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HELLOWEEN – RABBIT DON'T COME EASY
2003 Nuclear Blast
Here it is....presto...finally we have a new Helloween album!! You think this band lost some ground after the departure of Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch? Wrong! Nope! RABBIT DON'T COME EASY is the band's best album with Andi Deris on vocals, in my opinion. Yep, it's better than MASTER OF THE RINGS, better than TIME OF THE OATH or BETTER THAN RAW. In fact, it's easily one of their best albums ever. Take it from someone who's been listening to this band for over 17 years. It's like they were given new life when new blood entered the band. RABBIT has jumped to the top of my list of Helloween albums and Metal albums so far this year. This is POWER METAL perfection!!

Helloween's new guitarist is former Freedom Call guitarist Sascha Gerstner. He actually contributed to four songs on the album. He and Michael Weikath's guitars sound great. Heavier than previous albums. The band's new drummer was Mark Cross, then he got sick, so the band recruited Mikkey Dee (Motorhead, ex-King Diamond) to lay down some tracks. Mark Cross did actually play on two songs. Now I hear the new drummer is Stefan Schwarzmann. Well, whoever ends up drumming had better be on top of his game when he returns, because Mikkey throws down on this album with some of the best Power Metal drumming around! Awesome! By the way, Andi Deris sounds great on this album. His trademark rasp is in fine form. Some of the best singing I've ever heard by him. Markus Grosskopf's basswork and songwriting are excellent as usual. Keyboards are utilized and placed well throughout the album.

The album opens with the mighty, soaring "Just A Little Sign," with its upbeat trademark Helloween sound. Great chorus. Great guitars. Thankfully the 'happy' sounding songs are back! No instrumental intro this time around. The next two tracks are the excellent "Open Your Life" and the killer "The Tune." Next is the standard Helloween mid-tempo track "Never Be A Star." The Speed Metal of "Liar" follows with tons of double bass. Some of the best songs on RABBIT can be found when you get to the meat of the album. Deeper cuts like the incredible "Listen To The Flies," "Back Against The Wall," and the strong closer "Nothing To Say" simply show why this band is so good at what they do. "Nothing To Say" mixes things up a bit and has a variety of styles. I love the swagger of this song. It's just bad ass. My favorite track is probably "Hell Was Made In Heaven." What an instant classic this song is. Speed and power to spare. I got the limited edition digibook of the CD, and let me say that it's worth the money. It includes superb packaging and a pop-up of the rabbit! I like the title of the album and it applies to them, even if it is grammatically incorrect. (It is hard to pull a rabbit out of the hat every time). The digital artwork and cover are great and illustrate the sense of humor Helloween are known for. The digibook version also includes the excellent bonus track "Far Away," which was also on the advance "Just A Little Sign" EP. RABBIT has thirteen songs total, over 65 minutes long!

In a way, I'm glad Roland and Uli left the band. Now we have twice as much good music to enjoy with Helloween and Masterplan! It thrills me to hear a band that's been around as long as Helloween release an album of this quality. Truly inspiring! Rabbit may not come easy, but Helloween did it anyway!

Bottom line: Buy this CD now!!!! You'll love it.

DISCOGRAPHY:

HELLOWEEN (1985) Noise
WALLS OF JERICHO (1986) Noise
JUDAS (EP) (1986) Noise
KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS Part I (1987) Noise
KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS Part II (1988) Noise
LIVE IN THE U.K. (1989) Noise
I WANT OUT (Live) (1989) Noise
PUMPKIN TRACK (1989) Noise
THE BEST, THE REST, THE RARE (1991) Noise
PINK BUBBLES GO APE (1991) Noise
CHAMELEON (1993) Noise
MASTER OF THE RINGS (1994) Noise
THE TIME OF THE OATH (1996) Noise
HIGH LIVE (1996) Noise
BETTER THAN RAW (1998) Sanctuary
KARAOKE ALBUMS, VOL. 1 & VOL. 2 (1998) Sanctuary
METAL JUKEBOX (1999) Sanctuary
THE DARK RIDE (2002) Nuclear Blast
JUST A LITTLE SIGN (EP) (2003) Nuclear Blast
RABBIT DON'T COME EASY (2003) Nuclear Blast
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