Paradise Lost - Draconian Times (1995)

I started off P with the album "Icon", by this band, but after listening to four tracks realised I didn't feel like reviewing it just yet. So I plucked out this one instead. It's prettier, and more interesting, musically.

Paradise Lost formed in England in 1988 and started as death metal, moving slowly but steadily further into the doom metal scene, adding goth elements and eventually turning fully goth-metal. This is their fifth and most successful album. They are still active today.

 The cover is beautiful. In rich shades of reds and blues, a man, hands crossed against his chest, butterflies dancing around his face. All in eerie, surreal-ness. Inside, the colours and surreality continues, creating a dream-like, otherworldly feel of lyrics, band portraits, fossils and insects.

The album opens with the haunting piano of "Enchantment". Vocalist Nick Holmes has a low voice, not too deep but rich and gentle, with the occasional shouted line. The song moves at a slow, but steady pace, creating a stirring, not-quite-relaxing atmosphere. It is rich, evocative.

Faster guitar and solid drums urges us to seek "Hallowed Land". Vocals are rougher, rawer, but still accesible. Piano overtakes and the bridge is a haunting melody.

"The Last Time" is a rockier number, with a nicely repetitive and catchy chorus so that you can sing along - even if you cannot ever remember hearing this song before. Good beat, great vocals.

The opening vocals of the next track (following after a sample) awaken something in my subconscious. I had forgotten this song, but I used to love it, playing it regularly and loudly, and knew all the words. Yet somehow I had forgotten all about it! "Forever Failure" might sound like a depressing song, but it stirred something in past me. Although I must admit, the lyrics are quite negative:

 "High times are courageous, but in truth they serve no purpose. Induced, reduced, unable and afraid..."

It's funny that I liked this song so much, because Holmes is doing his guttural-shouting vocals, but it just works. And then as we slide into the chorus he drops into his sexy baritone and sends shivers down my spine.

Another rocking, energetic number; "Once Solemn" has more shouted vocals. Not overly inspiring.

"Shadowkings" is similarly solid and heavy, with shouted vocals. I really wish he would sing more. He has a beautiful singing voice. Ah, there we go - on the chorus.

We drop down into slower rhythms for "Elusive Cure". Mosty gloom-laden and heavy, it does have its softer moments.

With lighter guitar and drums "Yearn for Change". Then the guitar grows in complexity and the pace picks up. Vocals low, a little raw. Later though, the sexy baritone comes back ^^

"Shades of God" starts with haunting, echoing, slow guitar rhythms.Otherwise, much of the same as above.

The opening vocals of "Hands of Reason" reminds me of Ozzy, I think it might also be the slow Sabbathical rhythms.

Following on we have the similarly structured "I See Your Face".

"Jaded" is slow, moody. Gloomy:

"The feeling can't avoid you..."

And thus concludes a decent doom and gloom gothic album. It's not particularly great, certainly not compulsory or compulsive listening. A bit repetitive for my tastes, but with a few stand out numbers. Similar in style to Lake of Tears, but rather lacking in their creative, whimsical charm.

Rating = 6/10

Overkill - Horrorscope (1991)

Rising from the American Thrash metal era, Overkill hail from New Jersey. They are one of the most successful East Coast US metal bands and have released 16 studio albums, plus several live and EPs. Formed in 1980, they are still active today, although they have undertaken numerous line-up changes, their vocalist, Bobby "Blitz" has remained a constant.  
 
This is their sixth album. It is regarded as one of their defining moments and is their heaviest release, being more aggressive and darker than their earlier albums.

The cover folds out into a sort of poster, albeit one made up of printed squares. The front depicts their horned skeletal mascot - this time with hands, carressing a globe, in which screams a human face. The border is industrial, rivetted with skulls. The title, "Horrorscope" drips in bloody trails that are barely visible. One side of the fold out sheet holds the lyrics, the other band portraits and "Chaley" their winged, horned skull mascot.

It opens with the slow, technical chords of "Coma". Brooding, threatening, like stormclouds gathering on the horizon. Then they break, and we blast into the fantic, hectic strumming and Bobby "Blitz"'s distinctive half-scream, savage vocals.

"Infectious" begins with more chaotic strumming, racing, racing, galloping away headlong as Blitz's vocals snarl over it. Choruses are repetitive enough to sing (or scream) along, not that you feel particularly inclined. They're pretty much controlled, somewhat melodic, noise.

