Hey, Everyone! It's Andi, and this will be my review of the latest release by the legendary German Speed/Power Metal outfit: HELLOWEEN. It's a long awaited follow-up to "Gambling With the Devil", the album they released in the long gone year 2007. This masterpiece is called "7 SINNERS".
The albums starts with the thematic title track "Where the Sinners Go", which sets you into a weird mood with its strange creeping verses and anthem chorus... Next is the provoking anthem "Are You Metal?", the current concert opener, which many people know by its video... Check it out on YouTube! One of rare cases where the keyboards make the sound heavier. Both of these tracks are written by the vocalist Andi Deris are played live on Helloween's "7 Sinners World Tour". Following it is "Who is Mr. Madman?", a fan favourite written by guitarist Sascha Gerstner from a perspective of the mental hospital patient. It's an interesting mix of fun madness and sad reality: Helloween's trademark gimmick of being so weird.
Continuing the record is "Raise the Noise", a classic Power Metal anthem by Michael Weikath, that gives you that warm and happy feeling every time you hear it. It also features a flute solo, which interestingly blends into the mix and, if you were still unaffected by the album's tone, forces it right on your head. "World of Fantasy", written by the bass player Markus Grosskopf is a funny speedy take on the issue of personal freedom: "All I ever wanted is a little piece of life in a world where I decide things on my own"... A nod to "I Want Out".
"Long Live the King" is a Speed Metal number about a Metal concert, the King they call out to is a Rock Star. At around 2:30 in the song, it breaks the boundaries of heaviness and starts to push it right on your face... Only to be followed by "The Smile of The Sun", a sad ballad, leaving you with a lukewarm feeling of the cold morning sun: "Is anybody out there, somebody help me!". It's one of the tracks that I have heard before the album's release, when Helloween did an acoustic performance of it on a radio... Interestingly, along with the previous track it was written by Andi Deris, and it seemed like they were supposed to flow into each other. Reminds me of the similar situation with "Falling to Pieces" and "I.M.E." on "Gambing...".
"Dead and gone, no survivors! They'll hit and crush our Earth..."
..."You Stupid Mankind"! My personal favourite, a contribution by Sascha Gerstner. It's the third and final concert track from this album... Set in the vein of "Star Invaders" and "Mission Motherland", it's another epic about space conquests: you can thank Helloween for officially destroying Iron Maiden's "The Final Frontier" for me. "...Mankind" is so much better!
"If a Mountain Could Talk" is another hint on older Helloween material, this time on "Wake Up the Mountain" from the "Time of the Oath" album. Another one by Markus. It's a filler, placed there to set the mood for "The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner" by Weiki, which is as classic Helloween as it gets: optimistic and high-pitched, it's a fav track of several people I know. "My Sacrifice" is the last track by Sascha, it has quite a nostalgic feel to it, and is the favourite track of my mum. "Not Yet Today" is a minute long fill with a cosmic feeling, it is set to go into "Far in the Future", which is very creepy and moody... "I'll wait for you." Congratulations, we have a horror track on a Helloween album! And, you know what? It's very good. PERIOD.
It's an excellent album closer, but in the case of Helloween, the best tracks are usually the bonus tracks. So, where do we start? "I'm Free", the American bonus track. That's what I hate in Helloween: the song sounds like a guaranteed hit to be. But it won't. Because it's just a bonus track. There's also "Aiming High", the digital download bonus track. Since I don't care for digital editions, I only heard it in bad quality on YouTube. It is written in the style of the "Keeper" albums. Next, Japanese bonus "Faster We Fall" — classic Speed Metal. And by classic Speed Metal, I mean Accept's "Fast as a Shark"... It hints to it in every imaginable way. That's exactly how the album is supposed to be finished: "Stronger than ever before!".
When Gamma Ray released "To The Metal!", and after an abomination "Unarmed", I had doubts that Helloween would be able to compete with Kai Hansen's newer endeavour... Yet, with "7 Sinners", they pushed over the edge so much, they overshadowed albums of the same year by Gamma Ray, Grave Digger, Iron Maiden, Kamelot, and even the reunion of Accept! Helloween do not doubt themselves, they ask you, Sinners: "ARE YOU METAL?"
"I love it loud, let's push it higher! Until the gain shows just red light!"
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