Official Helloween thread v. Pumpkins United

[Polarbear]

Going by that breakdown, like Mirror said, this is basically a Deris era album with a Hansen epic on the end.  I'm fine with that I think.

It could be, but with the addition of vocals from Kiske and Hansen, I think it will still end up sounding fresh and new! That's what I'm most excited to hear on this new album. How exactly do they balance the vocals from Deris, Kiske and Hansen. I suspect that they approach it much like Avantasia does!

[gazinwales]

Don't forget as with most Helloween albums they always record a handful of extra songs that end up as bonus tracks or 'b-sides'.

[wolfking]

Don't forget as with most Helloween albums they always record a handful of extra songs that end up as bonus tracks or 'b-sides'.

Possibly the best band for me in terms of quality and quantity when it comes to bonus tracks.

[devieira73]

I just hope that Charlie Bauerfeind hasn't fucked up the mix and mastering as he did with the last Blind Guardian.
Which had great songs, terrible mix, with drums almost totally compressed and almost inaudible.

I saw this old post only today on Helloween's site, just by chance. And it says that the new album is been mixed by Ronald Prent.

https://www.helloween.org/

"UNITED ALIVE WORLD TOUR PART II
POSTPONED!
​With a heavy heart we herewith announce that we are forced to postpone our UNITED ALIVE PART II European Tour 2020.
Initially scheduled to take place from the end of September until mid of November 2020, we now rescheduled the tour from April to June 2021. Tickets will remain valid, please see the new dates below.
This never seen before pandemic challenges all of us, and we feel the risk of a contamination is still way too high. Besides, the national regulations of the individual countries make the excecution of the tour in its entity very uncertain. A HELLOWEEN concert should be a gathering of all fans having fun, enjoying themselves by celebrating the music we all love. The current situation worldwide does not allow such an unconcerned manner yet."

Andi Deris & Michael Weikath

We also decided to shift the release of our yet untitled new album to early next year. The  production is on the home stretch: The mixing, by Ronald Prent in New York, is working to the fullest. Andi Deris: ,,We are super proud of the result and can´t wait to celebrate the new songs together with our fans live - but we all need to be a bit more patient.  Health comes first!"
To shorten the waiting time a bit, we designed a special ,,Corona shirt", which we offer at our cost price free of shipping - we hope you like it! Get the shirt here
Please be safe and stay healthy - obeying the rules will get us through these surreal times!"

[Grappler]

From the press release - Bauerfeind and Dennis Ward flew to New York to use his (Ronald Prent's) studio, but Prent didn't produce/mix/master the album.

Completely analog and under the eyes of long term producer Charlie Bauerfeind and co-producer Dennis Ward, the UNITED impact travelled to New York and got the final mix in the Valhalla Studios of Ronald Prent (Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Rammstein). "After 30 years with the different line ups of the band I really thought I was well prepared for another extreme challenge, but I was wrong! My expectations were highly exceeded in every way with this super-sized creativity package" comments Bauerfeind.

[devieira73]

Ok, now it's clear. 
Anyway, the teaser of Skyfall sounds really good, better than the mix of 7 Sinners, Straight Out Of Hell and My God-given Right IMO.

[gazinwales]

Can't tell anything from the compressed YT teaser, wait for the CD

[NotePad]

Based on that review it sounds like Deris isn't singing on any of Weiki's songs. And I hope the songs Deris wrote are good, he's been really hit or miss lately.
The weakest Deris album by far is My God Given Right. It sounded like a bunch of songs leftover from previous albums. I trust this will be better than that.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, they either hit a low point in creativity, or maybe the reunion was already in the making and they just "shat the album out" as an excuse to tour and be done with it.

The tour was also the most Deris-centered show in a long time; they opened with two Keeper songs and closed with the two uber famous classics (Future world and Dr. Stein), and then it was all Deris songs, almost as if they were saving the Kiske stuff for him to sing it.

[Mladen]

I think the problem is that we all had expectations from the relationships within the band. We thought that Deris and Kiske might collaborate on a song, that Kai would perhaps sing on a Weikath song, that Kiske would sing on a Gerstner song, that Deris would sing on a Kai song. But the reality is, they probably didn't think like that. They just focused on making good stuff, no matter who writes it or whether members collaborate on the songwriting or not.

As long as the songs themselves are good and this doesn't turn into a power metal version of Union by Yes, we still might be in for a treat. 