More racing guitars, and an intermitent drumming bring us our "Blood Money". Structurally similar to the preceeding tracks - fast, vocals like a vicious beast, intricate guitaring and some complex shredding in the solos as the guitarists war for dominance. Filled with pent-up aggression.
"Thanx for Nothin'" delivers more aggression; reflected in both the savage shredding and pounding drums, snarling vocals and savage lyrics:

"Thanks for nothin'. Yeah, I said nothin'. Next time better think. Think before you speak!"

 So angry... give me happy European metal any day.

Oooh, piano, a handful of notes, repetitive, like the soundtrack to a horror movie. The guitars roll over them, and still they persevere.  Giving it an eerie, otherworldlyness. Gone, the guitars have enveloped them. "Bare Bones" races at a breakneck speed, the drummer heading for wrist - or arm - injuries. Unrepentent. Furious.

Slower, more ominous, "Horrorscope" is the title track and was also the track selected for individual release. Technically competent. Intricate, jerky rhythms, the vocals are raw and ragged rasp. The chorus spat out like a threat:

"The change is here, the future clear - I can feel it com-ming!"

 Heavy rifts, pounding guitar. You know the drill. It's a "New Machine".

The instrumental "Frankenstein" is an epic powerhouse of duelling guitars, clashing with one another as they weave through the intricate chords.

"Live Young, Die Free". Fast, frantic. You get the idea. The drummer sure is getting qutie a workout!

Hardcore drumming, churning rifts. "Nice Day.... for a Funeral". Some nice slow bits, funereal, you might say.

And finally, we have a ballad - "Soulitude" brings the speed down and the vocals lower into a manner that is actually quite pleasing to the ear. Blitz can actually sing. So why doesn't he do it more often? Maybe he does on other albums. Even when it surges out of the singing and back into the screaming, it's with an emotional passion. It reminds me a little of Maiden, actually, except angrier.

Bit repetitive, bit too angry. Favourite songs are "Soulitude" and "Horrorscope", the others all tend to blur into one another and I can take 'em or leave 'em. The guitars are an almighty voice, Blitz's vicious snarling screams get a bit tedious after a time. I'd have to say, more than two tracks in a row just feels like... overkill.

I'm gonna rank it a 5/10.

Nemesis - Day of Retribution (1984/2007)

In Edling's own words (from the 2007 re-release of this cd):

Nemesis was never a great band. We were ok some days, crap others. But we rehearsed often, had so much fun, with a burning ambition to do better...

Leif Edling, guitarist and vocalist, was 21 at the time of this album's original release, and he later went on to form Candlemass, one of the most epic and inspiration doom bands ever to step out of Scandinavia. Nemesis was not his first band, but it was the first that released an actual album (an EP). There were 2000 copies pressed originally, about half of which sold and the young, naive band never signed a contract and thus got a bit royally screwed when their record label went bust. After the release of this EP and the legal issues, and the fact they couldn't get another vocalist or a reliable second guitarist, AND a company called NEMESIS were going to sue us if they didn't change the name... Well, the band split and from the ashes, Candlemass was born.

The cover is pink. Edling hates this. He thinks the warrior woman on a horse looks like the scribblings of a 5 year old. This is the second time the album has been re-released and it still features that cover! I kinda like it - the warrior on the horse is abstract, indicated more with smudges of ink than actual lineart. And the CD is inside a nice slipcase with the same image on it. Inside the sleeve is Edling's little rant. It's rather self-deprecating, and quite amusing. That's where I got most of the above information from.

Edling likes this particular re-release - even if it does come with the original pink cover! There's some old photos (so young!) and a bunch of bonus demos - so let's give it a spin, shall we?

"Black Messiah"* has achingly slow drums. Leif's voice is powerful, echoing and deep, ending in a snarl. Rather like a devil, or fallen angel. This is the only album he sings on, even the early Candlemass album has a different vocalist. Deep, slow beats, ponderous rifts. It is raw and sludgy, like something rising from the darkest pits.


Faster, filled with raw savagery, "In God We Trust" makes an effort at catchy choral melodies but does not quite suceed. Does have an interesting, slower bit, giving Edling a change to demonstrate his ability to do doom-esque vocals.

