Helloween - My God-Given Right |
Published May 24 2015
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Heroes |
| Genre | Power/Heavy Metal |
Andi Deris
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 13 |
Michael Weikath
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Guitar
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| Running time | 61 Min. |
Sascha Gerstner
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Guitar
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| Label | Nuclear Blast |
Markus Grosskopf
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Bass
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| Release | May 29, 2015 |
Dani Löble
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Drums
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| Country | Germany |
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Keyboard
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| Producer | Charlie Bauerfeind | ||
| Similar artists | --- | ||
The German unit Helloween defined power metal in the later half of the 80's and has ever since been something to be reckoned with, even if all of the band's albums up to this point naturally haven't been state of the art and totally mind-blowing.
Andi Deris' vocals have slowly deteriorated during the over 2 decades he has been with the band. In my ears he more than ever rather talks his way through the songs than actually maintains a sustainable singing performance. Helloween's metal music usually stands for strong melodies, catchy choruses and great hooks and the vocal melody in each song is of course an important element to complete this characteristic and since Andi still has empathy and a sparkle in his appearance, he in some particular way manages to come out somewhat valid in the end.
The songs overall aren't able to make a truly great impression either, but with several songwriters in the band, the record holds a clear variety and I think that the lead guitar play occasionally brings forth some cool tunes and nice harmonies. The song material is definitely all right, but although I have heard this record for a total of I guess 30 spins, I can't find those expedient songs that really contain the qualification to blow me away and I actually have a hard time finding one single track that really is awesome and accurate all the way from start to end.
A major part of the songs include a number of distinct features that cover bits and pieces of the band's 3 decade long existence. Even though a few band members have claimed to having approached an 80's kind of production sonically, I personally say that the record's sound picture is kind of brought back 20 years in time, but still with elements of being something newer of course.
From personal experience, I know that I quite often have difficulties to fully appreciate Helloween's new records initially, but with My God-Given Right, I have indeed put in much effort to carefully and thoroughly listen to it and since it's unable to really turn out killer, I ultimately hand out 6 chalices to a rather good album.
See
also review of: Straight
Out Of Hell , Keeper
Of The Seven Keys III-The Legacy , Rabbit
Don't Come Easy , The
Dark Ride
See also: interview
with Andi Deris
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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7 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
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Summary
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6 chalices of 10 - Tobbe |
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