Helloween: Rabbit Don't Come Easy

With a squeal, a pop, chattering teeth and mechanical clack, the newest from Helloween delivers the hard-won reward promised by its title. Rarely have progressive, power metal and classic rock n' roll elements blended so nicely, showing all their facets while maintaining the force we look for in this music. Rabbit Don't Come Easy provides whistful commentary on the easy come/easy go lifestyle of rock stardom ("Do You Feel Good"), intricate, Queen-like opera-metal ("The Tune") and balls-to-the-wall riff-heavy ravishment ("Hell Was Made In Heaven.") The twin-guitar speech punch that trademarks this great German band is everywhere evident, as is their penchant for classically inflected melodic hooks. There's some clever references here as well -- listen carefully to "The Tune"s intro and you'll here a thrashed version of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells," for example. King Diamond/Motorhead skinman Mickey Dee shocks and awes on 10 of the 12 songs here, and his playing on "Hell Was Made In Heaven" virtually makes his drumwork into an element of the melody line. Combining the best of the old with the sharpest of the new, Helloween have hit a new plateau here. Smashing.

Added: June 14th 2003
Reviewer: Alex S. Johnson
Score:
Related Link: Helloween Official Website
Hits: 5123
Language: english

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