"Theme of the Guardians" is likewise slow and sludgy, ponderous and filled with haunting doom.  The vocals are almost drowned out by the thunderous stormcloud wall of the guitars. Still, it chimes through every now and then, like the tolling of a heavy bell.

We pick up the pace a teeny tiny step, for "The King is Dead". It is dramatic, Edling's voice a chameleon, turning one minute from low, deep and bordering on melodic, to a savage snarl.

The final on the EP - "Goodnight" was an Angelwitch rip-off and not supposed to be on the album at all - but it's one of my favourites. Edling's voice rises from the sludgy mix of guitars and drums, a haunting, fallen angel. It actually reminds me of early King Diamond.

Now we're into the bonus demos, from 1983 - including all of the above, except "goodnight".

The first "In God We Trust" is very raw. The drums sounding not unlike someone thumping on skins way off in the distance. The guitars are a sludgy wall, over which Edling's voice soars and swoops, sounding slightly fuzzy around the edges. It truly makes you appreciate how much mixing and polishing goes into creating the sound that gets to the pressing. It does, however, make the lyrics easier to hear.

"Theme of the Guardians" seems to have greater clarity of sound. Again, the vocals dominate the mix - a nice change from the earlier tracks in which they kept getting bogged in the sludge. Lyrics still indeciperable, except for the occasional word here and there.

This version of "Black Messiah" is pretty good. Edling's voice is strong, although at times sounds a little strained and painful (for him, not me).

And in this version of "The King is Dead" I can actually decipher the lyrics:

 "And the prophet said 'The king is dead, but where did he go?
To serve in heaven? To rule in hell?'"

Ah, literary references.
The mix seems stronger, more polished here, or perhaps I'm getting used to the sludgeness. It truly makes you appreciate the clarity of sound you get in modern recording studios. Then again, the sludge can be half the charm.

And keeping in the whole medieaval theme - let's "Burn the Witch". I can almost see the circling villagers, flaming torches and pitchforks in hand, chanting along with the chorus.

"Burn the witch, burn her down; burn her down to the ground..."

How do you burn a witch to the ground?

Churning, thrashing: "The Act" is fast and frantic. I *think* it's about either attending a metal concert or performing one. Drums are a bit tinny. Actually, listening closer - I think it might be about sex.

Edling is not actually a bad vocalist, comparable with Johann Lundvist from Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. I suspect he is largely let down by the mix, which has all the sludge and garage sound typical of the early 80s.  This is a ponderous, doom-laden and, at times, quite vicious album.

My ranking is 6/10.

* This was recorded by Candlemass under the name "Incarnation of Evil" (on Ancient Dreams), if you wish to compare the two vocalists.

Mercury Rev - Secret Migration (2005)

Mercury Rev are glorious. As you may recall, it was my brother who lured me into their music, capturing me with their sound much as you would capture a mouse with peanut butter. The melodies, the liveliness, the sheer effervescence of their music... it is a delight to behold and absolute divine aural pleasure.

If you wish to know more about Mercury Rev, Pandora Radio has a nifty entry.

This album was purchased on a trip to Wellington. I had been informed of its impending release, which coincided with our vacation. Therefore I skipped out of the convention I was attending, racing down the hill in eager anticipation. I think this is the first time I've ever bought a cd on the day of its release and held it in my (slightly shaking) hands. I couldn't even listen to it - since I hadn't a portable cd player. But it was mine and it was beautiful and it was enough, for a time, to simply hold it in my hands and admire it.

The album cover is a thing of beauty. In perfect pastel lilac hues - delicate and fragile, like their sound. A moth, tawny wings spread to reveal eyes and a woman's face upon its thorax. Inside the dreamy, surreal, otherworldly feel continues with gorgeous lavendar shades: swans, clouds. It is all very dreamlike and ethereal, entrancing.

Of course, the instant I slipped it into the CD player I fell forever, unrepentedly, in love.

The dreamlike, haunting "Secret for a Song" entrances with its gentle piano, fleetingly beautiful vocals - as clear and as sweet and as innocent as a childhood kiss. Glorious enough to bring a tear to your eye and reach deep down into your soul and give it a gentle, loving, squeeze.

"I'll tell you a secret, I'll sell you a secret for a song..."

 Beautiful, melancholic, entrancing; now we delve "Into Yer Ocean". The lyrics are pure poetry, the light, lilting rhythms enhance and transform the music into thousands of delicate crystals, tinkling like stars above the gentle rise and fall of waves.

