Better Than Raw (1998)
One of the band’s heaviest albums to date and one of their best produced too. Better Than Raw is what a Helloween album should be, catchy melodic songs, choruses and great guitar solos. Once again, Uli Kusch took responsibility for the sounds and the mixes. This is an album that symbolizes just what Helloween does best.
There’s plenty of speed metal classics here, like the rampaging “Push”, the manic “Revelation”, and the power metal chug of “Falling Higher”, each with no shortage of dual guitar riffing, blinding solos, histrionic vocals, and relentless rhythms. The anthemic “Hey Lord” and grindingly heavy “Don’t Spit On My Mind” both offer up something a little different from the band, and really show the talents of singer Deris. Other highlights include the catchy yet proggy “Time”, the intricate grooves and melodic hooks of “A Handful of Pain”, and the crushing thrash of the killer 1-2 punch that ends the CD, “Lavdate Dominvm” and “Midnight Sun”. Both these tracks offer up an assortment of metal riffing, wicked solos, and some of Deris’ best primal screams on the album.
Track 11 is a Japanese ONLY Bonus track The US version contains a bonus track but Deris’ track “A Game We Shouldn’t Play” which is the b-side off of the “I Can” single. The european version contains no bonus tracks.
The subsequent supporting tour was par for the course, with the usual shows in Europe, Japan and Brazil, except for one surprise: On December 20, 1998, the band visited New York and played a show in Coney Island, the first show for Helloween in the United States in nearly a decade. Despite almost zero hype, attendance at the show was respectable, planting the seeds for a future return to the States.
Tracklist:
1. Deliberately Limited Preliminary Prelude Period in Z 1:44 (Kusch)
2. Push – 4:44 (Kusch/Deris, Kusch, Weikath)
3. Falling Higher – 4:45 (Weikath/Deris, Weikath)
4. Hey Lord! – 4:05 (Deris)
5. Don’t Spit on My Mind – 4:23 (Deris, Grosskopf/Deris)
6. Revelation – 8:21 (Kusch/Deris)
7. Time – 5:41 (Deris)
8. I Can – 4:38 (Weikath/Deris, Weikath)
9. A Handful of Pain – 4:48 (Kusch/Deris)
10. Lavdate Dominvm – 5:09 (Weikath)
11. Back On The Ground – 4:39 (Kusch/Deris)
12. Midnight Sun – 6:18 (Weikath)
Total Running Time: 59:43
Recorded at Chateau Du Pape Hamburg, and Mi Sueno, Tenerlife 1997
Mixed at Chateau Du Pape, Hamburg
Mastered by Ian Cooper at Metropolis
Produced by Helloween and Tommy Hansen
Sound Engineer: Michael Tibes
Studio Assistant: Stefan Thiel
Keyboards: Joern Ellerbrock
Backing Vocals: Jutta Weinhold, Ralf “Fummel” Maurer, Christina “Biene” Hahne, & Helloween
Cover paintings & pumpkins: Rainer Laws
Artwork & Booklet design: Henjo Richter
Photography by: Simon Fowler
Andi Deris (vocals)
Michael Weikath (guitars)
Roland Grapow (guitars)
Markus Grosskopf (bass)
Uli Kusch (drums)
