No band casts a larger shadow over the European power metal battlefield than Germany's
Helloween
. Responsible for two of the genre's most seminal records --
Keeper of the Seven Keys
parts
1
and
2
, the stalwart rockers have been operational for nearly four decades, albeit with only two of their original members (bassist
Markus Grosskopf
and guitarist
Michael Weikath
) achieving a perfect attendance record. Fans were elated when guitarist and co-founder
Kai Hansen
KOTSK
vocalist
Michael Kiske
returned to the fold in 2017 for a massive tour and the one-off single "Pumpkins United," but few expected that the reunion would yield a new studio album. The resulting
, the band's 16th full-length effort, delivers on almost all fronts. Featuring three lead vocalists (
Kiske
,
Hansen
, and longtime frontman
Andi Deris
) and three guitarists (
Weikath
, and
Sascha Gerstner
), the LP should be a bloated mess. To be fair, it kind of is, but few acts do power, pomp, and whimsy as effortlessly as
, and in combining all of the band's distinct eras into one, they've managed to eke out a remarkably cohesive 12-track set that plays to each vocalist's strengths, often within the same track. Commencing with the one-two punch of "Out for the Glory and "Fear of the Fallen," both of which skillfully utilize the aforementioned triple threat,
feels both familiar and transcendent. Generously stacked with staccato German folk-influenced guitarmonies and hymn-like choruses, the band's knack for pairing bombast and technical prowess remains intact. The songs are structural triumphs as well, with myriad twists and turns that combine elements of thrash, folk, hard rock, power, and progressive metal -- the epic "Skyfall" makes good use of all of its 12-plus minutes.
have been making metal fun in one guise or another since the early '80s, and for the first time in a long while, that sanguinity feels both genuine and well-earned. ~ James Christopher Monger