As a HELLOWEEN fan from waaaaaaay back, one who adapted to prefer the more recent albums and sound, I was unsure what to think when presented with the prospect of an album with the united lineup, 6 years after ‘My God Given Right’. So, how does a HELLOWEEN album that has the whole Pumpkins United lineup sound? Well, pretty much exactly how you would expect it to sound. It has all the HELLOWEEN elements we’ve come to know and love over the years, furious pace, furious melodies, fists-in-the-air, sing along stuff, mixed with a good sense of humour. Right from the first notes of ‘Out For The Glory’ you know what you’re in for, then when it kicks in you feel like you’ve travelled back in time. To me the album is a like a compilation album of their career, there’s songs and passages where you can nod to the older times while still rejoicing in the more recent sound. I guess you could say nothing is out of reach from whatever angle you look at it. With the closing track, ‘Skyfall’, it’s obvious Kai Hansen is back with the full version of the track weighing in at over 12 minutes running time, ‘Halloween’ anyone? Once he gets in the groove, stand back at let him finish I guess. As with ‘Halloween’ a chopped version is out on YouTube, which you may have seen already. Th album clocks in at over an hour of new HELLOWEEN music, most of it killer. Buy it, crank it, enjoy it. Horns up \m/.
Fave tracks for me – ‘Fear Of The Fallen’, ‘Rise Without Chains’, ‘Angels’, ‘Down In The Dumps’.
Release date – OUT NOW.