Helloween & Gamma Ray
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Black Bart
Ancient Mariner
Great news: pro-shot of Wacken show + more shows scheduled + live CDs/DVD/BluRay for Pumpkins United + promise of a new album with Hansen and Kiske! 
(better news than the vinyl box! 
)
(better news than the vinyl box! )
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Yes!!!!! I'm not expecting much from the album, but this lineup slays live. I would even go abroad to see them again if they played a different setlist to the one from last year. Hell, I'd probably go if it was the same.
Black Bart
Ancient Mariner
As for me, I was pleasantly surprised by "Pumpkins United" (goosebumps on the second verse, probably induced by the key change and Kiske's voice).
I think Blind Guardian is slightly better in that they have less gimmicks with the video stuff, no solo sections etc.
Black Bart
Ancient Mariner
I think it's difficult to compare these bands' recent concerts since Helloween is clearly doing a "best-of" tour. Besides, the vocals are probably more demanding for Helloween singers, which may explain the need for more pauses.
Anyway, I would be happy to see both bands live these days.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Hmm. Great news for Helloween fans, but bad news for Gamma Ray fans hoping to see another album this decade. At this rate The Unity will be up to their fourth album before we see anything else from Gamma Ray...promise of a new album with Hansen and Kiske!
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Sadly, your first point is correct and your second one probably is, too.
Black Bart
Ancient Mariner
Depends on what you mean by "ages"
To The Metal was pretty good apart from the title track, but that was 8 years ago. Since then, Dan left which was a big loss, and then Kai's voice went which is an even bigger loss. Last album was totally forgettable.
Similar with Helloween, but with one more album. 7 Sinners was great apart from the stupid first two songs and the production, but that was 8 years ago too. Since then they've had like 2 good songs on 2 albums.
Unisonic and "Hansen & Friends" were totally generic and forgettable too.
They all need this. Sucks for the members of the bands left behind though.
Land Of The Free II was a great album despite ripoffs and Gambling With The Devil was even better, quite possibly the best album after the first three.
I hope they plan on releasing footage from multiple shows for the live album and not just Wacken. I want Forever & One and Why with Deris AND Kiske, Wacken doesn't have the former song and only has Deris on the latter song.
I hope they plan on releasing footage from multiple shows for the live album and not just Wacken. I want Forever & One and Why with Deris AND Kiske, Wacken doesn't have the former song and only has Deris on the latter song.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Meh. It didn't feel anything like the original Land Of The Free aside from a couple of musical theme callbacks. Where was the moodiness and finesse? If they'd called the album something else I might have been a little less critical, but they didn't.
As for the songs, there was an awful lot of "been there, done that". It was so cookie-cutter that I barely remember any of the songs from the album aside from "Insurrection", and that's after listening to the disc nonstop for a while after it first came out. That's not a very ringing endorsement.
But hey, it was still better than To The Metal or Empire Of The Undead overall...
Black Wizard
Pleb Hunter
'Gambling with the Devil' is indeed an excellent album.
Unfortunately they seem to drop off after that. '7 Sinners' was pretty good but the two most recent have been disappointing.
Black Bart
Ancient Mariner
I agree. Still, the more I listen to Keeper 3 (Legacy), the more I think it is a great album overall. For those who have time and are still into burning CDs (R or RW), there must be a great 1 or possibly 2-CD compilation to make out of "the Gerstner years", which would include even things from My God-Given Right.
The problem with recent Helloween is that their albums are too long, to the point of drowning the good songs in the middle of the meh songs. The problem with recent Gamma Ray is that good songs are few even though the albums are not necessarily too long...
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
You are absolutely right about Land of the Free II. It was great fun to sing the Maiden lyrics over their music!
Such a shame, as they did write some really good songs in their early days (I particularly like the albums Heading for Tomorrow and Land of the Free).