Helloween
My God-Given Right
Nuclear Blast
2015
Right… Helloween on Nuclear-Blast, a story that is at best tumulus if not downright sorrowful… Helloween were part of the NB roster in the past, but their debut on the mega-label with the “Dark Ride” was a bit of an oddity, as people at first didn’t get the “Dark” Helloween, sound and following it up with the rather weak “Rabbits” did little to help the band renew its contract which was not renewed after that album. Now on the heels of a very good and very successful album, “Straight Out of Hell” Hell-o-ween, return with a much more uneven album, with pretty disastrous lead singles, more akin to badly humorous Edguy and Deris post “Better Than Raw” sounding material, a mix that could be described as lighthearted and easy to listen to, but not terribly exciting... it’s like Helloween on auto-pilot and “descending”, instead of the opposite, which didn’t stop the album becoming frontpage in all the “respectable” press and receive top marks, by those busybody-journalists… that only seem to discover stuff, when it gets signed by big companies.
As impressive as Deris sounded on “Straight Outta Hell” here, he sounds way more generic and closer to the material… than trying to take flight… production wise, things are on a high level, expectedly, but more modern-sounding than what I’d probably like…
“Heroes” is probably one of the better songs on the album, not very much because it’s something extremely original, but in its grittiness, it has some really sharp lyrics about the inequality in our world today and how its heroic, to stand up… obviously it’s easy to talk with your mouth full, but I don’t think, the band’s to blame about all the evils in our world.
“Battle’s Won” make a lot more sense on the heels of “Heroes” than it did when it dropped as a first single. It’s a fast and kinda ultimately optimistic song with some triumphant refrain, that’s probably in all truth however one of the shabbiest one, a Helloween single ever had, meaning it’s hardly that catchy… after listening to it, a few times, you warm up to it, but as a single… it’s far from the band’s best ones.
The title track, doesn’t stray too much from that motif, but it’s more serious tone and melodies help it to sound like a better executed effort, of the “Helloween” sound blueprint.
“Stay Crazy” is an easy happy rocker, which is for instance much better during the chorus, than “Battle’s Won” and is even a little reminiscent of Deris’ PC69 days…
“Lost in America”, which supposedly is based on real life incidents at some huge, American airport, is not bad and worked much better as a “leaked” single… but it’s just Helloween sounding like a goofy cross, between themselves, Edguy and Stratovarius… still better than nothing I suppose, but hardly something to write home about...
“Russian Roule” – with its weird “gangsta” spelling has a nice enough introductory verse, but quickly falls to pieces, with a very mediocre and by the numbers chorus, which also wastes a nice little lead in there...
“The Swing of a Fallen World” tries to get things a lot more serious all of the sudden, sounding more like something distantly UDO-ish and just doesn’t work well here.
“Like Everybody Else” is a smooth, laid back and much slower number with just the pre chorus and chorus being selectively more electric… other than a couple of nice ideas and a nice melody there it feels interesting, but not quite as developed as it could have been.
“Creatures in Heaven” is a pacy number, but it’s so generic, that it just fails to make a mark. You can tell it’s Helloween from a million miles away, but it’s not very good.
“If God Loves Rock ‘n’ Roll” tries to be another “light-hearted” moment but its prayers don’t really go answered... as it’s probably one of the worst Helloween-funnies, with only a lead melody, being distinctive and worth mentioning in the entire song…
“Living on the Edge” is a touch more symphonic and predictable as hell, but gets lost in the sea of Helloween not too plody mid-tempo, mediocrities… without a life-saver.
“Claws” tries to “save the game” by being a faster rocker with a bit more bite – excuse the pun – but ultimately fails to leave its “toothy” mark… by also being quite generic.
And maybe the tombstone on this album comes with the progy, seven plus minute “You Still of War” that might be “concerned” with higher meanings, but is a bit boring, as a song. It’s not without its merits, but it’s a little ill-conceived and executed in a way, that doesn’t help its cause greatly.
Typically, the limited and earbook editions have some bonuses…
“I Wish I Were There” is a dark mid-tempo, that is more interesting than half of the material on the album, but feels bereft, of a proper chorus, as it’s so to speak “chorus” feels more like a syncopated, idea... it has a nice change towards melody towards the end however that is quite nice after which it comes back to a more typical Helloween style.
“Wicked Game” is not a Chris Isaak’s cover, but instead, the darkest and possibly better fast paced number, that is not included on all versions of the album, as it is a bonus.... pffff... after the debacle that Symphony X’s plain “Iconoclast” was, which contained only “half” the album, making it, a necessity for people who wanted all the music to buy the limited edition as a premium, this “policy” of bonuses, feels quite tiresome. It’s again a decent, but not amazing song, but worth having, nonetheless.
