The Dark Ride (2000)
This album is very unique…combining modern elements with the old Helloween style. Once again as in times of old Helloween forge new ground in the overpopulated, sterile style known as power metal with their most daring release to date, The Dark Ride. Not surprisingly however, it was met with a hostile reception from fanboys and those only wanting to hear further continuations of the Keepers series. Most of the lyrics have a somewhat dark element to them with a lot of depth and meaning. The resulting collage of varying approaches makes for a very interesting listen, especially when the influence of Roy Z as producer is thrown into the mix.
To date this album has been hailed as having the best production of any Helloween album. The production is crisp and the instruments are tight. This is a dark Helloween the likes of which we’ve never seen before and sadly will probably never see again. The guitars are incredibly heavy, sounding as if they’ve been tuned to ‘D’ or ‘B’ even. There is an underlying sinister vibe that permeates the bulk of the material. The guitars are technical and fierce, the leads are blazing and the solos face melting. The bass follows the guitars a bit much but does tend to break away on occasion. The drums are menacing and bombastic. They are perhaps the only thing that is typical for the style. There are some keyboards here and there as well. The vocals are more or less what you’ve come to expect from Andy. He does a good job of rasping and crooning his way through the album. They lyrics are also a change for the band as they are more introspective and thoughtful. Granted there are several fun songs on here but this is a deeper album than we’ve come to expect from the champions of Euro-Power Metal.
“Salvation” is definitely a shoo-in for best song here, a stunning Power Metal epic with blackened, frayed edges that give the song a remorseful, nostalgic feeling, as if it were the choir of a thousand oppressed peasants, crying out to the dark skies for a redemption. The title track is also amazing, with Andi Deris’s most dynamic and emotional performance yet, and a superb performance from the guitar team – about half of this song is a galloping, triumphant Power Metal solo for the ages! The slower part in the middle is also beautiful, providing just the right amount of epic grandiosity to what was already a great song. “The Departed (Sun is Going Down)” is the third great track here, and it’s quite unlike anything Helloween have done before or since, a slow, epic piece with resonating, echoing riffs playing off one another and a tremendous, anthemic chorus from Deris, along with the best lyrics on the album. Most of the innovation going on here is found in the slower tracks. Roland’s work “Escalation 666” is the heaviest one on here and probably the most removed from the Helloween style. Deris’ vocals are a bit more evil sounding, the keyboard parts are gloomy, and the overall pace of the song is slow and doom-like. “Mirror Mirror” and “I Live for your pain” are two of Deris’ slower compositions that carry some similarity with the previously mentioned song, although they don’t have quite the same menacing vibe to them. By contrast, Uli’s music has maintained a more melodic power metal tinge, as can be observed on the anthem “All Over Nations”.
Tracklist:
1. Behind The Portal (Intro) (Deris) 0:45
2. Mr. Torture (Kusch) 3:28
3. All Over The Nations (Weikath) 4:55
4. Escalation666 (Grapow) 4:24
5. Mirror Mirror (Deris) 3:55
6. If I Could Fly (Deris) 4:09
7. Salvation (Weikath) 5:43
8. The Departed/The Sun Is Going Down (Kusch) 4:37
9. I Live For Your Pain (Deris) 3:59
10. We Damn The Night (Deris) 4:07
11. Immortal (Deris) 4:04
12. The Dark Ride (Grapow) 8:52
13. Madness of The Crowds (Deris) 4:12
Total running time: 56:59
Track 13 is a Japanese ONLY bonus track.
Recorded and Mixed 2000 at Mi Sueno Music, Tenerife
Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York
Produced and Engineered by Roy Z. and Charlie Bauerfeind
Andi Deris (vocals)
Michael Weikath (guitars)
Roland Grapow (guitars)
Markus Grosskopf (bass)
Uli Kusch (drums)
