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12/03/2015 Review: Helloween The Dark Ride | Bright Young Scribes http://www.brightyoungscribes.com/reviewhelloweenthedarkride/ 1/4 RECENT POSTS CONTACT CATEGORIES Enter your search... A Note from the Editor: One Door Closes The Sunday Playlist: #MTVVMA2014 10 Life Lessons from #GirlBoss Review: Helloween – The Dark Ride Comment: Success and the Hungry Generation Email: [email protected] August 15, 2014 FREELANCE FRIDAY · MUSIC Review: Helloween – The Dark Ride In this week’s #FreelanceFriday, Miguel Bernardo Olmedo Morell reviews Helloween’s album “The Dark Ride” 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— about the mythical German band Helloween. While they were not the creators of the genre, they did set the roots for the European branch of power metal, and have influenced many other bands, like Edguy, HOME ABOUT WRITE FOR BYS
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Review: Helloween – The Dark Ride
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August 15, 2014
FREELANCE FRIDAY · MUSIC
Review: Helloween – The DarkRide
In this week’s#FreelanceFriday, MiguelBernardo Olmedo Morellreviews Helloween’s album“The Dark Ride”
Any metalhead who’s into power metal at allmust have heard, at one point or another—and, usually, at a lot of points over his life—about the mythical German bandHelloween. While they were not the creatorsof the genre, they did set the roots for theEuropean branch of power metal, and haveinfluenced many other bands, like Edguy,
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Gamma Ray or Sonata Arctica. The Keeperof the Seven Keys Pt. I (1987) & Pt. II(1988) albums set a milestone for latermusicians to look back to, and created astyle that many tried to imitate time andagain and again. Helloween’s roots havebeen so important that it is no wonder theyhave gone down as one of the mostimportant metal bands of Europe.
Most people, however, seem to be toopreoccupied with their first albums—the twoKeepers of the Seven Keys, Walls ofJericho (1985), Master of the Rings (1994)—and outright ignore their latest ones,which, while not being as influential as thefirst ones were, have gone a long way andmatured a lot. It is by listening to Gamblingwith the Devil (2007), 7 Sinners (2010), orStraight Out of Hell (2013) that one can seethat the initial, youngish passion of their firstyears has turned into musical virtuosity andlyrical maturity. While both periods areexcellent, there are pretty sharp contrasts.
Right in the middle of these two periods liesThe Dark Ride (2000), an album thatcombines pretty mature lyrics—like those of“The Departed (Sun is Going Down)”, whichshows the emotional abuse of a cowardlydying man towards his friend (or lover) ashe faces his last hours—with incrediblycatchy tunes—“Mr. Torture” has anincredibly happy and upbeat melody for asong that speaks about a man that sellspain to people who are into BDSM—andeven epic melodies that combine differentriffs and verses to make up a classic andmoving theme—namely, the closing “TheDark Ride” track. In the middle of it all wecan find some ballads that reflect quitedeeply on the fears and insecurities of aperson suffering from depression, as is thecase with “If I Could Fly”, as well as some ofHelloween’s darkest and hardest tracks, like“Mirror Mirror” or “Escalation 666”, whichclearly justify the name of the album. All in
all, however, the album tries to create a
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all, however, the album tries to create apositive feeling, to give their listeners thecertainty that our weaknesses can beovercome with just a little faith—as is thecase in “We Damn the Night” or “The DarkRide”.
While the album has met with generallygood reviews—the Encyclopaedia Metallumusers awarded it a 85%, and Sputnikmusicgave it a rating of four out of five—it is,surprisingly, not a very well known album;it’s usually their first three albums andMasters of the Rings that one thinks ofwhen talking about Helloween. There arealso some people who criticised it for notbeing dark enough, but then, they seem toforget that not only are the Germanformation a power metal band, but also agroup that doesn’t like to be broody anddepressive, but instead enjoy creating veryenergetic and optimist tunes—even in mostof their darkest and most critical songsthere is always hope for improvement or, atthe very least, a satirical and laughablecritique of all that can’t and won’t bechanged.
Miguel Bernardo Olmedo Morell
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