Master Of The Rings - Helloween

Advantages: great vocals and production
Disadvantages: definately not what you expected from these guys, lack of good riffs and solos

...Chameleon by many regarded as the worst Helloween offering to date since with this album the band goes further away from the metal path and continues to go down the softer road they started to travel with their previous album,Pink Bubbles Go Ape. I do not mind a good rock album once in a while and with great musicans such as Helloween and amazing vocalist such as Michael Kiske grabbed my intrest to look closer into this album. The album begins with probably the best track found on this album, "First Time".This does in fact remind a litle like early Bon Jovi, a good and solid rocktune which well could have chances to hit the charts! After that track I was eager to the hear the next song. Unfortunately from the second song, the downhill starts. "When The Sinner" sounds boring and uninspring, and i would classify this song as a poor pop... Read review

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Advantages: great melodies, sounds new and fresh, very dark and heavy
Disadvantages: some people might now like this dark approach

...The masters of German powermetal are back and this time they get, as the title of this album is suggesting, very dark and serious. I'm sure a lot of you who read this review never heard of Helloween before, since they do not excactly play the type of (nu)metal that is is playing all over radio and mtv. If music with great melodies with dark and heavy appeal together with great vocals and amazing production is something for you, then I definately recommend this album album for you. If you know Helloween from before, then you will be very misstaken if you think this is speedmetal journey with happy melodies, since most of the songs are slow or midtempo and sound dark and often make use of downtuned guitars. I think this album is one of their best albums on their 20 year old carrier. The title is very suitable, since this is a "dark... Read review

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Advantages: They don't let you down... what you'd expect...
Disadvantages: None really

...Picture, if you can, a young man wearing jeans and leather, trying to grow his hair, but finding he looked more like a poodle than a rock star - which is probably what he was trying to portray (the rock star, not the poodle). Well, that would-be rock star impersonator is me and it is hard to believe that that man was once I. It was around that era that I discovered Helloween for the first time. Helloween hail from Germany and their first album was released in 1985. Since then they have gone through many changes - some members sacked, some quit and some forced to leave due to ill health. 'Gambling with the Devil' is their thirteenth album and the line up is a follows: Andi Deris - Vocals Michael Weikath - Guitars Sascha Gerstner - Guitars Marcus Grobkopt - Bass Dani Loble - Drums I eventually gave up on growing my hair... Read review

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