Tinkling like tiny stars, we have "Diamonds" with more evocative poetry:

"...like a bracelet hung, from a spider's web..."

Sweet, delicate, sensitive.

Piano and strings delicately dance around Jonathan's wonderful voice as he leads us through "Black Forest (Lorrelei)". Haunting, fairytale lyrics and a sense of longing and loneliness with a hint of helplessness.

"There's no way 'round the forest, the only way is through. And there's no way I'd make it without you..."

Their lyrics are so rich, so beautiful, so dream-like and whimsical that I cannot resist quoting them.

"Slow, rich, glorious velvet "Vermillion" is as smooth as a caress.

The glorious "In the Wilderness" is a love song. Vocal-centric, sweet, innocent, romantic and beautiful.

And Mercury Rev score mad bonus points for the line:

"How could I have been blind for so long
and how could the woman I love be so strong"

'Cos how many musicians would have used the rhyme "wrong" instead?
Also:

"...Take her by surprise, not by force..."

This song is like being enfolded in the arms of your beloved and lain down on the verdant grass in a glorious woodland where the trees are wearing their autumn suits.

Haunting melodies, echoing and spectral as the flutes and strings entwine "In a Funny Way". But it's not funny, it's beautiful, vibrant and playful love song. Fleeting, ethereal, ephemeral.
(The video is delightful and slightly creepy - you should totally watch it).

Hell, I need a thesaurus to write these reviews!

It's like being swept up into the clouds and sung to by angels.

Another beauty, "My Love" is the sort of melody that cannot help but stir your soul. The lyrics are filled with heartbreak and regret:

"... I never gave you enough, I could have given you my love..."

A lament of letting the one you love slide through your fingers, of not giving all that you should to someone who deserved it. Such a simple thing - love - but it means so much.

"Moving On" is short, choral and flavoured with crystal raindrops.

"The Climbing Rose" is another song of transcendent glory.The lyrics are repetitive, but poetic.

The drums erupt with vibrant energy as your spirit will "Arise" into clarity and poetry.

For a song called "First Time Mother's Joy (Flying)", this is a bittersweet symphony, the piano adding an edge of melancholy.

"...Soon the dormant patient roots will show themselves as childish shoots..."

Their lyrics are so gosh darned beautiful.

Concluding with the melancholic, the sorrowful, the heartfelt "Down Poured the Heavens" when Jonathan's voice almost cracks with the emotional overload.

Mercury Rev are, quite possibly, one of the most evocative and stunningly beautiful bands in the world. I cannot understand why they are not better appreciated, or more well known. There is noone that comes even close in terms of clarity and whimsical charm. Their songs are poetry to music, their arrangements pure magic and Jonathan's voice has an otherworld quality that makes you wonder how he can possibly be human (I think he's fae). After this album and the previous, it seems so impossible to possibly top them, that Mercury Rev released an album of entirely different stylings and sound. Still, whether they return to this sound or not, they have left us with two magnificant albums. The mood for this one is generally gentler, more melancholic, filled with longing and loss, compared with the playful innocence of (some of)"All is Dream".

And what will I rate this one? Yeh, you guessed it = 10/10.

Lions Share - Two (1997)

Swedish band, Lions Share formed in 1987, suffering through many line-up changes. This is their second full length album (as you may have guessed) and is a progressive, melodic hard rock album with metal elements. They are now classified as "Power Metal" by Encyclopdia Metallium.

Just had a listen to a couple of their more recent tracks. Not overly impressed. This one is better.

It has a sort of progressive-hard-rock look to the packaging. Cover features two molten dolphin leaping from a chessboard. Black on white inside, very straightforward and very easy to read. Lyrics one page, band member photo on the other. They all look rather serious. On the back int contains the legend "Absolutely no gates used in this cd". Not sure what that means. So I asked google:

A noise gate or gate is an electronic device or software that is used to control the volume of an audio signal.

So, you learn something new everyday. I guess that means their sound is more authentic?

A chugging with pompous organ-synth opens "Wild at Heart". Full bloated, stirring. Guitars shift in and the rhythm surges forth. Vocals enter, smooth, almost sweet of a pitch not unlike Dream Theater. Surges into more full-blown shouts and bellows, with backing vocals sweeping around it like disembodied voices. Soemwhat savage and aggressive, as befits the lyrics:

"You know I've got a mean streak and you know that nothing can stop me now!"

