(Rated this album with 10 out of 10) Reviewed by
Fred Monster
from Zwijndrecht, Holland
Helloween will probably always be best known for their two Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums. And I agree, after that there was a period that wasn't that prolific. I don't exactly reckon Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon to my all time favorites and after those albums I kinda lost track of the former Happy Metalists. But after hearing a lot of good things about the new one, called The Dark Ride, I was curious. And a dark ride it is! Not immediately, because the first two tracks (not counting the intro called Beyond The Portal) of the album are very much in the vein of their Seven Keys material. Great melodies, funny lyrics (at least in Mr. Torture and if you think lyrics like Mr. Torture sells pain/To the housewives in Spain are funny, which I do)... 100% Helloween as I like it. What immediately struck me is the fabulous production by Roy Z (Halford, Rob Rock) and Charlie Bauerfeind (Allanah Myles, Angra). What an incredible sound this album has! Perfect... After those two reasonable happy songs the dark ride really begins. Escalation 666 is the first sign on the wall that we're in for a more doomy direction. Andy Deris' sinister vocals fit this song to a T. Less slow but just as dark is the following track, called Mirror, Mirror. Aggressive is another word that comes to mind. During If I Could Fly - on which Deris not only proves to be a great singer but a brilliant songwriter as well - a constantly returning little piano theme makes for a very special effect in this otherwise heavy track. The mood is still dark... We have to wait until the next Michael Weikath composition before we encounter a little joy of life again. On this track - Salvation - Uli Kusch shows us what a fabulous pace-keeper he is. Man, this guy is a machine! The song is uptempo and is the first track in the old Helloween vein since Mr. Torture and All Over The Nations. The guitarsolos are breathtaking! The subtitle of song number eight says it all: Sun Is Going Down... The happiness is gone, the attitude is black again. Written by Uli Kusch, this song has a very strong rhythm, with some threatening keyboards on the right spots. On we go with I Live For Your Pain, another Andy Deris track. The chorus is less pessimistic sounding than one might expect with a title like this. The verses are exactly as gloomy as one might suspect, though. And then, all of a sudden, there's a song of hope. We Damn The Night contains the words Figures in white/Shield my soul in the fight and We will fight for what's just and what's right/We damn the night. Brought at an awe-inspiring pace this song is so convincing that it defeats every bit of darkness left, or... No, Immortal is as gloomy as ever and sets the frame of mind for the grande finale of the album: the title track. Clocking at eight minutes and fifty seconds, this track can be compared to earlier masterpieces like Halloween or Keeper Of The Seven Keys. Roland Grapow is responsible for this magnum opus, that leaves no hope at all, where a song like Keeper... ended well. I'll know you'll follow me, follow me/ Down. Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts...
