Vinrock666 : 18/20 | Helloween’s 2007 release : “Gambling With The Devil” : is a stunningly refreshing piece of metal mastery.
The MVP, if you will, is Sascha Gerstner for actually getting the accomplished Michael Weikath to step up his game and apply himself in both the classic Helloween and new school Power metal styles.
The song, “Fallen To Pieces” showcases this blend, complete with multiple movements featuring a range of tempos and a rousing background vocal bridge. “Kill it” is as heavy as it gets, coming in perfectly after another trademark introduction, followed by two high flying and awe inspiring anthems in “The Saints” and “As Long As I Fall”.
Most of the songs can stand up on their own, but all of them benefit from a new philosophy by the band to make all of these compositions team efforts as evidenced by the omission of indiviual credits.
Another X factor to the success of this album is the keyboard team of Amon and Ulmer. They, along with new drummer Dani Löble, have added new and exciting shots of sonic over and undertones throughout all of the tracks. Even though most of these songs compliment each other due to their varying range of speed, tone and pitch, the best decision I think the band made is not including an Andi Deris ballad.
Say what you will, but I will contend that “Gambling With The Devil” is better off on the whole without one. Deris, it should be pointed out, comes up very - very strong on this album. The bass lines, brought on by Markus Großkopf, are finally featured fairly in relation to the other members, perhaps giving the strongest example of a new found cohesion production-wise.
Altogether, there are no filler songs, and the end result is Powerful and awesome.
“Gambling With The Devil” is not only the album Helloween afficionados have waited for, but also an excellent record for any fan of heavy metal.
2008-07-06
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