The keyboards go a little wild in the solo.

The "Lord of the Pain" enters with lower, smooth vocals overlaid with gutteral shouting. Loud, aggressive, with violent rifts and churning emotions.

"Transient" starts with a blast. Shouting and singing combine in this sci-fi themed song with its rock rhythms.

The super-dooper-power-ballad "Don't Come Easy" feels almost like a parody, it's so different from the others. Vocalist Andy Engberg almost seems to be crooning. His voice is filled with passion and this is just like those good old-fashioned rock ballads of the late 80s/early 90s, complete with sing-a-long chorus and backing vocalists. It's uncanny, and quite beautiful, really. Engberg should sing more often.

"Shadows" was the first song I heard by Lions Share - played on MTV and it's a pretty epic hard rock piece. It starts with an aural assault like an avalanche of sound as the guitars and drums thrash, before Engberg's voice rises with the power and clarity of a deity rising from the stone. It is an immense and mighty song.

This is followed by another semi-ballad, "Baptism of Fire" has its slower moments. It is a stirring piece, complete with choirs. And latin. It makes me wonder if Lions Share are a Christian band. There's even a touch of Enya-style warbling. For a heartbeat, no more. There are some odd and intricate little quirks weaving their way through this track, bringing it into dramatic and passionate life.

Now it's time for a New Wave cover. Secret Service's "Flash in the Night". Not sure why metal bands like to cover New Wave tracks - this is the third I've heard in the last week. Here's the original. Whilst keeping the rhythms and structures the same, it is transformed into a dark and brooding Hard Rock piece, still retaining the keyboards. Immense and solid.

Another loud and dramatic piece, "World Gone Wrong" offers more of the heavy rifts, melodic shouted vocals and loud instrumentation, including keyboards. Not a bad piece, but nothing new or dramatic.

We conclude with an instrumental "Rat Race". For an instrumental, it offers little different from the actual songs, except for a bit more keyboard and that rising of drama and tension that builds then fades within a few beats.

Overall, it's an entertaining enough album, if a little too similar to the other bands of the late 90s for my tastes. Except for when they jump back into an 80s power ballad. Bit too shouty and not enough singy.

This earns it a rating of 6/10.

Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time (1986)

Now it is time for some classic Heavy Metal. Iron Maiden are one of the most important, definitive metal bands on the market - having the solid, melodic stylings and intricate guitar work. They were one of the most important bands to rise from the NWOBHM movement. This is one of their classic albums, being the sixth they released and one of the only ones I own on CD, not cassette. Mine is the 1998 digitally remastered version, which includes full length videos, band biographies and a photo gallery, plus "much more" alledgedly. We'll check that out after we listen to it!

 The packaging has an 80s sci-fi feel to it - with Eddie as a cyborg, roaming a city, gun in hand. He's all sinew and metal. The font is that classic digital one that mimics an LCD screen. On the back of the booklet, the band parade across and you can see that the city seems changed from what it once was and something floats in the air - a satellite, perhaps? Whilst behind a pyramid crackles with lightning. The wee cartoon band are very cute. And the names of the places pertain to tracks on the album and other Iron Maiden songs/influences - including "Bradbury Towers", "Aces High Bar", "Herbert Ails", "Ancient Mariner Seafood Restaurant" (and the TARDIS!). Inside the booklet there are loads of pictures - of the band, of Eddie and the lyrics, each on a star spangled background with a band member posing beside them. They look so young!

Iron Maiden are awesome and immortal. Let our aural dissection begin!

The immense, slow chords open "Somewhere in Time" galloping into the traditional Maiden rhythms - catchy, solid.

The awesome strumming and early rifts of "Wasted Year" are unmistakable. A good, solid metal piece, with a soaring chorus and inspirational edge to the rhythms. This is despite the negative connotations to the lyrics - which are about the exhaustion of touring, homesickness and alienation. The anthemic chorus suggests that you should move on, see a way further to a brighter future.

The next track, "Sea of Madness" is a surging maelstrom of drama. The guitars chug along like the relentless waves, pounding the shores. The vocals are like an albatross riding the waves.

"... like the eagle and the dove, fly so high on wings above..."

