Helloween prove that there are no signs of them fading anytime soon.
It took German power metal pioneers Helloween a long time to find the right mix of power, melody, aggression and consistency, but when they finally did, as evident on 2007’s Gambling With The Devil, they produced an album that proudly stands alongside their highly influential and classic early releases. Now returning with their long awaited follow-up 7 Sinners, Helloween prove that there are no signs of them fading anytime soon.
The opening track Where The Sinners Go provides a fairly subdued start to the album with its slower pacing, aggressive riffing and dark overtones. But despite the track’s plodding feel, vocalist Andi Deris provides enough melody to keep the song interesting.
Despite its cheesy lyrical content, Are You Metal? is a fast-paced Helloween standard that works exceedingly well, with drummer Dani Löble giving the song that extra kick to match the heavy guitars laid down by Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, while Who Is Mr. Madman?, the more traditional sounding Long Live The King and My Sacrifice are further examples of where the band are more than capable of delving into the speedier and heavier side of power metal.
Elsewhere, the band continues to fire on all cylinders in the song writing sense, with the anthem-like Raise The Noise (the flute solo from Eberhard Hahn is a stroke of genius!), the straight forward and rock solid World Of Fantasy, the metallic/progressive influenced You Stupid Mankind, the classic old school charm of If A Mountain Could Talk and the eight minute epic Far In The Future all standing out as absolute gems on the album.
While 7 Sinners doesn’t quite match the brilliance of Gambling With The Devil, the album is at least stronger than some of the former efforts, and that alone earns 7 Sinners its place amongst Helloween’s best
