Oh gawd. I just died a little inside (and I won't even bother to explain why).

Good. I'm glad.

Glad that you wont bother to explain, not that you died a little inside.

Songs like "Ride The Sky" are definitely power metal. At least to my ears!



Blind Guardian have never sucked. At least not for me. Even the latest "A Twist In The Myth" has some good songs on it. *shrugs*

Rhapsody's debut is pretty amazing, as well as Dawn of Victory.

The only other albums of theirs i've heard are 'Soldiers' and their self-titled a while ago, they were ok. But 'Dictator' is their standout - great singing from Carl Albert, classic American power metal.

Dude, you have NO clue what you're talking about.

Indeed. I really love when he screams, but I think a lot of his solo stuff would be better if he would sing the songs like he does on Aeronautics.


If you listen closely, you'll notice that Jorn has also a lot of Dio in his voice. To me he is like the perfect hybrid between those 2.
And I'm actually sad about that. I'd love to hear Jorn in a Neo-Classical environment. Jorn should do something with Olaf Lenk from At Vance or Timo Tolkki because Jorn and Neo-Classical shredding/guitar-jerking would be awesome!


Uli was fired because of the same reason. During the recordings of the Dark Ride, Uli was the only member who was really fond of the changes Roland made. Uli became very involved into songwritting in the late 90s and, like Roland, he wrote a lot of stuff and, also like Roland, he wanted the changes to be permanent and not a 1-album-only thing. Uli and Roland had both the same intentions and this is why they were kicked. Weiki didn't like the whole teamwork thing and the new direction into which Roland and Uli wanted to take the Band.
"If I Could Fly" is probably my favourite Helloween Ballad/Balladesk song. I REALLY love it. Immortal is epic. It also took me some time but I love it now. My 2 favourite songs are "The Departed (Sun Is Going Down)" and "The Dark Ride".
Have you ever listened to "Find my Freedom", "We Unite" , "See the Night" oder "Never Surrender" from the latest Helloween album? Okay, one could argue about Never Surrender, but the other 3 are as good as the stuff on the album. If not better.


I can't tell you how much I HATE Kai's voice. To me he is the worst singer in Heavy Metal. He makes all the first pre-Kiske Helloween albums and all the post-Ralf Gamma Ray albums unlistenable to me because of his horrid voice. And that it sad because the music in itself is pretty good. If there is one band that needs a new singer more than any other band, it is Gamma Ray.

Kai is the worst singer in heavy metal? A bit overdramatic there man. His voice is pretty limited, but he's really learned to master what he has in the last decade or so, sounding charismatic and aggressive.

You can take that RIGHT back. He may not be a technically brilliant singer, but he has a pretty good range I think and it's hard to imagine any other sounding voice fronting Gamma Ray. He's faaar better than Ralf Scheepers, to take one pertinent example!

I agree. He uses a great range on that album. I feel he limits himself, or doesn't really push himself on his solo material. Maybe that's because of the much more linear nature of the music. Even though I do agree the major plus point of his solo stuff, is his voice. You put most other singers on there, and it wouldn't sound as good. Whereas Masterplan were still able to make a very good album without him. (MK II)



He actually does have some Dio in his voice. Especially when he goes "Ah right!" Well, I've always found most of Yngwie's solo stuff just a showcase for him to show off his shredding skills, more than actual songs. There have been exceptions to this, I know. Like "Rising Force", and some of stuff on his latest where Ripper Owens sings is actually very good! I'd love to hear Jorn sing in that style too. Maybe not with Timo Tolkki NOW, as his songwriting has taken a dive in recent years, but Im with you on that. I hope one day he will do it.



I did think the reason he was fired was because he wanted the band to continue in the direction of "The Dark Ride". Which I think is hugely ironic, seeing as some material on "Gambling With The Devil" shares the darker edged power metal sound of that album. I just think Weiki was more annoyed at Roland, because he wanted to take over the band. Wheras I think Uli just agreed with his vision musically for Helloween. Those 2 are also my favourites! But I also love how Weiki managed to get some of his more uplifting material on the dark album. "Salvation" and "All Over The Nations". I also love "We Damn The Night". Andi doesn't usually write fast songs, but he did a great job with that! "If I Could Fly" is good, but compared to other songs they've done like that, I find it less engaging. Though "Light The Universe" is the worst song of that type they've done IMO.



I have. And all of those songs are easily good enough to have been on the album. I actually think "Find My Freedom" would have been an awesome opener. I love the way it just explodes out!



That is your opinion, and I respect it, but I certainly don't agree! He has a limited range, certainly. But he uses what he does have, to great effect. And I think he's the perfect singer for Gamma Ray. And I actually think Ralf Scheepers is a far better singer! Some songs like "The Silence" I much prefer the original Ralf version to the redone versions with Kai. But I still think the right thing happened when Kai became their lead singer.

As I said, his voice is the only reason why these albums are popular. If anyone else would sing those songs, nobody would care. They're a bit medicore.


I sort of agree. He is great when it comes to playing solos and coming up with interessting riffs, but medicore at best when it comes to songwritting.
Okay, I didn't think the Tolkki thing through. Maybe 10 years ago that would've worked but not nowadays.


I agree that Roland was propably the driving force behind the changes. But Uli was a major factor too since he became a major songwritter for the band ever since he joined them. But I think the whole "taking over" thing is wrong. During the recordings of "The Dark Ride" both Uli and Roland founded Masterplan as a project for their new ideas. I think they didn't want to take the whole thing over. I think Grapows problem was simpy the new style. And I also think if he really wanted to do more guitarwork on the Dark Ride album he could've done it. I think he didn't want to because he didn't like the new direction. In think after the album was finished, he thought "Okay, now everything will be back to normal!". Also, there were also some things happening on the Tour which we don't know about. Weiki said something about Roland and Uli getting paranoid. The official version is that they were kicked because the main-focus of them wasn't Helloween anymore but Masterplan.


Indeeed. Kill it is a interessting song but Find My Freedom would've been better. And according to the band a total of 17 or 18 song were recorded. So there are still 2 or 3 unreleased songs left.

Hear hear! Even if some albums are weaker than others, they're all good. I'd happily recommend all the albums to people.