The last two albums released by the band ("7 Sinners" and "Straight Out of Hell") was fantastic, so I was not really surprised when it turned out that "My God-Given Right" was a step down for the band. The band still does their thing, and they do it very well, but it seems like some of the steam is lost in this record. I think it is so because the band is sort of stuck in a loop, which makes it a lot easier to release mediocre material. And since most of the great ideas has already been used in the 2 previous albums, it was probably time to let the rest of the ideas to come out and play.
The thing that bothers me the most with "My God-Given Right" is how monotonous it sounds. "Straight Out of Hell" had a great variation of epic, heavy, slow and fast songs to make it a complete experience, while this album holds about the same tempo throughout the ride. There are some songs that does give the album some diversity, but there are too few difference makers in this album. Of course, this would not be a huge problem if the song material was good, but it is not. Most of the songs here are average at best, and it easy to pick other songs from the Helloween discography that sounds similar, but have more quality to it.
Then we have the goofy factor, which shows in more than one way, both good and bad. "Lost In America" is one of the better songs out of this record, but the lyrics boggles my mind. They sing about being in a airplane that do not know where it is heading, which is certainly a kind of fun story, but it is performed with such corny lyrics, such as the following. "There's a cloud, There's a star/We should plunder the Sky Mall". When you have to make such stupid rhymes, then you know that this song is as far from serious as it goes. Then we have songs like "Battle's Won" and "I Wish I Were There" that just sounds offensively weak and makes the band itself look bad. A experienced band like Helloween should not release songs like those, they should know better.
Okay, enough negativity, let us look at the positive sides of the record. The band performs like true professionals and once again, since they play their usual style, no true fan will be disappointed over this record. The album also contains a decent amount of songs that probably will not go down as Helloween classics, but are still good enough to become fan favourites. I recon some of the candidates will be the already mentioned "Lost In America", the dark and unique "You, Still of War", and the sing along friendly trio "My God-Given Right", "Living On The Edge" and "Stay Crazy".
So yeah, just like any other Helloween record, "My God-Given Right" does have a small share of nice music that matches well with the rest of the discography, unfortunately, there is not enough good material to turn this bland, tasteless (and colorless) record into something interesting. I am glad that I toned down my expectations for this album, because this one will not go down in history as one of Helloween's finest works, might though be in the running for the "oh yeah, forgot they released that album" award. So until next release, I will keep playing "Straight Out of Hell" in a time to time basis, and hope that the Germans hit it better on their 17th record.
Songs worthy of recognition: Lost In America, My God-Given Right, Living On The Edge
Rating: 6/10 Heroes
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Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 1
Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 2
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Master of The Rings
The Time of The Oath
Better Than Raw
The Dark Ride
Rabbit Don't Come Easy
Keeper of The Seven Keys: The Legacy
Gambling With The Devil
7 Sinners
Straight Out of Hell
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