HELLOWEEN - "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT" (2015)

HELLOWEEN - "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT"
(Running time: 61:20 minutes; 13 songs)
("Nuclear Blast Records"; 2015; CD):

And on we go, still remaining for a while "ongoingly" in the year of 2015 and remaining still in the Metal and Rock department also with this very one here (and I think I'll probably make out of this whole month finally a complete and "through-and-through" Rock/Metal month up here, even this wasn't anyhow planned but so far it's exactly that and so I think I will stick to/with it this month), and here's my review on the mighty HELLOWEEN's 2015 full length album "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT" released via the german "NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS" label and it's still so far and for all what I know the current/actual release of/by the legendary HELLOWEEN and so there's anyhow more than enough justification to still do a review on it up here even it's already two years old now. HELLOWEEN are true Metal legends from Germany and they mean a lot to me, even my personal favorites of/by them are all offspring(s) of their still very strong today going (hm... anyway... you know what I want to say ;-) ...) Andi Deris era and my all time favorite HELLOWEEN album is definitely their unrivaled "MASTER OF THE RINGS" masterpiece, yes, and what shall I say: "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT" comes incredible damn close to "MASTER OF THE RINGS" in the sense of its quality and its approach, too, with its fantastic cocktail of top notch melodic Heavy Metal, speedfilled Power Metal respectively powerful Speed Metal marks and doses in it, and with a big stunning load of massively hard rocking and heavy grooving Heavy Rock ingredients, all melted together by larger than life melodies, a over the top hymnal/anthemic potential/approach, a first class tight and to the point as well as diverse and multi-layered/rich-on-variations-and-surprises songwriting, and a just sheer fantastic highest skilled guitar work and all is crowned by Andi Deris' stunning and very charismatic vocals. The songs or better the writing and the arrangements and the composition of the songs cover a damn wide palette of different approaches (from gloomy stompers to huge dramatic tension-builders to hard rockin' and groovin' anthems and then to speedy power monsters we find everything on "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT", and this all also on the highest levels of quality), and all is also done very, very intense and each song truly shines with its very own strong atmosphere and pretty unique character, yes, with its very special flavor to it, painting a rich and diverse picture with overwhelming impressive varied different colorful tonings and moods that are mirrowed in the very multiple/diverse "musical work" on "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT" and this painted "musical picture" is just nothing than fascinating, grapping, interesting, rousing, and just "stunningly" awesome and it offers so much, so many different surprises and fresh ideas and is also so uplifting and rousing, soulful and playful, all done with so much passion and diversity to it, yes, this is just a totally amazing piece of music of the very highest quality, period. Prepare yourself for brilliant powerful, melodic, rocking, grooving, symphonic, high skilled, diverse, and just fantastic guitars delivering massive rhythm work, bright shining leads, and strongest solos; for above all shining amazing charismatic lead vocals that are also often nicely backed up by hymnal backings; for a sheer full force rhythm section played in a diverse way all the time to the point; for stunning verses and anthemic refrains; and prepare yourself for all this done in a brilliant way, point and fact. A big bunch of very good and pretty cool lyrics we get on top of it, as well as a typical, very cool HELLOWEEN artwork, and a first class transparent and also powerful production sound. My personal favorite songs are "HEROES", "STAY CRAZY", "LOST IN AMERICA", "RUSSIAN ROULÉ", "THE SWING OF A FALLEN WORLD", "CREATURES IN HEAVEN", "LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE", "IF GOD LOVES ROCK & ROLL", and "CLAWS", but don't make the mistake and think that the other here and now not mentioned songs would be anyhow weak or something like this, because hell no, that they are definitely not. The only song that I can't really "follow" is the finishing song "YOU, STILL OF WAR", an epic and I'm pretty sure also an anyhow pretty strong song but I simply somehow can't relate to it. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that's just a matter of me and my personal taste and not of the general musical quality of this particular song. Yes, I'm very sure about/on this. Something that I haven't mentioned in a clearly "outpointed" manner so far is how impressed I am by the constantly very fresh and grapping dynamics and the also constantly very high energy levels of the whole album, just fantastic and, like already said, very impressive. Okay, I think that's it so far, and if you love some impressive and fresh up-to-date yet real and just honest and fantastic Heavy Metal and if you really still should not know or have HELLOWEEN's "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT" then by any means make sure to finally change this and best do this right now, this is a nearly perfect album that I can only highly recommend to you even now two years after it first saw the light of day.

(9 of 10 points)

https://www.helloween.org/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

HELLOWEEN - "LOST IN AMERICA" /live\ (2015, "MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT")