Helloween's Reviews

The Dark Ride

(Average Rating: 8.80 out of 10)

Dark, Yes, But Most Uplifting

(Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by seventhson1 from Ft Collins, CO United States

I remember when this album was about to come out. The press releases had the band saying this was a slight departure from some of their other stuff, and that the sound would be a bit darker and more modern. I got a little frightened with that, thinking they might have succumbed to the corporate, American slop we must endure in this country. But have no fear, fellow metalheads! The original German power-metallers have not let us down. This latest punch in the throat gives us 12 tracks of pure Hello-power to keep your faith in true metal.

I still think Better Than Raw is their best album ever. But this one impressed me enough to rank it right up with the classic Keeper albums. True, Andi Deris' voice is not as pure or of as high quality as Michael Kiske's, but with every release since he joined the band on Master Of The Rings, Andi has continually pressured me to reevaluate that assessment. His voice is gruff, but it remains very melodic and powerful.

They open the album with two of their fastest songs ever: Mr. Torture and All Over The Nations. I dare anyone not to keep singing those two songs over and over. Man, they are catchy! I also like it when a band closes an album with a true-to-form fast number or one of epic proportions (read: Keeper part II), rather than leave the spot for their slowest song, or worse yet, a last-minute filler. The last one here, which happens to be the title track, is an 8-minute beast that reminds us these guys may be hitting middle age, but it won't be this album that shows it.

A couple of the songs I just don't care for much: Escalation 666 (despite the really cool title) and The Departed (Sun Is Going Down). Perhaps you will enjoy them more (is it not wonderful how our tastes can differ?) but I have found myself skipping over them from time to time. Overall, though, another masterpiece from Michael Weikath and company.

Buy this album on Amazon at $15.98