"Heaven Can Wait" is another catchy piece with plentiful synthesizers and great melodies. Repetitive chorus, but decent message. It falls into a galloping, sing-a-long rhythm where you can just image Bruce strutting across the stage, coaxing the audience to join him in the chanting. Then another musical shift into a faster, slightly desperate pace before we fall back into the anthemic chorus.
This song is completely different from Gamma Ray's track with the same name, apart from the line:

"... Heaven can wait til another day..."

A solid, racing song "The Loneliness of a Long distance Runner" has the sort of beat that you could use to pace yourself - if you wanted to run both fast and long too. Pounding drums, galloping guitars. Soaring solos. This is a song of energy and endurance, with a touch of solitude.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" has a heavier, more ominous sound. It seems to be about a young man, alone and lost, who died in the snow and had his body preserved for the future to find. The guitar solo is melancholic, moody, evoking vistas of endless skies and glaciers - a land unrelenting in its isolation and inhospitably.

Achingly slow chords open the next track, haunting, before we are bowled down by a charge of drums and guitars. Have we been here before? Not quite, but this is still "De Ja Vu". Dickinson's voice has dropped to a snarl before rising into his more typical not-quite-screams. Short, fast.

Slower, building into an epic we have the saga of "Alexander the Great". With typical slow baseline, the echoing intro rhythms and the light strumming of guitars as they build and build in complexity. Surging in comes the heavier guitar, an increase in pace and bass.

Iron Maiden are one of the most accessible metal bands I've found, with their catchy, repetitive choruses and solid rhythms, they are destined for stadium immortality and noone who has seen them live can resist their charms. They are professionals, polished and have a sound that is distinctly their own. For this album I shall give a rating of 8/10.

Helloween - Chameleon (1993)

Released in 1993, this is generally considered to be the low point in Helloween's career. It envelops a difficult part of their life - burned out after the Noise fiasco, with member cohesion and friendships crumbling, and the loss of Kai Hansen's genius. Like the lizard that gives it its name, it is an eclectic album, experimenting with a range of styles and rhythms. For all that the metal fans dislike it, it did receive rave reviews in NZ mag Rip It Up and it also finds favour with me. My musical tastes are nothing if not a little avant-garde, and my habits are nothing if not contrary. Whilst I would not consider it a necessity in every metal maniacs collection (mainly cos it ain't metal),  it holds a certain nostalgic appeal, combined with a level of insanity and genius. Helloween more recently did something equally experiemental, with the excellent "Unarmed" album, which is probably my top pick of their Deris days. But that is in the future, and this is the present, so let us now begin.

The cover sucks.
It's possibly the Worst Album Cover Ever. It's like they're not even trying. Four stripes - yellow, red, blue and green smeared across an otherwise white page. Pathetic. At least the little pumpkin cartoons that add a whimsical charm are still present, decorating every song. Although I have to confess, they look better in the smaller size of the cassette cover than enlarged for the cd.

At the back it says "Through hard times you find out who your real friends are."
I'm not sure if this is a barbed comment or not, given the turmoil in the band at the time, I'm thinking it may be so.  It was the last album with Kiske and Ingo.

This eclectic masterpiece is in fact the works of three of the band members, each of them creating music and lyrics for the rest to play. This is possibly what gives it its versatile, chameleonic, feel.

For the record:
Michael Weikath wrote: The First Time, Giants, Windmill, Revolution Now
Michael Kiske wrote: When the Sinner, In the Night, I Believe, Longing.
Roland Grapow wrote: I Don't Wanna Cry No More, Crazy Cat, Music, Step Out of Hell.

The album opens with a song about sex. This is "The First Time" that Helloween have a song with sexual connotations and innuendo. It begins with a squeal of feedback before the rock n roll rhythms take over. The chorus is nice and catchy. Drumroll to end it all, complete with distorted guitars and chimpanzees getting lively.

Then we sink into the opening beats of "When the Sinner". No idea how you'd categorise this song. Rock? It has quite dancey beats, kick horns. Kiske's vocals are damned fine, soaring up and down with youthful enthusiasm. The whole song contains the sort of vibrant energy that should have drawn in a wider audience. Jolly good guitar solo and a touch of piano.

Now into a powerful ballad, with enthusiastic acoustic guitar. "I Don't Wanna Cry No More" is Roland's song to his brother Rainer (presumerably deceased). Kiske's voice portrays the emotion well, combined with the light instrumentation. This is a song that is somehow both sad and celebratory at the same time.

