Helloween

Helloween

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Genre: Heavy Metal.
Released: 18/06/2021
Via Nuclear Blast

Album Review: Helloween – Helloween

Helloween is back with their self titled album and fans have been vocal about their excitement towards the new album. The German heavy metal band have been a staple in the scene since forming back in 1984 and have successfully maintained relevance by adapting to the ever-changing metal scene. I cannot wait to jump into this release so without any further adieu, here are my thoughts on ‘Helloween’. 

The album is a behemoth of a release featuring 14 tracks, 4 of which are over 6 minutes long. Sometimes I get a bit worried about lengthy endeavours however, Helloween are the masters of making a song feel like a whole story. Tracks like ‘Out for the Glory’, ‘Robot King’ and the 12-minute long track ‘Skyfall’ demonstrate the band’s knack of engaging the listener with wonderful lyricism matched with an intriguing instrumental throughout. 

Furthermore, the record is full of emphatic riffs and powerful melodies. ‘Rise Without Chains’ sounds like a modern-day Run To The Hills. Full of energy and charismatic personality, the track breathes a breath of fresh air into the iconic Helloween sound. Adaptability can also be found in the track ‘Cyanide’. Use of elements from classic heavy metal, Thrash and power metal culminate in an extremely enjoyable track that stands out from the rest of the pack.

Unfortunately, the album isn’t perfect and when it comes to full album playthroughs, it can feel like it drags and songs end up sounding a little samey. There are only so many ways you can alter a riff and I think it’s getting to the point where Helloween may be scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point. As well as this, I had a real issue getting into the track ‘Indestructible’. I found the song to be fairly dull and lacking any real emphasis leaving the lyrics to come across as uninspired and meaningless. 

If there’s one part of the album I’d recommend, it has to be the final two tracks. ‘Golden Times’ and ‘Save My Hide’ are perfect examples of how to finish off an album. High energy mixed with an overwhelming feeling of fulfilment makes for an epic end to the journey the self-titled album takes you on. Like I said earlier, Helloween certainly know how to tell a compelling story!

Overall, I think the album is mostly positive with the exception of a couple of tracks. Helloween seems to constantly find themselves releasing one or two great tracks and a bunch of just ok tracks when it comes to releasing their music and unfortunately, despite having more to offer, this album doesn’t break that stigma.