Helloween – Giants & Monsters Review

Is it even possible, dear friends and readers, to feel bad or sad or glum or anything but radiantly giddy while listening to Helloween? For my money… no, it is not. Thus, new Helloween is cause for celebration, a bright spot in this too-often dismal space we call reality…

The last Helloween album, 2021’s self-titled affair, was something of A Very Big Deal, both around these Last Rites pages and in the metal world at large, bringing back classic era vocalist Michael Kiske and founding vocalist / guitarist Kai Hansen and creating a Pumpkin Voltron of speedy power metal greatness. That album is damned near perfect, handily among the best Helloween offerings since the glory days of the mid-1980s, the sum of its parts exactly what you’d expect from the combined forces of one of the greatest metal bands in history.

Four years later, Giants & Monsters faces the unenviable task of following up that perfect storm, and while it certainly acquits itself quite nicely, I must concede that it does slide in just beneath the nearly impossibly high bar set by its predecessor. Fundamentally, it’s much the same, of course – Helloween is too established for drastic changes, even if the union of their distinct lineups was a more-than-welcome surprise. This is fast, riff-laden, anthemic, irresistibly catchy melodic metal, although like a good portion of Helloween’s discography, the most radio-friendly bits of it flirt with a hard rock sensibility that belies the band’s speed metal roots.

Giants & Monsters certainly hits the ground running: Opening number “Giants On The Run” is both a giant and a monster – in the best meaning of each, of course – with some light progressive tinges and a huge vocal hook. Second track “Savior Of The World” ups the ante in terms of speed, with Kiske’s almost impossibly smooth soaring vocals showing no signs of any wear or tear. The triple guitar attack of Weikath / Gerstner / Hansen is impeccable, shredding through fleet-fingered melodies and solos, and the rhythm section of longtime bassist Markus Grosskopf and twenty-year veteran Dani Löble brings an electrifying energy that bands even half their age can’t seem to muster.

But then comes Giants’ first slight stumble, the poppy streamlined “A Little Is A Little Too Much,” which isn’t a total failure, just a step down from the gleeful spirit that permeates the first two tracks, sacrificing some of the spark in favor of a goofy melodic hook that doesn’t quite land. Redemption comes in the form of “We Can Be Gods” and the vocal showcase of “Into The Sun” – the latter is the album’s power-balladic moment, and while that might turn off a certain set of listeners, it certainly proves that Kiske and Deris are both amazing vocalists, soaring atop the crashing chorus chords, their voices weaving around one another in duet. It’s lighter than what’s around it, definitely, for better or worse, but through the power of sheer kingly performance, it’s lifted as high as the vocal line that sends it into the stratosphere.

“This Is Tokyo” serves as the album’s first advance track, the first bit the world has heard from the album to come, and like “A Little Is A Little Too Much,” it’s a more straightforward rocker – it’s not a bad song, by any stretch, and a cutesy ode to one of Deris’ favorite places, but overall, compared to much of what surrounds it, it feels less ambitious, less interesting. Second advance track “Universe (Gravity For Hearts)” fares better, again tinged with progressive leanings, a more advanced sense of songcraft and a greater reach, before Giants & Monsters enters its only back-to-back weak stretch with the mostly forgettable pairing of “Hand Of God” and “Under The Moonlight.” Thankfully, redemption comes again in the form of the album’s epic (pretty much a requirement for Helloween, at this point), the eight-minute-plus “Majestic,” which is aptly titled, although it (like the album it closes) falls a little short of its immediate antecedent, the truly awesome “Skyfall.” Still, “Majestic” is a grand example of Helloween’s power and glory, and it helps solidify Giants & Monsters as more of a good thing from a band that almost never falters.

So like I said above, all new Helloween is a cause for celebration, at least in this household, and Giants & Monsters absolutely delivers on the promise shown by the band’s newfound re-invigoration. No, it’s not as surprisingly stellar as Helloween, but it’s also not as much of a surprise at all – the bar has been set, the groundwork laid, and though Giants & Monsters may not quite reach the lofty heights of its brother, it’s still a very good album, a very fun one almost all the way through, and one that, even in its lesser moments, provides that irresistible exuberance that defines Helloween’s entire career.

Or to just sum up all that in a handful of words: It’s a great album, coming after a really great album, and it’s impossible to listen to this and not smile and not sing along (good luck with the high notes). So let a little ray of sunshine in your lives and join me. I can’t stop spinning this one, and I’m totally fine with that.