So I need to throw this out there.
I find myself just not all that impressed with the latest Helloween record. It's fine, and it's cool to have Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske back. But I feel the record...doesn't know what it wants to be. Using both vocalists live, and the live stuff - totally makes sense. And Skyfall, its a great track. But Skyfall is the highlight of the album to my ears. The rest sort of...just don't know if they are supposed to be power metal songs written for a tenor, or more hard rock/metal made for not as dynamic of a singer. And that combination sort of throws me.
It could be simply that I love the Keeper I & II records so much (I basically consider them one fully record) that it is biasing me. But I just can't get into self-titled Helloween album. Am I the only one?
I'm an unabashed Kiske fan. I'm not so fond of Deris. He is a great songwriter for sure. Good singer. But Kiske's voice and the style of those first two Keeper records is what drew me to Helloween...
Interesting post.
I think it was easy to get caught up in expecting a perfect album. The thing is, it is not a perfect album, with its own hierarchy of songs.
You're right on this...Skyfall is the highlight of the album. It's also the only Kai track. And for some reason, he expected to be the vocalist on it. One of the album's shortfalls is not having any more Kai tracks, but for some reason, he only wrote one.
I think Down In The Dumps, Out For The Glory, Fear Of The Fallen, Rise Without Chains, and Robot Man are all excellent tracks, and musically, all I was hoping for. Plus the vocal recording and mixing is masterclass. Dennis Ward did an amazing job with the vocals, pushing up Kiske (while still clearly hearing Andi) on a first chorus, and then pushing up Andi (while still clearly hearing Kiske) in the next chorus. With the exception of FOTF and RWC, as great as these tunes are, they have dumb AF lyrics. Which brings me to my second shortfall, which is that Kiske didn't write any lyrics.
If they do another album, we need more music from Kai and Kiske to write lyrics.
This brings me to the two Sasha tunes, Best Time and Angels. These are great tunes and are the two tracks that feel fresh. Angels is phenomenal.
Markus' Indestructible has really grown on me. It's straight ahead, but I really like it.
Andi's two tracks, Cyanide and Mass Pollution are both disappointing. I just don't think they're that great.
It took me a long time to come around to Andi, but he carried Helloween on his back for years, and really gave them this lengthy career. There are some great Andi albums all the way through their discography.
Plus, I really like Andi. He has balls of steel. He doesn't shy away from any track. He's an extremely strong and varied vocalist.
Now, as a whole, I expect a better album the next time around, but I am more than happy with the s/t. I still listen to it regularly. My biggest fear is that it will be a one and done.