HELLOWEEN: 7 Sinners

Produced by Charle Bauerfeind
Released: November 2010

The first thing that strikes you about the new Helloween album is how heavy it is. It's almost worth forgiving them for the ridiculous Unarmed if that's what it took for them to get as heavy as this. The second thing is how metal it is. Just how goddamn METAL is this album? Skip straight to the fourth track, "Raise the Noise", revel in the seriously savage riffarama going on and then listen in astonishment at the goddamn rampaging flute solo! That's how fucking METAL this album is, there's flutes where guitars should be. Helloween has always had the temerity to do whatever they please, and this time it works.


7 Sinners is a great heavy metal album. If "Are You Metal?" was written as a response to all those who wondered what the fuck Unarmed was, then the rest of the tracks are Helloween's affirmation that they are, indeed, metal. By the time "Raise the Noise" comes around, the band has decided that restraint is no longer required and they are churning out what is easily the heaviest stuff they've ever done, without compromising their incredible grasp on melody and hooks nor their knack for storytelling. What is frequently overlooked with Helloween's lyrics is how thought-provoking they often are and many of the songs follow the lyrical theme suggested by the album title: avarice and lust. "If A Mountain Could Talk" and "You Stupid Mankind" make telling and topical points about humanity's rapacious wastefulness and "The Sage, the Fool, the Sinner" is a murky little tale about murder and greed. They haven't forgotten their quirky side (the aforementioned flute solo) or their past (the shadow of "Perfect Gentleman" in the intro to "Who is Mr Madman?") either, nor the classic power metal they're best known for ("Long Live the King") and the final track hints at a darkness in tone and style that's rare for them. Andi Deris shines, but here it's hard to find to someone who doesn't. The drums are massive, the riffs and solos are huge and the song-writing and hooks are as strong as you'd expect from a band who are masters of the game.

As someone who has always been less than a massive fan of Helloween, 7 Sinners was damn impressive and by the end of it I even found myself going back to re-acquaint myself with their earlier stuff. A sterling effort.

1. Where the Sinners Go
2. Are You Metal?
3. Who is Mr Madman?
4. Raise the Noise
5. World of Fantasy
6. Long Live the King
7. The Smile of the Sun
8. You Stupid Mankind
9. If a Mountain Could Talk
10. The Sage, the Fool, the Sinner
11. My Sacrifice
12. Not Yet Today
13. Far in the Future

Rating: 92%

HELLOWEEN: Unarmed - Best of 25th Anniversary

Produced by Charlie Bauerfeind

Released: 29 January

Have you ever been slapped in the face by someone you love? If you're a Helloween fan, that's what this album is like. More than once over the course of their storied career, Helloween has left their audience wondering as to what the Hell they had been thinking. While they've pretty much led the European power metal brigade since arriving on the scene, after Kai Hansen left back in '89 they churned out Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon, albums so oddly un-Helloween they've left fans scratching their heads in amazement ever since. The former of the pair is just bad heavy metal but perhaps forgiveable for a band recovering from having its creative heart ripped out; the latter an oddball collection of experiments in all sorts of musical styles that was virtually not metal at all.

Considering Chameleon almost ended the band and remains the most reviled of their albums by both critics and fans, it's difficult to understand the reasoning behind Unarmed. Helloween isn't beyond some experimentation from time to time, but above and beyond everything else, they're the world's best known power metal band. People like them because they play power metal! So what does this most revered and fanatically-followed arch-power metal band do to celebrate 25 years as a recording artist? With obviously little thought to the idea that it is, in fact, a really bad idea, they kick off Unarmed with an acoustic pop-rock version of "Dr Stein" -- with a horns section! Seriously, how could they top that? Well, how about taking the huge booming drums and galloping guitars completely out of "Eagle Fly Free" and turning it into an acoustic ballad? I won't even mention what they've done to "I Want Out". It's almost as if someone abducted Helloween and replaced them with a second-rate Eurovision entrant from Belarus. It really is that bad. If this is supposed to be a thank you to the fans, I'd hate to see what an insult would be like.

Somewhat amazingly, however, "The Keeper's Trilogy", a 17-minute orchestral medley of "Halloween", "Keeper of the 7 Keys" and "The King for a 1000 Years" is actually pretty good, mainly because they translate well to a symphonic treatment due to their original epic nature. It doesn't save the rest of the album though, because the rest of it is harebrained beyond imagining.

1. Dr Stein
2. Future World
3. If I Could Fly
4. Where the Rain Grows
5. The Keeper's Trilogy (Halloween/Keeper of the 7 Keys/The King For a 1000 Years)
6. Eagle Fly Free
7. Perfect Gentleman
8. Forever & One
9. I Want Out
10. Fallen to Pieces
11. A Tale That Wasn't Right

Rating: 35%