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Helloween: 7 sinners

28/11/11 || BamaHammer

Whether you dig Teutonic power metal as a genre or not, there’s really no denying the massive impact Helloween has made on the metal world in their almost 30 years of existence. They practically invented what we’ve come to accept as the modern power metal sound with their “Keeper of the Seven Keys” albums of the late-80s with their happy galloping drums, nut-squeezing vocals, and catchy sing-along choruses. They also found a way to make audio fecal matter all-but literally spew forth from the speakers with such turds as “Chameleon” and “Rabbit Don’t Come Easy”.

The evolution this band has undergone throughout their career has always been fascinating, at least to me, primarily the various changes that happen with the vocals from time to time. While the album itself is pretty damn good, it took the guys the entire “Walls of Jericho” record to discover that Kai Hansen, while an immensely talented songwriter and quite adept guitarist, was and will always be a shitty singer. Then came Michael Kiske who essentially cemented himself as, somewhat sadly, the standard by which all other power metal vocalists will forever be judged because of his performances on the “Keepers…” albums.

Enter Andi Deris. On Helloween’s first two albums with Deris, it seemed like he was trying too hard to emulate Kiske’s sound from Keepers, especially after Kiske’s obvious failures with “Chameleon” and “Pink Bubbles Go Penis”. As noted in Revenant’s fantastic review of ”The Time of the Oath”, Deris just had no balls and was really no match for the power Kiske brought to the table. So why am I telling you all this? Because at some point in the last few years, Deris’s balls dropped from out of his vagina, and with “7 Sinners”, Helloween has never sounded better.

Over the span of this band’s last seven studio outings, Deris has transformed from a Michael Kiske wannabe into raw, raspy, and most importantly, unique Andi Deris. Gone is the cliché operatic vibrato that is so much fun to ridicule on most power metal albums, and instead we get a ballsy and aggressive vocalist that rips through the mix with power and range. The more times I listen to this album, the more I am convinced that this is just not your standard power metal band anymore, plain and simple, and it starts with Deris. He’s an absolute monster on this album.

From the very start of the record, the guitar sound is decidedly heavier than anything else this band has done. It’s your typical searing, raunchy Tubescreamer-enhanced modern metal tone, and while they really started to jell on “Gambling with the Devil”, the guitar duo of Michael Weikath and still-somewhat-new guy Sascha Gerstner is as good as any pair in metal this side of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. The riffs and song structures are catchy and fairly simple, yet interesting enough to make you listen to them time and time again. The guitar solos (and the random flute solo in provided by Eberhard Hahn) are nothing that any real metalhead would call virtuosic, but they all fit the music so well.

Most true power metal warriors, or whatever the fuck they call themselves these days, know who Markus Grosskopf is and what he’s done with Helloween. While he’s no Steve Harris, his bass is loud and proud on “7 Sinners”, and it’s a much better record for it. If you’re not actively trying to listen for it in the mix, his licks are subtle enough to go almost unnoticed, but when you do pick it out, you’ll hear a heavy metal bass clinic. The tone is deep and ballsy, adding that extra dimension of heaviness to an already very heavy album, and it’s a perfect complement to
Dani Löble’s ungodly drumming.

As for the songs themselves, this album is filled with quality tracks that are catchy enough at first and still manage to grow on you faster than herpes. The opener, “Where the Sinners Go,” has a booty-shaking groove that you’re never going to find in typical “dragons-and-elves” power metal. “Are You Metal?,” “Who is Mr. Madman?,” and “Long Live the King” will provide you with your über-fast heavy metal fix. Even the two semi-ballads have balls and attitude. You won’t find but two real duds on the album. The somewhat boring “My Sacrifice” and the album closer “Far in the Future” have never done anything for me, and luckily enough, these two tracks are at the end, joined together by a pointless one-minute interlude called “Not Yet Today.”

So obviously, this is not your typical cookie-cutter power metal cheese-fest. I don’t even consider it “power metal” at all. This is loud, catchy, aggressive, groovy heavy metal that sets a new standard for Helloween and modern heavy metal. There’s even a flute solo in “Raise the Noise” that would make Ron Burgundy bow down in admiration. If you like power metal, you’ll like this, and you’ll probably be blown away by the heaviness of the new Helloween. If you despise power metal with a passion, you should at least give “7 Sinners” a chance. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

8,5

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Website: www.helloween.org
Band
Andi Deris: vocals
Michael Weikath: guitars
Sascha Gerstnet: guitars
Markus Grosskopf: bass
Dani Löble: drums

Tracklist
01. Where the Sinners Go
02. Are You Metal?
03. Who Is Mr. Madman?
04. Raise the Noise
05. World of Fantasy
06. Long Live the King
07. The Smile of the Sun
08. You Stupid Mankind
09. If a Mountain Could Talk
10. The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner
11. My Sacrifice
12. Not Yet Today
13. Far in the Future

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