HELLOWEEN — Straight Out of Hell (review)

HELLOWEEN — Straight Out of Hell album cover Album · 2013 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
RuneWalsh2112
I've been listening quite a lot to this album recently in my preparation to my first Helloween gig! Initially, this album sounded like a huge improvement over it's predecessor "7 Sinners" due to the omission of ridiculous rockers like "Where The Sinners Go" and "Are You Metal?". But my opinion changed dramatically after witnessing the band in a live setting.

The Helloween/Gamma Ray gig I saw featured a total of 5 tracks off "Straight Out Of Hell" with "Nabataea" and the title track being the most obvious setlist addition choices, even though Andi Deris wasn't able to sing the high pitch chorus line of the former. The other three tracks on the setlist included the extremely cheesy power ballad "Hold Me In Your Arms" and the crowd interactive "Live Now!" where Deris divided the audience in two and made one half shout 'Live Now!' while the other half had to sing the melody line that followed the shout. The fifth track was "Waiting For The Thunder" and I kind of feel that it's one of the borderline filler tracks that doesn't actually have much momentum to it. Luckily, the band more than made up for their songwriting with an energetic live performance and an amusing encore number with a guest spot by Kai Hansen!

I'm actually kind of confused about the band's setlist track choices seeing that they managed to leave out my personal favorites like the classic power metal tunes "World Of War", "Far From The Stars" and "Burning Sun", the latter has allegedly been previously featured on the setlist. I guess the band wants to mix things up during their live performances even though most people who go to their shows are primarily there to hear Helloween's classic power metal sound.

The album features another unexpected deviation from the power metal format in the drum and vocal track titled "Wanna Be God", which reminds a lot of the first part of "We Will Rock You", but the track really has no momentum to it since it ends prematurely leaving behind the full band conclusion, which was perfected by Queen. Overall, this is another mixed bag for Helloween who, in my opinion, haven't been able to deliver a solid album since "The Dark Ride". Allow me to note that I have yet to hear "Gambling With The Devil", so this opinion may actually change once I do so.

**** star songs: Nabataea (7:03) World Of War (4:56) Far From The Stars (4:41) Burning Sun (5:33) Straight Out Of Hell (4:33) Years (4:22)

*** star songs: Live Now! (3:10) Waiting For The Thunder (3:53) Wanna Be God (2:02) Make Fire Catch The Fly (4:22) Church Breaks Down (6:06)

** star songs: Hold Me In Your Arms (5:10) Asshole (4:09)
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