HELLOWEEN – Helloween [Japanese Edition] (2021)

Without a doubt, HELLOWEEN‘s new, 2021 self-titled album is one of the most anticipated releases this year, and it will be released first in Japan tomorrow. Hamburg’s Helloween is one of metal’s most fun and entertaining bands until today, so every release gets a lot of love from fans, even if some of them aren’t even close to being gems of the genre.
So, even higher expectations were created when Michael Weikath and Markus Grosskopf announced the triumphant and official return of the power metal god himself Kai Hansen and of one of the best vocalists of all time, Michael Kiske, in 2017.
That reunion gave birth to the acclaimed Pumpkins United tour and fans were eager to see new material, so here we are with the band’s 16th album. Does it live up to the hype?

You are actually very pleased with the album even before hearing it due to the killer cover artwork made by the monster of an artist Eliran Kantor, which pays tribute to ‘Walls of Jericho’ (1985), the ‘Keeper of the Seven Keys’ albums, ‘The Time of the Oath’ (1996) – among other cool easter eggs – and to the simple, but a powerful and fitting title that definitely relates to the metal giant’s new era of unity.

As for the songs themselves, there was a lot of expectation of what Weikath and Hansen would come up with after more than 30 years apart.
With that in mind, I do believe the duo have managed to put together some very good, at times great, tracks with regards to songwriting. Opener “Out for the Glory”, the fun “Best Time” and “Robot King” are definitely good examples of this, as they combine Weikath’s carefree ideas with Hansen’s geniality, but the best case here might be “Skyfall”, which puts everything together – from Gamma Ray to Avantasia, Iron Savior to Blind Guardian – in a 12-minute display of classic Helloween meeting the newer version of the power metal giants.

There’s three lead vocalists here, but they found the good spacing between them for the majority of the album. While it seems that Kiske is the one with a more prominent role in this new endeavor, Deris also does a great job in his solo parts and actually keeps close to Kiske quality-wise.
Hansen, on the other hand, does little by himself and tends to be in the backing vocals duty for most of the record, except in “Skyfall”.

Grosskopf works like a clock and Dani Löble’s drum skills are crazy, so the kitchen part is as good as ever, and as for the three axemen in Weikath, Sascha Gerstner and Hansen there’s little to say that you wouldn’t expect already because come on, it’s Kai Hansen leading the charge here, we should just bow or heads and say grace.

This is Helloween through and through. Upbeat, catchy, singalong-inducing, and mostly just feel-good metal the way only they can do.
There’s nothing particularly dark or anything like that, just the good ‘ol classic Helloween metal. Casuals will find a kick ass metal album to enjoy here, and fans who were expecting Helloween’s release like Christmas will love it.
Highly Recommended

01 – OUT FOR THE GLORY
02 – FEAR OF THE FALLEN
03 – BEST TIME
04 – MASS POLLUTION
05 – ANGELS
06 – RISE WITHOUT CHAINS
07 – INDESTRUCTIBLE
08 – ROBOT KING
09 – CYANIDE
10 – DOWN IN THE DUMPS
11 – ORBIT
12 – SKYFALL

Michael Kiske – vocals
Kai Hansen – guitar, vocals
Andi Deris – vocals
Michael Weikath, Sascha Gerstner – guitars
Markus Grosskopf – bass
Daniel Löble – drums

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www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/VICP-65555