Helloween - The Dark Ride (2000)

In our little stroll through the theme park that is Helloween's discography, we have now come to "The Dark Ride", the first attraction that was instated during the 21st Century. Just as the name suggest, it is closer to a haunted mansion than a horse carousel, being a little darker and a little rougher than the previous rides that we have gone through. But do not be afraid, it only looks tough, it still has that childish joy that this whole park is well known for. Let's ride.

The album opens up in classic Helloween fashion, with high flying power metal. Both "Mr. Torture" and "All Over The Nation" are pretty much standard procedure, with the double bass going red hot, the higher register of Andi Deris' repertoire being used frequently, and the guitars are going wild as well. It is a fun start, but knowing what the rest of the record is offering, it does trick the listener quite good into thinking that this is gonna be another happy Helloween effort.

Well, the third song "Escalation 666" changes the mood quickly with its dark atmosphere and tough as nails riffs. It is strange at first, but thanks to some nice structuring and the ominous, yet catchy, whispering of the title, it managed to persuade me, and also prepare me for the rest of the album. "Mirror, Mirror" continues on the same track, with Andi using some haunting aggression to accentuate this heavy tone. It definitely has influences from classic horror movies in its sound, which certainly gives the song a nice touch.

And so it goes back and forth throughout the record, mixing the brightness and darkness in a very dynamic way that makes the experience really fun, but it is the pure quality of the tracks that makes me come back to this record. There are several tracks in here that are just catchy bangers, from the adrenaline fueling title track and the high soaring "If I Could Fly", to the brilliantly groovy choir piece "The Departed". Helloween is just firing on all cylinders here, pulling off all of their tricks that they have garnered over the years.

There is one thing though that I think is the greatest achievement of "The Dark Ride" though, and that is that it laid the foundation of what the band would become in the future. With some of their 90's records, they have still held tight to their 80's identity, but "The Dark Ride" unleashes the band into the new millennium in the best way possible. The sound in this record set the standard for the upcoming ones with crisp production and versatile song writing, and it is a style the band still uses to this day, a nice and healthy mix of power and darkness that speaks to their old fans, while bringing in some new ones as well. I might as well get my ass to the back of the line again, because I am going for another ride.

Songs worthy of recognition: The Departed, Mr. Torture, Escalation 666, The Dark Ride

Rating: 8,5/10 Immortals

www.helloween.org/
twitter.com/helloweenorg

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Motörhead - We Are Motörhead (2000)

When Motörhead entered the 21st century, it definitely felt like they thought that Y2K had happened, and rebooted the entire mankind, because the band apparently felt like they should remind everybody who they were, with naming their 15th effort "We Are Motörhead", and filling said album with songs that brings you back to the good old days, when Motörhead was freaking awesome... oh wait, they never stopped being awesome.

Nonetheless, "We Are Motörhead" does remind me a lot of the early era of the band, with straight up rock 'n' roll/metal hybrids that simply kick ass, and while the band has technically never stopped making those kinds of songs, they filled this album to the brim with them. As soon as you start the album, you get hit in the face with one of the fastest motherfuckers you have ever heard in "See Me Burning", where Mikkey Dee just goes fully bananas on the drums, while both Lemmy and Phil tries to keep up with some frenetic riffing. A great kick start to an album, just like in the band's early days.

The album continues with some good variety in the groovy "Stay Out of Jail" and the slow and heavy "Slow Dance". Then, out of seemingly nowhere, Motörhead throws out a cover of "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols. I got so many questions thanks to this song. Why this song? Why in this part of the album? Just... WHY? This is a song that has been covered multiple times, both before and after, and this version does not offer anything new or exciting, it is just a stale cover that kills the momentum of the album. It just does not make any sense to put it in here.

Fortunately, the band gets back to business after that, and just puts out more kick ass tunes. Both "Out To Lunch" and "Wake The Dead" are cool songs, but then we get a curve ball in the shape of the ballad "One More Fucking Time", that surprisingly works well with the rest of the album. It slows things down to a pretty cozy mood, and definitely makes the album more dynamic. It is still one of the weaker songs though, which do say something about the high standard of the record.

