Helloween

Better Than Raw

Velvel Music Group

Review by Neil St.Laurent

Thanks to Chipster for the Cassette

Anybody who has been listening to metal for any period of time should recognize the name "Helloween". Some of you may not remember their debut album "Walls Of Jerico" released in 1986, but that won't be any reason not to get acquainted with this, their newest release, "Better Than Raw".

This album opens a Hollywood style classical epic, and although very short, very pleasant nonetheless... too bad that this track ends on a rather weak note.

Other than the intro, the music is generally very classic speed metal, the kind that got its roots in the 80's. The music chooses to be fast, but not so fast that the music would be considered extreme. It should be clearly stated that this speed is completely different from the thrash-like music achieved by bands like Slayer, no, indeed Helloween plays an extremely melodic and well orchestrated music. If you really haven't assumed so by now, the music is driven by a couple of guitars, and backed up with the typical bass and drum ensemble.

Beyond the standard metal fare, Helloween at times manages to achieve an atmospheric sound, again, nothing like the extreme genres, but a level of atmosphere balanced with other emotional components in order to produce a well rounded recording. That is of course the biggest appeal of "Better Than Raw": a high quality production of a continuously balanced sound that never leaves you bored from monotony or strong technicality. There are times when the band tries a few interesting things, but in general they stick fairly true to their genre and don't deviate heavily from the anticipated.

"Better Than Raw" is an extraordinary release in the sense that even though everything in the genre has been done to some degree, this album still comes out sounding fresh and original. There is no reason why anybody would be disappointed with this release.

Helloween is:
Andi Deris - Vocals
Michael Weikath - Guitars
Roland Grapow - Guitars
Markus Grosskopf - Bass
Uli Kusch - Drums

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