Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The enormity of a return can never be taken for granted, nor should it be expected that the moment of greatest possible success can be replicated to the exact and defining point. However, the excitement of such a homecoming, the restoration of a valued enterprise and line up should be heralded with a certain amount of glee and trumpets that are strong enough to bring down the fabled walls of Jericho.

Helloween, arguably the godfathers of the German Heavy Metal scene, and one who have witnessed adversity, implosion and reunion on a far greater level than most who have been impacted by the fickle fortune of fate, return to a stable that at once time may have not only considered slammed shut, but the horse it housed had long since retired and was living the high life surrounded by mares of its choice and twenty-four access to the free hay bar.

Time, if accepted in the right way, can lead to a healing of the ways parted. It is a route that so few are willing to undertake, or if they do it is with grated teeth and knives ready to plunge that they do so; for Helloween, the choice is one to be seen as simple in the end, and for their new self-titled album, the belief for the fans who found the maturity that encompassed the era of The Keeper of The Seven Keys Part Two is rewarded fully, is once more explored and delivered with the return of Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske to the studio line up for the first time as combined duo for over thirty years.

There is a realm where unsaid thanks and meaningful reunions are treated with disdain, a palace of pain in which the naysayers and critic will use to stab at the heart of any artist, thankfully and with honour, Helloween have put it all to one side and in their second self-titled release, the memories of Weikath, Grosskopf, Hansen and Kiske, as well the excellent Andi Deris who has been at the vocal helm of the band since 1994, Sascha Gerstner and Daniel Loble, are more than just a magical excursion in which to spend valuable time exploring, it is a commitment to the extraordinary talent that the band that once walked in the open shroud of beauty and which possesses them to this day.

Across tracks such as Fear Of The Fallen, Mass Pollution, Rise Without Chains, Robot King, Cyanide, Orbit, and Skyfall, the pumpkins are not just reunited, they have risen up, overthrown the weight of expectancy that has been evident since 2016, and delivered an album of passionate anger, of metal Adonis structure, and one that answers the question of what if? with precision and poise.

Ian D. Hall