The final three songs are also great fun, bringing the album home in the same way it started, with pure speed on the title track. I absolutely love this song because it more or less summarizes the band perfectly, what they are about and what their mission is. I know, this song is more or less a pure carbon copy of "Ace of Spades", both in riffs and in structure, but it is still so god damn intoxicating, and the lyrics are just simply brilliant, stating that the band brings both rock 'n' roll and UFOs, that they are born to kick ass and that they have no class, that they save our souls and mend all broken hearts. Jesus Christ, this is just brilliant.

More or less everything with "We Are Motörhead" is awesome. The tracklist (besides the Sex Pistols cover) is fantastic, the performance is marvelous, the length is just right, and the cover art is so bad ass, might even be my favourite from the band. There is no secret here, the band has always been like this, it is more or less all about the songs that makes or breaks a Motörhead album. The last one, "Snake Bite Love", did not really hit, but this one does, and it rocks the house to the very core. They are Motörhead, and they kick fucking ass.

Songs worthy of recognition: We Are Motörhead, See Me Burning, Stay Out of Jail, (Wearing Your) Heart On Your Sleeve

Rating: 9/10 Slow Dances

imotorhead.com/
twitter.com/myMotorhead

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Halford - Resurrection (2000)

The title for Rob Halford's first true solo album is no coincidence. After almost a decade of wandering aimlessly, ending up with three fairly mediocre albums from two different project, the former Judas Priest singer was back in his true element, the style of music he was born to sing. Heavy fucking metal! "Resurrection" is without any competition the closest Halford has come to his old band without actually being a part of it, delivering a heavy punch that would take anyone's breath away. A true revival of the Metal God.

All it takes to realize this is a single listen to the opening title track, a incredibly fast and heavy mauler that destroys everything in its path. Halford unleashes his patented screamer voice with such ferocious power that you almost need a hazmat suit to withstand the power it produces. It is a true statement, telling that Rob goes into the 21st century a reborn man that is back with full force, bringing metal to the world.

The album in itself is filled with personal stories and references that fans will surely adore, and they are all accompanied with kick ass music. "Made In Hell" tells both the history of metal and Rob's musical journey, and while some of the lyrics are kind of corny (Unleashed in downtown Tokyo, blew Godzilla away?!), it is still a great tune. We also get to hear about the sad wings of destiny, an obvious reference to the Judas Priest album with the same name, in the bonus track "Sad Wings". The most familiar part about "Resurrection" though is the music, which can be best described as classic Judas Priest from the "Screaming For Vengeance" era and forward, but more modern and not as riff driven.

Yeah, it is Halford that runs the show. He delivers punch after punch, showing an impressive versatility that a lot of vocalists out there would love to master, but only a few can. This diversity might be best displayed in "Silent Screams", where Rob mixes emotional, ballad like tones, but when the song changes to a more furious tempo, Rob takes out his heavier side, a grittier tone that fits so well with the change. It takes talent to handle it all, and he certainly has it.

Rob is not the only talented vocalist on this record though, because in "The One You Love To Hate", he gets a visit from Bruce Dickinson, a man who at the time had been away from Iron Maiden for some time, but returned the year before. While the song is one of the more stale ones in the album, it gets so much better when these two British legends create an awesome duet. A metal fan's wet dream come true.

The quality overall is just so god damn high, very few fillers are in this album, even with the remastered version that contains an additional 4 songs. Almost all of the songs single handedly beats anything that Halford made during the 90's (except the material on "Painkiller" of course"), all because of one simple thing. It is heavy metal at its purest form. No weird industrial vibes, no crazy experiments, just plain and simple kick ass metal. Sure, it is far from the most unique music we have ever heard, but that does not really matter when the music is good, and it is really good. While it technically is not a true comeback, it is a return to form for Halford, going back to the ideals he left behind almost a decade earlier, and delivering a album fit for a Metal God. All hail the Halford!

Songs worthy of recognition: Resurrection, Silent Screams, The One You Love To Hate, Slow Down

Rating: 8/10 Saviours

Devin Townsend - Physicist (2000)

This may seem like a Strapping Young Lad release, and it even has the same line up as the band, but "Physicist" is in fact a solo release by Devin Townsend. It was initially meant to be a album with a new project called IR8 that consisted of Devin and Jason Newsted (Ex-Metallica, Ex-Voivod, Newsted). But since the rest of Metallica did not like that Jason was not fully focused on the band, the project was scrapped and Devin continued writing the album on his own.

"Physicist" is a harder and faster version of its predecessor, "Infinity", and it is a album that does not give a shit. It has a specific sound and it sticks with that sound throughout the album, creating a red line that follows through every song. But it also feels like the variation gets somewhat left behind when everything has the same generic sound.

One of the flaws with the album is that the speed and aggressive sound makes the album sound shorter then what it actually is. The album is approximately 46 minutes long, but it feels like it is 35 minutes instead, which ends up with the sensation of being half full. In other words, you want more after the last song has been played. Now you are probably saying "Is it not a fun album since it made the time go faster?". You could definitely see it that way, but I rather see it as glass half full then half empty. "Physicist" would have felt good with another song or two, and that is that.

The clear star of "Physicist" is the epic "Kingdom" (a track that also appears in the Devin Townsend Project album "Epicloud", but more on that in its review). It is the only song on the album that has a consistent structure and it has some fine musicality, like in between the two choruses and the verse. A memorable song that is also easy to sing-a-long to. It is otherwise the heaviness or speed that most of the other songs rely on. And it works great on songs like "Namaste" and "The Complex", But I cannot help but feel that the sloppy production drags down the quality quite a bit. "Physicist" is a good album, but it could have been a lot better with a better production to support it.

Compared with "Infinity", I would say that "Physicist" is a marginally weaker album because of the weak production and the small variety. But I still think that there are some sweet moments in this album that defines Devin's ever evolving mind. However, it is obvious that Devin did not care for this album as much as some of his earlier works, and I can without a doubt in my mind say that this record would have been more fitting as a Strapping Young Lad release, since the whole ensemble helped conceive this record.

Songs worthy of recognition: Kingdom, Namaste, The Complex

Rating: 7,5/10 Victims

https://www.hevydevy.com/
https://twitter.com/dvntownsend

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Empath

Iron Maiden - Brave New World (2000)

Out of the 90's and into the new millennium. How did Iron Maiden celebrate the entrance of the 21st century? By welcoming back Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith to the line-up and creating their 12th album entitled "Brave New World". This album is mostly recognized as Maiden's comeback album after the Blaze Bayley era, but also as the first Maiden album that contains three guitarists (Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers). A combination that just screamed success.

So a lot of the focus were on Bruce and Adrian, and I got to say that it feels like they never left the band. They found their place quickly and they showed that they have not lost their touch. And the rest of the band is showing that they have found back to their old ways. Nicko is playing some great beats, Janick and Dave complement good together with Adrian and Steve is great as usual.

The rebirth is also shown in the song writing. Never before have Iron Maiden found such a great mix between their progressive and heavy sides. Some of the heavier songs are the catchy "The Wicker Man", the retro like "The Mercenary" and the epic "Out of The Silent Planet". But it is the progressive songs that dominates the album with their grand sound. Some show stoppers are the emotional title track, the heart warming "Blood Brothers" and the soaring "The Thin Line Between Love And Hate". But the song that impresses the most on this album is "Dream of Mirrors". It may not be a suitable song for those who are impatient, but after the slow and spiritual first half, the band is shifting to fifth gear and comes at you with galloping double bass drums, amazing riffs and a chorus that you cannot whisper, you must scream it out loud until your neighbours get pissed (or starts to sing a long). Yes, "Dream of Mirrors" is the ultimate display of Maiden's fast and slow personality together with musicality so great that it takes three guitarists to make it justice.

Even though I like that Maiden is showing the both sides of the same coin, I actually would prefer that the band chose a specified direction and went through with it the whole album. Do not get me wrong, variety in a album is a must, but if there is too much variety, then the album looks like it is trying to find a personality, but cannot decide which one will do. Then I also find that "The Fallen Angel" and "The Nomad" are pretty pale and could have easily been replaced by something more thrilling. Such a shame since "Brave New World" has several exciting moments that puts it up in the same heights as some of the best Maiden albums.

For a "comeback" album, "Brave New World" is a very good album. The variety is at its top and the band has found the passion that they lost during the 90's. There are still some edges that needs to be fixed, but "Brave New World" is a proof that the Maiden is back to kick some mayor ass again. A brave new album from a brave old band.

Songs worthy of recognition: Dream of Mirrors, Out of The Silent Planet, Blood Brothers

Rating: 8/10 Fallen Angels