10 Heavy Metal Albums By Bands Thought Past Their Prime
5. Helloween - Helloween
Power metal as a whole, has been pretty uncool for a long time now. Outside of some brief, post-2000 revivals from DragonForce, Sabaton and Amaranthe, the genre is typically reserved for light-hearted legacy slots at Wacken Open Air, with genre forefathers Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian and Helloween often occupying those spots.
The latter of the three earned early acclaim and laid the foundations of the genre under the lead of Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske, but the familiar story of the 90s heavy metal lull and some internal clashes led to their departures, and the eventual dawning of the Andi Deris-era in 1994. While Deris' Helloween started off well, the encroaching new millennium saw the Germans' stock plummet, with 2007's 'Gambling With the Devil' being the closest thing to a highlight in 20 years.
That trend in itself died in 2021 with the unification of the three Helloween eras, as Kiske and Hansen returned alongside Deris for the 'Pumpkins United' line-up. An in-spite-of COVID release of the self-titled album garnered instant acclaim, with many critics remarking the instant chemistry between duelling frontmen Deris and Kiske, along with the familiar musicianship between Hansen and his former colleagues Markus Grosskopf and Michael Weikath