Metal Reviews

Well, Mr. Weikath and the rest of the Helloween boys have decided to shit all over the band's legacy by rearranging classic songs from the Kiske era, along with the shit from the Deris era which frankly was never good so rearranging it is irrelevant. But the Kiske material....oh the Kiske material....why why why!!!!???? This has got to be the most tragic thing I've heard in quite some time. Taking songs that are absolute heavy metal classics, and turning them into top forty pop shit is unforgiveable. I havent liked Helloween since Kiske left....Chameleon has a few good songs on it, but after that nothing has been good.....and now this. My god, what have they done?


http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbe ... mID=131559

I can't wait to hear this. It's gonna be awesome.

To each his own I suppose.

What have they done? Probably had a little fun re-recording old songs. Jesus. Why is this bothering people so much? If you're going to re-record old tunes, might as well change them up.

This album is nothing more than a little experiment. Bon Jovi did a similar thing with This Left Feels Right. And it was cool. The tunes were nowhere near as good as the originals, but they were cool. Helloween did the same thing.

Why do fans get so goddamn whiny?

This is one of those rare occasions where I must concur with you, Ken. Though it's not one of my most looked forward to of future releases, I'm still eager to hear what they've done -- unlike Holy Terror, who's probably afraid of his own penis.

Sounds pretty horrendous to be honest but it doesn't anger me. Kudos to them for trying something new, seems like a risky move to me.

Can't see the problem with doing this. Deris is a part of Helloween, so why not re-record and re-arrange songs from the Kiske era. Iced Earth did it with Matt Barlow for the Days Of Purgatory album.

As for the track-listing, not the greatest "best of" compilation they've chosen in my opinion...could have been better. Still, should be interesting

I don't think re-recording old (classic) material is ever appropriate with a new singer. Iced Earth is the rare exception to this rule and that's because they did it to make the songs better. Can't say the same for this. It appears to be a shameless money grabbing scheme. This is just like Exodus re-recording BOnded By Blood with a new singer. You're incapable of writing anything new that's good, so you re-record the old stuff...with a new singer. What is the point. Especially when you make the songs much much worse, or in this case, change the entire genre of the music. They didnt just re-record them, they totally changed the songs into a new genre that for lack of a better word sucks. To me there is no justification for changing material that was already near legendary into a more commercially viable style.....there is simply no justification for it. I'm all for keeping an open mind, but this goes to far.

And Octavarius, why can't you just respond to the topics at hand and leave all the childish little insults out? If you have a personal vendetta against me, then there are better ways to resolve it than regressing in age and using insults that have been gathering dust since elementary school.

Yeah, come on Octo, you know H_T lives in Michigan and everything, it can't be that hard to hunt him down.

Noted.

No one said you have to listen to it...

True, but I did hear it, and now I'm sharing my opinion on it. Seems like a pretty normal process.

Ah, sorry, thought you were spilling your thoughts without giving a proper listen first... silly me.

The clip on the blabbermouth posting is quite helpful. It gives you 30 seconds of every song on the disc in a continuous stream. So I heard 30 seconds of every song. Frankly, that was enough for me. It sounded like the Backstreet Boys and Dashboard Confessional doing Helloween covers.

Michael Kiske did something similar when he did all acoustic versions of Helloween songs. That didnt quite tickle my fancy either, but in his defense, those are songs he originally sang on and helped co-write, and the arrangements were not totally different, they were just played acoustically. SO basically they sounded like In Flames acoustic instrumentals, but this "Unarmed" crap Helloween is pulling is just too far out of the metal sphere for me to like it.

This sounded like a good idea to me (I generally enjoy re-recordings of old songs with new singers, especially since I kind of like Deris more than Kiske- until I listened to the tracks. Man do they sound awful. Ya, so not listening to this one.

You think this was a commercial move? If so, you're a dummy. This is no money-grabbing scheme. If anything, this will piss off more fans than not.

And how can you even justify saying they can't or shouldn't re-record and rearrange their older material? It's their music, if not wholly then partially! It's not like this new stuff will make the old stuff disappear from existence! Your entire opinion seems to be based on your dislike of post-Kiske/Keepers II material, which is entirely subjective, of course.

I personally think the Deris era material shits all over the Hansen/Kiske stuff, which is largely overrated. Many would disagree. Just an opinion. The band can release an album of polka covers for all I care. If I don't dig it, I don't dig it. And I've got a ton of earlier material to give me my Helloween fix.

Settle down.

So yeah, just listed to those 30 second previews. Bad idea. I don't mind acoustic albums, but... this is pretty much shit. Apologies to Holy Terror.

Helloween doing polka covers would definitely get me to listen to them again.

No apology necessary, and in regards to what Anus boy had to say, you're right, it's their music and they can do whatever they want with it, but if its not justified TO ME, then that plays a large role in my decision to hate it. So again, this is totally consistent with one expressing one's opinion.

And if after listening to it, you think they did this because they wanted to, without any financial motivation, or expectation of reaching a more commerciable audience, then you're a fucking moron. Such a drastic change in sound, i.e. from metal to pop, especially with songs that are their "hits", is so fucking transparent its unbelievable. You can go on and on about how they're just doing what they want to, but the fact is, its a business, and they know that their new stuff isnt as good or as famous as the old stuff. SO why not take the old stuff and make it more commercially friendly? That's the line of reasoning, anything else just doesnt make sense, not for a group of guys that damn near invented a genre.