Straight Out Of Hell / Helloween (2013)

1. Nabatataea

2. World of War

3. Live Now!

4. Far From the Stars

5. Burning Sun

6. Waiting for the Thunder

7. Hold Me in Your Arms

8. Wanna Be God

9. Straight Out of Hell

10. Axxxe

11. Years

12. Make Fire Catch the Fly

13. Church Breaks Down

Most of advance reviews I saw have been very positive, so I was really looking for this album. Their last album, "7 Sinners", was very dark, heavy and sharp. The band members have been speaking that this album is typical Helloween style and carries their identity. When I heard the lead singles, tracks 5 (Japan) and 1 (worldwide), I could feel the positive energy of the band. The current line-up has been the longest in their history, and the team is tighter than ever. Especially, track 1 has good riffs and melody lines.

When I first listened to the album, all of the songs just ran through so quickly. I was really impressed by their great skills of arrangement and songwriting. Track 1 is the longest song out of all songs, yet the song progression is really clever. Overall, there were many fast songs such as tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, and 13. This album might be the fastest album they have ever made. Nevertheless, those are not just fast songs. They all have good hook in melodies, a lot of rhythm changes, and good chord progression. Tracks 3 is a Helloween style pop metal number. Track 6 is very dramatic. What surprised me the most was that the only ballad in this album, track 7, was written by Sascha. He might become another great ballad composer after Weiki and Andi. Andi said that track 8 was that Helloween version of "We Will Rock You". I don't mention too much of track 10 lol But, it is a catchy song.

Overall, this album is great. Perhaps, I would say that his album is the best one they have ever made since Andi joined the band. This album could not be made without this line-up. I really really hope that they would play many songs from this album. They have been playing only few songs from new albums in last several tour. I would not be upset even if they played the whole album. This album has such convincing quality and energy. In this long career, they released another masterpiece!! 

☆☆☆☆☆