Album Review: Helloween - Helloween

We've seen countless bands go through multiple singers over the course of their careers, but there's almost always one constant; a singer comes as another leaves. What makes this self-titled album more than thirty years into Helloween's career unique is that they have gathered all three of their singers together to make one 'super album'. Andi Deris, Kai Hansen, and Michael Kiske share vocal duties on an album that takes up the difficult task of tying together three different eras of Helloween, all without sounding like the band going backwards and stunting the forward march of their career. Easy, right?

The task is made all the more difficult by the divergent paths Helloween and Kiske have taken over the years. Helloween has gotten heavier as they aged, turning out some albums incredibly heavy for power metal. Meanwhile, Kiske has often said he doesn't like metal or want to be involved with it. So it is a bit jarring to not only hear him back in the fold, but in a band that has jumped decades backward to accommodate the old guard. I wasn't expecting another "The Dark Ride", but this album pulls hard from the late 80s box of cliches.

Opener "Out For The Glory" comes out of the gates in all that nostalgic cheese, with the trademark guitar lines and Kiske rising into a chorus that captures the spirit of "Eagle Fly Free", thankfully without copying it yet again. It's power metal by the books if I've ever heard it, which is exactly the point of this project. But the band can't help themselves, stretching a simple song out to over seven minutes, and including a truly horrible few seconds where Kai shrieks some incomprehensible words that can't end fast enough for me. That bit doesn't fit into the rest of the song at all, and it seems to be our first instance of having to include everyone getting in the way.

A lot of the appeal of this record comes down to how tied you are not just to Helloween's past, but the general scene of power metal circa 1987. The band is trying hard to bring that spirit back, and I have to be honest and say I'm incredibly disappointed in that approach. The past was fine, but we live in the here and now, and making a whole album dedicated to reminding people of what you used to be, rather than what you are, strikes me as counterproductive. By shunning twenty years of the Deris era's evolution of the band, this album is telling us even the band doesn't consider it important enough to integrate into this career-spanning effort. What does that say to all the fans who stuck with them and supported them all these years?

The other major problem with the record won't be one for most people, but I'm turned off by how many of the choruses are handed over to Kiske to sing. I know he is the blueprint by which power metal has been judged, but I never have nor ever will hear what's so great about him. His vocal tone is aggravating to my ears, and when he sings chorus after chorus of big, high notes that are more power than melodic movement, my enjoyment gets thrown out the window. There are times when he is so front-and-center, I can't help but feel this entire album was made just to appeal to him and his fans.

This album is being treated as one of the biggest events of the year in metal circles, and it is anything but. It's a decent Helloween album, but the appeal of this is entirely due to Kiske's involvement. I don't care to hear his voice, and these songs aren't classics that demand I put my feelings aside. "Helloween" is packed with songs that fit the mold, and pretend nothing has changed since "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" helped define power metal.

Sorry, but living in the past doesn't appeal to me. Neither does this album, either.