EDIT: Also, I will try to skip the single and avoid the reviews. I'd love to be surprised.

[MirrorMask]

Hammerfall will tour together with Helloween in Spring 2022!!!  great package.

[TAC]

Oh I hope that comes here.

[Mladen]

Oh I hope that tour does happen.

[gazinwales]

Pre-order link
https://media.nuclearblast.de/shoplanding/2021/Helloween/Album/helloween.html

[devieira73]

Only 2 bonus tracks on 2CD digibook. Are they long songs?
Anyway, that's my edition.

[wolfking]

Only 2 bonus tracks on 2CD digibook. Are they long songs?
Anyway, that's my edition.

No Pumpkins United. 

[IDontNotDoThings]

Only 2 bonus tracks on 2CD digibook. Are they long songs?
Anyway, that's my edition.

No Pumpkins United. 

Yes Pumpkins United on the boxset though

[gazinwales]

I looked at the mail order only edition, but at 149.00 Euro's plus shipping it's way too much even for my wallet.
Japan version adds an additional exclusive bonus track too.

[wolfking]

Only 2 bonus tracks on 2CD digibook. Are they long songs?
Anyway, that's my edition.

No Pumpkins United. 

Yes Pumpkins United on the boxset though

Ah.  But not on the 2CD?  What a rip!

[wolfking]

I looked at the mail order only edition, but at 149.00 Euro's plus shipping it's way too much even for my wallet.
Japan version adds an additional exclusive bonus track too.

Got a link mate?

[devieira73]

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/VIZP-167?s_ssid=e45028605ead4939cf
Third bonus track: We Are Real

[gazinwales]

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/VIZP-167?s_ssid=e45028605ead4939cf
Third bonus track: We Are Real

Where I ordered mine from 2CD and regular edition, those won't last long either, there may yet be a first edition bonus sticker or poster too.

[wolfking]

Cheers lads.

[MirrorMask]

Lovely picture from the vinyl edition!

https://www.emp-online.it/dw/image/v2/BBQV_PRD/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-master-emp/default/dwa4411685/images/4/9/8/7/498788.jpg?sfrm=png

[Polarbear]

Skyfall (Single edit) is up on Spotify, while the official video comes later today!

It's awesome!! , with one caveat. I don't like the single edit at all. Large chunks of the song have been ripped out, and as a result the single edit doesn't flow at all. Almost half of the song is missing. They should have picked up another song as a single, instead of hacking the epic of the album into pieces and putting that as the first single..

Now the song itself is awesome, but as I said incomplete. Sounds a lot like Gamma Ray, which is not surprising. Everything from the guitar tone to the keyboard sounds, brings to mind the Land of the Free to Powerplant- era Gamma Ray!

Can't wait to hear the whole thing

[MirrorMask]

That's my only problem with the song, I don't really want my first impression of an epic to be an heavily edited cut.... however doesn't the single have the full version, only with a different mix?

[wolfking]

I'll wait for the full song first I think.

[Evermind]

I'll wait for the full song first I think.

Yeah, same.

It's like when Leprous released Stuck as a single and left out the last three minutes which are the best part of the song.

[gazinwales]

That's my only problem with the song, I don't really want my first impression of an epic to be an heavily edited cut.... however doesn't the single have the full version, only with a different mix?

The single has an alternative to the album vocals version

[Mladen]

I've decided to wait for the entire album.

Now, the question is whether or not I want to read the comments. Not spoiling an album is an artform itself. 

[devieira73]

I really thought this edited version excellent, but I'm sure once I hear the complete version, I'll never go back to this one.

[Ben_Jamin]

Well Now that we know it's a Single Edit. It makes this odd single release make more sense now.

I was wondering why they would release the epic of the album as a single...But totally forgot about single edits.

I may listen to it, but then don't want to at the same time...

Reminds me of Halloween. How it's edited to single edit and then there's the actual album version that is 10 minutes.

[wolfking]

That's probably what they are going for in relation to the Halloween comparison.  I mean that edit cuts 8 minutes out of a 13 minute song.  That's some edit!

[Ben_Jamin]

I listened and while it is good. I want the entire song.

[IDontNotDoThings]

I listened to the Skyfall edit & I'm not sure what to feel. The song feels a bit disjointed in this state & I don't think some of the sections really bring their intended reaction. Hopefully having more context will remedy that.

At the very least, it's not as awfully spliced as the Halloween edit. I don't know what they were thinking with that one.