And them Japanese guys get yet another bonus song in the form of “Free World”, a double pedal number that’s quite simple, but probably more enjoyable than half of the mid-tempo uninspired dross in the middle of this album…
Overall a very weak and uneven entry in the Helloween catalog, which will possibly not perform too well in the market. Surely, the band is big and the 3D computer cover on lenticular looks, neat, but the nice packaging, is not matched, by the rather mediocre contents.
As impressive as Deris sounded on “Straight Outta Hell” here, he sounds way more generic and closer to the material… than trying to take flight… production wise, things are on a high level, expectedly, but more modern-sounding than what I’d probably like…
“Heroes” is probably one of the better songs on the album, not very much because it’s something extremely original, but in its grittiness, it has some really sharp lyrics about the inequality in our world today and how its heroic, to stand up… obviously it’s easy to talk with your mouth full, but I don’t think, the band’s to blame about all the evils in our world.
“Battle’s Won” make a lot more sense on the heels of “Heroes” than it did when it dropped as a first single. It’s a fast and kinda ultimately optimistic song with some triumphant refrain, that’s probably in all truth however one of the shabbiest one, a Helloween single ever had, meaning it’s hardly that catchy… after listening to it, a few times, you warm up to it, but as a single… it’s far from the band’s best ones.
The title track, doesn’t stray too much from that motif, but it’s more serious tone and melodies help it to sound like a better executed effort, of the “Helloween” sound blueprint.
“Stay Crazy” is an easy happy rocker, which is for instance much better during the chorus, than “Battle’s Won” and is even a little reminiscent of Deris’ PC69 days…
“Lost in America”, which supposedly is based on real life incidents at some huge, American airport, is not bad and worked much better as a “leaked” single… but it’s just Helloween sounding like a goofy cross, between themselves, Edguy and Stratovarius… still better than nothing I suppose, but hardly something to write home about...
“Russian Roule” – with its weird “gangsta” spelling has a nice enough introductory verse, but quickly falls to pieces, with a very mediocre and by the numbers chorus, which also wastes a nice little lead in there...
“The Swing of a Fallen World” tries to get things a lot more serious all of the sudden, sounding more like something distantly UDO-ish and just doesn’t work well here.
“Like Everybody Else” is a smooth, laid back and much slower number with just the pre chorus and chorus being selectively more electric… other than a couple of nice ideas and a nice melody there it feels interesting, but not quite as developed as it could have been.
“Creatures in Heaven” is a pacy number, but it’s so generic, that it just fails to make a mark. You can tell it’s Helloween from a million miles away, but it’s not very good.
“If God Loves Rock ‘n’ Roll” tries to be another “light-hearted” moment but its prayers don’t really go answered... as it’s probably one of the worst Helloween-funnies, with only a lead melody, being distinctive and worth mentioning in the entire song…
“Living on the Edge” is a touch more symphonic and predictable as hell, but gets lost in the sea of Helloween not too plody mid-tempo, mediocrities… without a life-saver.
“Claws” tries to “save the game” by being a faster rocker with a bit more bite – excuse the pun – but ultimately fails to leave its “toothy” mark… by also being quite generic.
And maybe the tombstone on this album comes with the progy, seven plus minute “You Still of War” that might be “concerned” with higher meanings, but is a bit boring, as a song. It’s not without its merits, but it’s a little ill-conceived and executed in a way, that doesn’t help its cause greatly.
Typically, the limited and earbook editions have some bonuses…
“I Wish I Were There” is a dark mid-tempo, that is more interesting than half of the material on the album, but feels bereft, of a proper chorus, as it’s so to speak “chorus” feels more like a syncopated, idea... it has a nice change towards melody towards the end however that is quite nice after which it comes back to a more typical Helloween style.
“Wicked Game” is not a Chris Isaak’s cover, but instead, the darkest and possibly better fast paced number, that is not included on all versions of the album, as it is a bonus.... pffff... after the debacle that Symphony X’s plain “Iconoclast” was, which contained only “half” the album, making it, a necessity for people who wanted all the music to buy the limited edition as a premium, this “policy” of bonuses, feels quite tiresome. It’s again a decent, but not amazing song, but worth having, nonetheless.
And them Japanese guys get yet another bonus song in the form of “Free World”, a double pedal number that’s quite simple, but probably more enjoyable than half of the mid-tempo uninspired dross in the middle of this album…
Overall a very weak and uneven entry in the Helloween catalog, which will possibly not perform too well in the market. Surely, the band is big and the 3D computer cover on lenticular looks, neat, but the nice packaging, is not matched, by the rather mediocre contents.