The Dark Ride / Helloween (2000)

1. Beyond The Portal

2. All Over The Nation

3. Mr. Torture

4. Escalation 666

5. Mirror Mirror

6. If I Could Fly

7. Salvation

8. The Departed (Sun Is Going Down)

9. I Live For Your Pain

10. We Damn The Night

11. Immortal

12. The Dark Ride

This album was a controversial one. There were several reasons. The sound of this album is very heavy and dark, so some people said this did not sound like Helloween. Michael Weikath especially did not like this album. He contributed only two songs despite the fact that he wrote more songs. I supposed that the band's situation was not good (In fact, Uli and Roland got fired after the tour of this album). However, this album was one of the records that I listened hundreds times during high school years and still liked it.

I admit that the band's sound became much darker and heavier, yet I do not think they completely lost Helloween essence. Pop essence that Andi brought was still present. In fact, he wrote 6 out of 11 songs. The album contains typical Helloween style power metal songs (Tracks 2 and 6 by Weikath, track 9 by Andi, and title track 11 by Roland) and ballads (Tracks 5 and 10 by Andi). I admit that other songs are not typical Helloween sound that we expect, but they still have good melodies and hook. In fact, track 3 written by Uli was played during Legacy tour. 

I think the impression of the album can be very different by which copy of this album you listen to. Tracks 2 and 3 might be switched depending on which country you bought. I have both issues and compared. The copy with "Mr. Torture" on track 2 gave me impression of the dark sound overall, but the other copy that track list is as written above was not so bad.

I am not here to say that this album is comparable with "Keeper Part I and II" or "The Time Of The Oath". However, I hope this album will get more credit by quality not by expectation of fans.

☆☆☆☆

Resurrection / Halford (2000)

1. Resurrection

2. Made In Hell

3. Locked And Loaded

4. Night Fall

5. Silent Scream

6. The One You Love To Hate

7. Cyberworld

8. Slow Down

9. Twist

10. Temptation

11. Drive

12. Saviour

Years 1999 and 2000 became remarkable for metal maniacs. In 1999, Bruce Dickinson returned to Iron Maiden, and Rob Halford returned to the heavy metal music scene in 2000. He strayed off the course in 90's. He formed "Fight" and "Two", which were more modern, industrial, and alternative metal. However, after all of the wander, he returned to the pure metal. I still clearly remember the first time I heard this album, I got goose bumps from the first song when I heard his high tone scream. In the whole album, he plays pure metal that all of his fans expect of him.

From tracks 1 to 7, all of the songs ran through really quickly. The opening song is a killer tune, track 1, that reminds us songs such as "Painkiller". In track 2, we can hear his powerful mid-range voice. He talks about his life story in this song. Track 3 is a cool mid-tempo tune. Track 4 has beautiful chorus. Track 5 is very dramatic and progressive in some degree. After taking a breath for a moment, the album takes us to tracks 6 and 7. Halford collaborated with Bruce Dickinson on track 6. It's an extravagant song for all of metal fans. Track 7 is obviously inspired by "Electric Eye". Then, three mid-tempo songs come in row, so tension gets little loose here, but they kept quality of songs. At the end, they press us with two powerful tunes.

Overall, he played what he was expected from the fans. I could see some influence he had from what he had done in 90's. Nevertheless, it was well sublimed with "Judas Priest" style of heavy metal. Obviously, guitars were down tuned, but it did not bothered me at all. Two guitarists did wonderful job in this album. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that they grew up listening to "Judas Priest". All of heavy metal fans must have this record!

☆☆☆☆☆

Brave New World / Iron Maiden (2000)

1. The Wicker Man

2. Ghost Of The Navigator

3. Brave New World

4. Blood Brothers

5. The Mercenary

6. Dream Of Mirrors

7. The Fallen Angel

8. The Nomad

9. Out Of The Silent Planet

10. The Thin Line Between Love And Hate

1999 was a remarkable year for heavy metal fans. Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith came back to one of the greatest pioneer bands of heavy metal. Right after that, they went on greatest hits tour and then released this album. This was the first studio album I learned of this band. First, I bought "A Real Dead One" and then "Rock In Rio" which contained the "Brave New World" tour. From those two live albums, I could tell that these guys were great live act, so I decided to also buy this album. Since then, I was possessed to this band. I have all of their studio albums. It all started here.

As I mentioned before, I like Blaze Bayley and "Virtual XI". However, no one can deny that Bruce is the voice of Iron Maiden after you listened to this album. If you listen to the first three songs, you feeling just settles down because you know that you are listening to the songs that are played in right way. I just cannot imagine listening to those songs sung by someone else. Every part of this album is Iron Maiden that we know. Powerful riffs, dramatic progression, vocals, everything is great!!

Musically, my impression was that the first half is very rocking, and the second half was more progressive. I guess they have not spent much time as having three guitarists, so there is not much arrangement regarding three guitar parts.

☆☆☆☆☆

Infinite by Strativarius (2000)

1. Hunting High And Low

2. Millennium

3. Mother Gaia

4. Phoenix

5. Glory Of The World

6. A Million Light Years Away

7. Freedom

8. Infinity

9. Celestial Dream

Since "Episode", Strativarius has been forming their music and beauty of their style. I think that process came to one climax with the last album "Destiny". That album was very progressive and really established their style. I was wondering how they would head to the next stage. Well, this is the answer from the band. They created another masterpiece. They successfully suceeded the last album yet also moved further to progress musically.

The lead single, track 1, became one of the most important repertories at their concert. Their music style is very limited in good ways and bad ways. Nevertheless, they surprised me with richness of their melody and songwriting. Many of their fast tunes sound similar, but they wrote tracks 2, 4, 6, and 7. They are all catchy and very unique. A beautiful ballad 3 is very dramatic. Track 6 is a new type in their music. It also became an important song on their set-lists. A progressive number, track 8, is very exciting, and the album ends with another ballad, track 9.

They have established their music style in last three albums. However, this time is almost like that they broke out of their own shell. They still stand strong in the position where their followers cannot reach even close. I have to take my hat off to them.

☆☆☆☆☆