Album Review: "Master of the Rings" by German Power Metal Band Helloween

German power metal band Helloween has been one of the best bands in Germany and with their 1994 album Master of the Rings, they show just how great they are. This is the first album to have Andi Deris doing the vocals and this is also the first album to have Uli Kusch doing the drums. The album starts with a short classically influenced piece called Irritation. Michael Weikath has a habit of starting albums out in the fashion and there’s nothing wrong with that. Master of the Rings is also the first album without the contributions of the late Ingo Schwichtenberg.

Then there is the lighting fast song Sole Survivor! Throughout the evolution of human history, fear and hatred have been a part of life on Earth and it is up to us as individuals to try and promote understanding, kindness, and peace. The song Why which is amazing and melodic is about asking GOD for guidance and direction at a time when there are so many unfortunate things happening. One song that we did not discuss on this album review which we should is the epic and awesome song “Where the Rain Grows.” The drums start off this song as it has one of the most melodic choruses, certainly in this band’s history. This is an early example of just why the addition of lead vocalist Andi Deris made this band at least 10 times better. He chants after the solos, and he repeats the chorus again. The drums that have this thundering kind of finish end this excellent song.

Master of the Rings is a very good album by this great German band however, I wouldn’t say that it is their best one because there are a few songs that are kind of substandard such as Mr. Ego (Take Me Down) and I kind of don’t really like the song Still We Go. Even so, the album has many strong songs in it and this album would help the band finish off the 1990’s in very strong fashion.

Track Notes: "Perfect Gentleman" and "The Game is On"

Perfect Gentleman is a song about someone that’s trying to prove to a lady that he is in fact the right man to be with her. That’s part of the challenge as he tries to sweep her off her feet so that she comes to him. The Game is On is a humorous attempt to describe what happens to a person when they start to play video games because they want to distract themselves from what is going on in their daily life because the stress and pressure is too much for them. At the end of the song is a famous sound that happens in the game of Tetris when the player loses. I’m sure that most of you remember what this sound is like.

Take Me Home is a blues style hard rock kind of song. The band introduces a ballad song called In the Middle of a Heartbeat. He is trying to win over the heart of a woman but all the things that she has done and said are still not enough to convince him. The Japanese version of this album has two bonus tracks. They are called Can’t Fight Your Desire and the instrumental song called Grapowski’s Malmsuite1001 (D-Doll). This one has the obvious Yngwie Malmsteen influence with the neoclassical style and sweeping guitar play that we heard on the first Rising Force album back in 1984. Then the song slows down and sounds like the song Evil Eye though not exactly. Then there is a huge section of piano playing that would make any classical composer proud.

Andi Deris made a very good transition from Pink Cream 69 and came to Helloween replacing Michael Kiske at this time whom many people think very highly of. I like Kiske but I feel that Deris has been the better fit for this band because of his uniqueness and good soft vocals. Congratulations to Helloween for creating such a solid album as Master of the Rings!