Simon RushworthHelloween — Giants & Monsters (Reigning Phoenix)
It’s high time a modern trad metal masterpiece reminded the new kids on the block of just what it takes to dominate the genre.
And while we love what Seven Sisters, Tailgunner, Riot City and Toledo Steel are doing to keep the horns alive, it’s hard to resist Helloween at their triple-axed best.
Six stringers Kai Hansen, Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner have rarely sounded better — trading earthquake-inducing riffs and volcanic solos for fun on the joyously clichéd Giants & Monsters.
In fact, a full throttle masterclass in fret melting fury serves as a lesson to any of the myriad newcomers looking to claim the trad crown.
This terrifyingly good blast of polished Teutonic metal sends out a message: nothing beats experience.
And Helloween boast experience in spades.
Hamburg’s finest have been keeping Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Accept keen since 1984.
Their classic late 80s Keeper Of The Seven Keys companion albums stand the test of time as genre-defining examples of heavy metal at its most expansive.
And in frontmen Michael Kiske and Andi Deris the band benefits from a lung-busting duo on a lifelong mission to give Bruce Dickinson a run for his money.
Helloween haven’t always had things their own way.
Who remembers the Pink Bubbles Go Ape era when £400,000-plus was blown on a record that producer Chris Tsangarides loathed and the band was banned from touring for a year?
Hansen had had enough. And the future was bleak.
But fast forward 35 years and Helloween are united in their ambition and unmatched as masters of their trade.
Giants & Monsters is a trad metal dream.
Helloween: Metal Gods
When Kiske and Deris insist We Can Be Gods midway through Helloween’s first studio album in four years few would doubt them.
There’s a solid argument to suggest they’re there already.
Giants & Monsters might be trad metal by numbers but the numbers add up — supercharging the 10 tracks here to another level.
Helloween don’t hang about — six-and-a-half-minute beast Giants On The Run kicks things off in epic fashion.
And from there things only get better.
Hansen insists the days when Helloween took themselves too seriously are long gone.
Scorpions-like A Little Is A Little Too Much and set closer Majestic are two gloriously cheesy cases in point.
But what Helloween do take seriously is their musical craft.
And lead single This Is Tokyo is a powerful pop rock punch in the balls that’s perfectly crafted and produced with polish.
Majestic and the Maiden-meets-Odyssey-era-Malmsteen Universe (Gravity For Hearts) clock in at eight minutes apiece but Weikath and co. have never been afraid to let their best music breathe.
Neither song seems overlong and both allow a band of like-minded brothers to spread their wings and soar.
Even after all of this time, Helloween are scarily good.