And another switch, as we get jazzy with "Crazy Cat". The beginning sounds disturbingly like a dot matrix printer, before the kick horns rip in. The rock n roll rhythms transport you back to another era, maybe there are elements of Elvis here? Kiske is a big fan (but this is Roland's song). Lyrics are quirky and weird:

"Addicted to chicks! He's got a rental tree near the nudist beach, yeah!"

 It's energetic and crazy and probably about Fritz the Cat.

Now, for something a bit more emotional and powerful and downright METAL. "Giants" is possibly the only genuine metal track on this album, and what the others lack in majesty and power, it more than makes up for. From the soaring guitars, and dramatic music build slide guitar and then Kiske's voice, soaring high on currents of emotion and passion. This song is pretty damned epic.

A whistle-bang-whistle-bang follows on as the last chords fade and the "Windmill" begins turning. Piano, tinkling across the keys, Kiske's voice a gentle sussuration. Folk ballad? Vocals with acoustic guitar, a song that evokes memories, nostalgia, a feeling of peace and serenity.

"Don't feel alone and depressed, someone willl come at last. To soothe your stumbling mind to keep it away from the evil storm."

I always loved the lyrics of this song. I was 15 when it was released, and it gave me hope for my future. There's some pretty instense acoustic guitar strumming too. It's a very nostalgic and moving piece for me. Making me think of golden fields, and blue skies.

Now it's time to step back to the 70s, and time to put some flowers in your hair - because it's time for a "Revolution Now". The last of Weikath's contributions and with aspects of Sabbath and Trouble - that somewhat slow, slightly trippy, somewhat sludgy, psychadelic-doom sound (stoner metal?). The chorus is epic. The guitar solos are jolly fine. Fade out includes record scratching noises and grunting pigs. I am not sure why.

The acoustic-but-energetic "In the Night" really does do justice to Kiske's vocals and contains some very nice lyrics:

"When I wake up early in the morning, I catch a book and jump inside...."

And Kiske does his "Elvis voice". I love it when his vocals drop down an octave. Gives me shivers. The guitars are animated and filled with a playful joy.

Now, time for some "Music". Well, more music. This is a very powerful piece, building from a soft, almost haunting vocal line and with elements of classic rock. The stirring nature of the music and the power of the vocals, as they rise, soar, in celebratory harmony. It's slow and dramatic. The additon of the orchestra really helps improve the power.

"Step Out of Hell" is a song about drugs to what would be best described as dance-rock. Some reviews speculate that it's about Ingo and the lyrics centre on trying to help someone with a drug problem. The guitars are a little more energetic on this one, and Kiske's voice is as powerful as ever, but the cheesy keyboards feel awkward and a bit out of place. It is probably my least favourite song on the album.
Sadly, it's also prophetical:

"... go on like this you're gonna be dead..."

RIP Ingo.

Following on is the epic and beautiful "I Believe". Written by Kiske, this is him coming out of the Christianity closet in glory and triumph. It is a powerful and stirring song, even for a non-believer like myself. The rising melodies, the share jubilation and celebration in his voice and the full-on orcheastrations make me wish Kiske could perform with an orchestra all the time. And then he does his low-sexy-voice, except faster, and somewhat sinister. This is almost a song to inspire me to believe. But it's not preachy. Not really. Sure, he's singing about how important God is, but it's about his personal choice - not trying to inflict it upon the listener. Pure epic majesty.

Gentle strumming, provides acoustic support to Kiske's "Longing", it starts slow, but then the strings come in and then it becomes a thing of beauty. A song of loss, of love. Of longing. That final triumphant, symphonic blast...

"Here is love and there is pain; it's all around it's all the same".

You know what? This is a damned fine album! In fact, it's probably the most accessible Helloween album to the not-metal-fans and the structures and blend is an eclectic masterpiece. If I ignore the terrible cover and the internal band dramas and just concentrate instead on the extremely polished and brilliantly eclectic blend of music, that really deserves better recognition*.

I'd have to give this album 9.5/10.
Do you know what I want to see? Michael Kiske performing with an orchaestra. That would be amazingly awesome.

* Even the band pretend it does not exist - to the best of my knowledge, they no longer play ANY of these songs in any of their sets.