Helloween & Gamma Ray

My vinyl finally arrived. Going to listen to this beauty tonight - What an artwork. I casually listened through the first half on Spotify a couple of days ago and quite liked it, but I'm sure an active listening session will leave a deeper imprint.
 
Finally gave it a listen. It's.... good. Safe. I like it. I'm not disappointed, but I'm not blown away either. The only song that made me stop what I was doing and take notice was the bonus track "Save My Hide." Granted, I've listened to it ONCE, so this is first impression. Might be a grower though.
 
This is a great album. I was surprised to find just how much Deris brought this time around. He sings great, as opposed to the rather lazy singing of the past 10 years. The album doesn't have any enormous peaks, but there aren't any bad songs either. The low points, like Down In The Dumps and Cyanide are still good tracks. The trading and layering of vocals works really, really well. Far better than I would have imagined, and Kai's backing vocals even manages to embellish Best Time.

Favorite tracks: Mass Pollution, Indestructable, Fear Of The Fallen and Best Times.

Grade estimate: 8/10.

Japanese bonus track:
 
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KidInTheDark666 said:
So, Skyfall is here now...
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More info about ''Skyfall'' - the keyboards in this song are done by Jens Johansson (Stratovarius, DIO, Yngwie Malmsteen).
KidInTheDark666 said:
I have to say that Weikath (once again) wrote the weakest songs on the album.
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I think ''Creatures In Heaven'' (written by him) is the best song in the album from 2015.
Yax said:
Japanese bonus track:
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Japanese bonus tracks are somehow always good (of any band)... ;)
 
Kalata said:
More info about ''Skyfall'' - the keyboards in this song are done by Jens Johansson (Stratovarius, DIO, Yngwie Malmsteen).

I think ''Creatures In Heaven'' (written by him) is the best song in the album from 2015.

Japanese bonus tracks are somehow always good (of any band)... ;)
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Yeah, I agree about Creatures in Heaven being a good song, but generally I think there's a good reason why Deris has been the main writer for a long while now.

Also, I don't get why they needed a world class player like Jens to play the keys on Skyfall. It doesn't seem that complicated of a song to play.
 
So I went into town today and popped in my local HMV record shop. I was tempted to buy the new Helloween album but went with United Alive instead. Double Blu-Ray edition for £9.99. What a bargain!

Out of curiosity I checked if they had any Maiden videos on sale. Zero. Zilch! They had material from many legendary bands, but Maiden was not one of them. :( Someone should tell Steve and Rod that there are probably still people out there willing to buy DVD/Blu-Ray releases!
 
Listened to the entire thing, bonus tracks and all, a few days ago.
Don't know why, really.
I've got just two things to say, and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings:
1. I was right to stop following them after Keeper II
2. All the bad things I've said about post-80s Maiden, I still stand by, but at least they've never released anything like this.
 
Magnus said:
Listened to the entire thing, bonus tracks and all, a few days ago.
Don't know why, really.
I've got just two things to say, and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings:
1. I was right to stop following them after Keeper II
2. All the bad things I've said about post-80s Maiden, I still stand by, but at least they've never released anything like this.
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Wait... after KEEPERS II??!! You're missing out on some good stuff. Better Than Raw is my favorite Deris-led album and Keeper Legacy is amazing. This one, I've listened to it a couple more times and it's clicked. Like it quite a lot. Is it Classic Helloween? Not even close. you can hear a bit of Walls of Jericho and other early material here and there kinda like callbacks, but it's not bad.

I do agree that few of the 80's bands made it out of the 90s on solid ground.
 
Magnus said:
Listened to the entire thing, bonus tracks and all, a few days ago.
Don't know why, really.
I've got just two things to say, and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings:
1. I was right to stop following them after Keeper II
2. All the bad things I've said about post-80s Maiden, I still stand by, but at least they've never released anything like this.
Click to expand...

Kiske’s soaring vocals probably save the album for me. That guy can make anything sound good.
 
Down the Dumbs has terribly, exaggerated intense vocals. I do not like the singing (melody) in the Angels chorus either.
Not a big fan of the first two tracks either. Cyanide's also not great.

That leaves these six songs as my favs:

3."Best Time"3:35
4."Mass Pollution"4:14
6."Rise Without Chains"4:56
7."Indestructible"4:42
8."Robot King"7:07

12."Skyfall"12:11
Although it's especially the last 2-3 minutes for me. It's very Catch the Rainbowish, but that solo at the end and Kiske's singing is fantastic.


Edit: the wikipedia lists a lot of Hansen credits. I guess that's not correct(?)
 
Yeah, Time of the Oath is my favorite too, although I do love the whole Deris era. I wouldn't recommend Keeper: Legacy to Magnus since it falls on the cheesier side of Helloween.
 
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