Helloween has returned...
Jorge Ruben | West Hempstead, NY United States | 04/09/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Better than Raw" is the album that all fans have been waiting for since "Keepers of the Seven Keys Part II"... Helloween made a serious comeback with "Master of the Rings" and then with "Time of the Oath", but "Better than Raw" is it... an amazing effort from all involved... at last, all the "comparisons" between Michael "Michi" Kiske and Andi Deris can be put to rest; after the "Z" instrumental intro, Andi does some amazing work on "Push", hitting notes that he's probably never hit before..."Falling Higher" has the sound & feel of classic Helloween... "Hey Lord" is an excellent mid-tempo tune from Andi (& the first single)... "Don't Spit on my Mind" is a throw-away tune from Markus... "Revelation" is the 9 minute opus in the album, an excellent composition from Uli... "Time" is another mid-tempo tune from Andi, very very nice & heavy in certain parts..."I Can" is one of my favorites, very Maiden-ish (and their second single)... "Lavdate Dominum" is my second favorite track off the album, sung by Andi all in latin (!)... "A Handful of Pain" is awesome... "Back on the Ground", a bonus track by Uli on the Japanese import, is also excellent... "Midnight Sun", a Weiki composition, is the hardest song on the album and my personal favorite, with an awessome double lead. Helloween truly comes together on this album... Uli Kusch amazingly wrote over half the songs on the album, and he shows that he can hang with the other members when it comes to songwriting... Roland, unfortunately, does not have any songwriting credits on this album but he comes together nicely with Weiki, forming a tighter duo & sound than Weiki ever had with Kai Hansen (blasphemy to some of the old-school Helloween fans, but the truth is the truth and sometimes it hurts)... Markus continues with his great bass playing, but by far the biggest surprises are Andi & Uli. The newest Helloween members contribute greatly in bringing the band back to the glory of their heyday. Andi proves that he doesn't have to take a backseat to Michi and in fact Andi's voice is probably more versatile & suited to the Helloween sound than Michi's... Uli shows that he has far surpassed the "session drummer" label he once had and is a more powerful drummer than Ingo Schwichtenberg (while Ingo had more raw emotion, Uli is much tighter with Markus, Weiki & Roland than Ingo was with Markus, Weiki, Kai & later Roland). "Better than Raw" is Helloween at their finest, and any true metal fan will want this one in their collection at any cost..."
Helloween at it's finest
Jorge Ruben | 02/23/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Wow!! I can't believe there can be an album of such an outstanding quality as this one. It's a total classic. I thought it was pretty hard to top Helloween's last recording, "The Time of the Oath", but believe me, this one does. If you lost faith for this band since Hansen left after the "Keepers...", then I can assure you this album won't dissapoint you at all. And I know no one can sing better than ex-vocalist Michael Kiske, but Helloween has developed a new style in their last 3 albums that fits perfectly with Andi Deris's voice. Check out "Push" and "Revelation" for fast, super-agressive yet extremely melodic masterpieces, which are, in my opinion, the tracks were Andi's voice really shows off. "Lavdate Dominvm" is my personal favorite; it's got probably the best guitar work in the album. I recommend the japanese version of the record 'cause it's got the bonus track "Back on the ground", that's definetly worth checking out. What else can I say but this was my favorite album of 1998 and when you listen to it, you'll understand what I mean. Get it FAST!!!!!!!"
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1