Whether it’s there or not though, the first half of the album keeps up the pace almost all the time, with World of War being one of the heaviest and most intense tracks on offer. Aside from adding a symphonic element, the band’s riffs stay focused on power metal for much more of the album’s running time than ever before, with surprisingly very little of their more mid-paced traditional metal moments.

The problem however is that starting from track seven, Hold Me in Your Arms, Helloween seems to have run out of the creative steam, and the record begins to stall. This track in particular falls straight into the cliché ballad zone that power metal albums have become infamous for. It’s an area that Helloween have more or less managed to either avoid entirely or pull off in the past, but unfortunately they’ve finally fallen victim to it. The song isn’t too bad for what it is I suppose but it does feel unnecessary when you consider it alongside tracks like Nabataea, World of War and Burning Sun, which showcase a band still at the top of their game so far into a lengthy career. The real probably is that Straight Out of Hell’s downturn continues from here in, with the completely useless two minute excuse of a song called Wanna Be God. I honestly don’t know what the band was trying to achieve with this one. Featuring pretty much just vocals and drums, it somehow manages to bring to mind Queen’s We Will Rock You, the structure and style of the song is that similar. Only it just doesn’t manage to work for them, and all I can really consider the track to be is wasted playing time. It also appeared on the Burning Sun single, which is where it should have stayed if the band had to have it at all.

After this a little bit of redemption is found within the title track, but the song does pale in comparison next to some of the earlier tracks. The magic seems to have been lost by this time and the album takes its biggest downturn of all straight after in the form of Asshole, which in some aspects has claims to being the worst song Helloween have ever done. It seems to be an attempt to make an angry sounding song, but it simply fails to capture that mood on all levels, and ultimately ends up sounding like an immature exercise in swearing. The song has some redeeming features, and is actually pretty good until the chorus

The final three tracks offer up some more redemption, but when taking the album as a whole I’m just left in such shock at how Helloween thought a track like Asshole was worthy of one of their albums that the last three songs just failed to leave much of an impression the first time around, though fortunately they opened up a lot on subsequent spins. It’s pretty rare where one song can destroy much of the regard I have for an album so completely, but somehow Helloween managed it with this Asshole. Even Hold Me in Your Arms and Wanna Be God come across as acceptable filler compared to it. Fortunately with Church Breaks Down Helloween do manage to end on one of the album’s finest moments though.

At the end of the day I still have to objectively consider this another great Helloween release, because the first half rarely is not top tier material and it does indeed really pick up again after the majority of that dodgy middle is done with, title track aside. Subjectively however Helloween disappointed me with this one, as it’s one of their most inconsistent albums released to date. They gave their fans all the makings of another classic, and then spoilt it with a few failed experiments/sub-par songs. I suppose it’s quite the achievement in itself to make an album as bipolar as this. It’s far from their weakest album overall, those top tier songs do save it, but it is their weakest in some time and I can’t quite manage to justify rewarding it with anymore than a highest end ‘great album’ tier rating.

84/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/helloween-straight-out-of-hell-t2769.html))

Conor Fynes 'Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I' - Helloween (8/10)

Although their first album “Walls of Jericho” has earned a well-deserved spot as a metal classic, it was Helloween's sophomoric release “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I” and its like-titled sequel that engraved their place as the kings and overseers of power metal. It would be blind to say that power metal as a style of music had not been around for a few years before this, but never before had the genre been defined so overtly. With that being said, it is an essential bit of metal history, and regardless of contemporary opinion positive or negative, anyone any bit interested in the speedier, melodic side of the heavy metal spectrum would do well to give it a good, intent listen. Even outside of its historical context, Helloween’s second album is a memorable, impressive record. However, in spite of its significance and defacto ‘masterpiece’ status, it is not an album without some faults to keep it from achieving that bliss I’ve experienced with some of metal’s other god-tier albums.

Since the album’s release, power metal has become one of the most popular (and yet infamous; funny how that works?) styles of metal out there. Love it or hate it, it’s likely you already have an idea of what the genre’s all about. Melodies, often neoclassically-influenced guitar work and cheese enough to feed France for a year tend to be the basics, and “Keeper of the Seven Keys” is in no short supply of any ingredient. To modern ears, there is more of a traditional, anthemic heavy metal pomp at work, but from the album’s post-intro opener “I’m Alive” onward, Helloween’s best elements tend to be the ones that influenced the power genre later on.

The most evident change in the band’s sound since the debut is the introduction of vocalist Michael Kiske, whose high-pitched wails and falsettos would be integral in crafting the power metal formula. Although Kai Hansen’s gruff vocals fit “Walls of Jericho”s quasi-thrash approach, Helloween’s updated sound on “Keeper of the Seven Keys” is far more refined. Giving the impression at times of a neoclassical heavy metal symphony, Michael Kiske’s fully-fleshed falsetto is a perfect companion. It’s made even more impressive by fact of his youth during the recording of this album; although there are arguably a few power metal vocalists that managed to perfect the singing style even further, I can’t think of any that did it when they were 19 years old! “Twilight of the Gods” is Kiske’s brightest-shining moment on the album, particularly during the soaring chorus, where his high register is complimented gorgeously by a subtle choral backup. In terms of performance and production, “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I” is impeccable. Unfortunately, there’s a point where the album’s excellence runs out. It’s not necessarily the songwriting itself that is the problem, so much as its inconsistency. “Keeper...” never quite hits the level of true filler, but there’s a significant gap between the songs that melt faces, and the ones that don’t do so much. As mentioned earlier, “Twilight of the Gods” is one of the best things the album has to offer, beautifully integrating melody and neoclassical metal- two things that rarely work so well together. “I’m Alive” is effective in its straightforwardness, and the epic “Halloween” has enough brilliant ideas to make a track twice its length interesting. It’s granted and forgiven that the intro and outro are fairly forgettable, but that leaves two songs that don’t do nearly as much for me. “A Little Time”, and particularly the lame power ballad “A Tale That Wasn’t Right” are not terrible, but lack the sophistication and cleverness that the rest do. Perhaps not so coincidentally, these are also the only two tracks that guitarist Kai Hansen did not write. Perhaps it’s not fair to the Hansen-penned tunes to rob “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part One” of a ‘masterpiece’ declaration on the demerit of these two, but it’s difficult to give the album the commendation when half of the album’s first side consists of relative mediocrity.

Regardless, “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part One” deserves its classic recognition, and in spite of a couple of less brightly shining stars among the sky, Helloween’s second album remains an excellent staple for epic, cheese-infused listening. Kai Hansen’s guitar work is brilliant, and Kiske’s vocals are an inspiration to power metal wailers everywhere. If you haven’t already, don’t wait as long as I did to check it out, and do so as soon as you can!