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FREELANCE FRIDAY · MUSIC Review: Helloween – The Dark Ride August 15, 2014

In this week’s Enter your search... #FreelanceFriday, Miguel Bernardo Olmedo Morell RECENT POSTS reviews Helloween’s album “The Dark Ride” A Note from the Editor: One Door Closes

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Review: Helloween – The Dark Ride

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Any metalhead who’s into power metal at all must have heard, at one point or another— and, usually, at a lot of points over his life— CONTACT about the mythical German band Helloween. While they were not the creators Email: [email protected] of the genre, they did set the roots for the European branch of power metal, and have influenced many other bands, like Edguy, CATEGORIES http://www.brightyoungscribes.com/reviewhelloweenthedarkride/ 1/4 12/03/2015 Review: Helloween The Dark Ride | Bright Young Scribes Gamma Ray or Sonata Arctica. The Keeper ART of the Seven Keys Pt. I (1987) & Pt. II (1988) albums set a milestone for later COMMENT musicians to look back to, and created a style that many tried to imitate time and EVENTS again and again. Helloween’s roots have been so important that it is no wonder they FASHION have gone down as one of the most FREELANCE FRIDAY important metal bands of Europe. INTERVIEW Most people, however, seem to be too preoccupied with their first albums—the two MOVIES Keepers of the Seven Keys, Walls of Jericho (1985), Master of the Rings (1994) MUSIC —and outright ignore their latest ones, which, while not being as influential as the OTHER first ones were, have gone a long way and THEATRE matured a lot. It is by listening to Gambling with the Devil (2007), 7 Sinners (2010), or WATCH Straight Out of Hell (2013) that one can see that the initial, youngish passion of their first years has turned into musical virtuosity and lyrical maturity. While both periods are ARCHIVES excellent, there are pretty sharp contrasts. September 2014 Right in the middle of these two periods lies The Dark Ride (2000), an album that August 2014 combines pretty mature lyrics—like those of July 2014 “The Departed (Sun is Going Down)”, which shows the emotional abuse of a cowardly June 2014 dying man towards his friend (or lover) as he faces his last hours—with incredibly May 2014 catchy tunes—“Mr. Torture” has an incredibly happy and upbeat melody for a April 2014 song that speaks about a man that sells March 2014 pain to people who are into BDSM—and even epic melodies that combine different February 2014 riffs and verses to make up a classic and moving theme—namely, the closing “The January 2014 Dark Ride” track. In the middle of it all we can find some ballads that reflect quite December 2013 deeply on the fears and insecurities of a person suffering from depression, as is the November 2013 case with “If I Could Fly”, as well as some of October 2013 Helloween’s darkest and hardest tracks, like “Mirror Mirror” or “Escalation 666”, which September 2013 clearly justify the name of the album. All in http://wwawll.b, rhigohtwyoeunvgescrr,i btehse.c oaml/breuvmiew threiellosw teoen cthreadatrek raide/ 2/4 12/03/2015 Review: Helloween The Dark Ride | Bright Young Scribes all, however, the album tries to create a August 2013 positive feeling, to give their listeners the certainty that our weaknesses can be July 2013 overcome with just a little faith—as is the case in “We Damn the Night” or “The Dark June 2013 Ride”. May 2013 While the album has met with generally good reviews—the Encyclopaedia Metallum April 2013 users awarded it a 85%, and Sputnikmusic March 2013 gave it a rating of four out of five—it is, surprisingly, not a very well known album; February 2013 it’s usually their first three albums and Masters of the Rings that one thinks of January 2013 when talking about Helloween. There are also some people who criticised it for not December 2012 being dark enough, but then, they seem to November 2012 forget that not only are the German formation a power metal band, but also a group that doesn’t like to be broody and depressive, but instead enjoy creating very energetic and optimist tunes—even in most of their darkest and most critical songs there is always hope for improvement or, at the very least, a satirical and laughable critique of all that can’t and won’t be changed.

Miguel Bernardo Olmedo Morell

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