Singles Roundup: Helloween, Light The Torch, KK's Priest, & The Picturebooks

The album well is running a bit dry at the moment, so let's take a look at what individual songs have been coming out recently, placed into our ears like dollar bills into g-strings.

Helloween – Skyfall

The first taste of the upcoming album featuring all three men who have fronted Helloween, and I have to say I'm underwhelmed. Helloween hasn't been interesting to me in a long while, and adding in the other voices doesn't cover up for the things I don't like about them. In fact, adding Michael Kiske back into the mix is a huge detriment, if you ask me. There's also the issue of them releasing this song, which isn't even the version that will appear on the album. While they think that's going to make it still sound 'fresh' when we hear the record, it really means this single can be completely ignored. In time, it will be like it doesn't exist. I won't be so harsh as to say it already doesn't, but I'm not feeling much anticipation to hear more of this experiment.

Light The Torch – More Than Dreaming

This time, the band is giving us a short and sweet number the wastes no time pummeling us. What I love about Light The Torch is how they show you can still make huge and heavy music without sacrificing melody and emotional. Howard Jones' clean singing is both of those things, and the band is better for not covering up large portions of the songs with screaming. That would be traditionally 'heavy', but we wouldn't be able to feel the song the same way. Both singles so far are excellent, and point to the upcoming album being the highlight of the summer.

KK's Priest – Hellfire Thunderbolt

While I have never been a fan of Judas Priest, I think I can still say that this song is a far cry from their best, or even their current best. I wasn't big on "Firepower", but I recognized it was exceptionally well done for the style they were attempting. This song, however, is not. KK's guitar sounds weaker and flabby, Ripper continues throwing in those painfully and small sounding piercing vocals, and the lyrics of this song (and the titles of the others on the album) are so cliche it hurts. This is old man's metal, and I'm not that damn old yet.

The Picturebooks ft Lzzy Hale – Rebel

When I grouse about production, there's usually a reason for it. Case in point; this song. I love Lzzy's voice, and I consider her the best singer of her (and my) generation, but the hazy and muffled production of this song is beyond disappointing. It has a nice laid-back groove, and Lzzy's melody has enough charm to make the song a winner. The problem is that with the production on it, Lzzy's voice doesn't shine through, it doesn't have the clarity where we can hear the nuances of her performance. Even when she's giving it her all, it doesn't have the powerful sound I know is coming out of her. It's a poor representation of what she is really singing, and the song suffers so much from it. Give me a clean vocal from her, and this song would rock. As it is, I'm left wanting.