Wow, Burning Sun was fucking awesome.

To be fair, I expected far worse. The melodies are actually beautiful, albeit quite classic, and at least I couldn't spot any blatant rip-off this time around (either I'm not familiar with the original, or Weiki stopped fucking around and actually composed something by himself for a change). The overused transition riff is stock, the overly syncopated groovy filling during the verses breaks the song's flow in a bad way, and I certainly could do without all the what-the-fuck samples and effects (the production in general is a tad too post-blackalbumization bubblegum to my tastes)... but the solos, vocal lines and keyboard parts are indeed awesome.

About what I expected and I can most certainly dig it.

However after a few listens I think the song would have done well without the first melodic intro and could just have got right into action with the actual riff, and it's not because I don't like "epic intros" it's because it simply wasn't that good. Because the rest of the song totally slays.
And as LegendMaker pointed out, a bit too much effects...

But I think they really nailed the feeling: Looking at the burning sun cover and listening to the song at the same time, they look and sounds just like each other! Really hot in some way. And I like it

I enjoyed the last two Helloween albums and this song didn't do much for me. It wasn't bad, it just didn't make me want to listen to it again. Maybe it will grow on me.

Holy shit...I actually really like this, and this is coming from somebody who usually decries any new Helloween. I mean the chorus is a tad cheerful for my taste but still good. But the speed metal verse, the solo, and the fact that the vocalist actually can sound metal here... Good job new Helloween I am actually impressed.

Finally, i was getting tired of Deris poppy singles

Album artwork revealed. The Trooper worship.

More like Dance of Death worship. That mid 90s CGI look is absolutely hideous. They can't be serious, can they?

That cover is awesome! I especially love the gas mask on the pumpkin in the logo.

That's been the style they've been using for the last 4 or 5 albums anyway, not like it's a surprise.

Almost true. Rabbit, The Legacy & Gambling all had really lame, rushed-looking CGI crap for covers. Unarmed's was bad, but not that bad. 7 Sinners' was A-okay; nothing spectacular or great, but it didn't look unprofessional or crappy. Their last great-looking cover was for Better Than Raw (The Dark Ride's looked fine, although it was very minimalistic).

This looks like they picked a random amateur artist on DeviantArt, gave him 50 bucks and a 24 hours deadline and told him "Go crazy, man! Perspective, anatomy and especially suspension of disbelief be fucked!". This day and age, with thousands of excellent artists available, and the budget they likely have with their status... why they'd settle for this kind of half-assed, unprofessional-looking shit is anyone's guess.

New song Nabataea is now available. Not quite as good as Burning Sun, not as memorable. Just feels a bit flat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiKZv8mISfU

Listened to "Nabatea" and the entire Burning Sun EP, and I gotta say, I think this is going to be a GREAT start for 2013. Everything that makes Helloween good is in these songs. You got the staccato jackhammer-style riffing, the eccentric leads and melodies, Deris's charismatic whine and a fuckton of attitude and swagger that makes them sound larger than life, which is the hallmark of why their latter-day albums like The Dark Ride and Keepers III are the best. Helloween is great because of all of these things combined - and with the alchemical combination of all of them they become a megaton-level force with the power of an anvil. Hoping the rest of the album is as good as these songs.

I'm definitely impressed with these songs and will definitely be checking this out, rather surprising considering that I didn't care much for their last one. Deris is killing and I'm hearing some badass riffery in there. Count me in.

Helloween and Voivod will be sure to make this a great January.

Official premiere of Nabataea. http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?m ... mID=183154

I like it, I'm really looking forward to the album. I think the last two have been great, and hopefully their consistency will last.

Nabataea was decent, Burning Sun was great. Im sad that Single/EP seems to be Japan only, those are never cheap to import

They're still around? I haven't given them much notice since KotSK2. Lol

The Kiske era is awesome (for the most part). Blah to everything after that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPYPGw_rFnA
The samples from the album. Sounds a lot like you d expect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPYPGw_rFnA
The samples from the album. Sounds a lot like you d expect.

I'm not much of a Helloween follower but I'm so baffled as to how any band could look at album artwork like that and think anything other than how horribly ugly it is.

Sounds great. I'll definitely be picking this up on day one.

Also, it's not like I've come to expect much from Helloween cover art, so criticism of this one in particular seems pretty insignificant to me.

This is the band that ok'ed the album art for "Gambling with the Devil".

Artwork looks great. Real quirky and fun. Exactly what I expect from Helloween by now.

Loving the samples. Sounds a lot better than the mediocre 7 Sinners. This is a lot more infectious and 'happy' sounding. That's how I like my Helloween.

And Pink Bubbles Go Ape. And Rabbits Don't Come Easy. Do they really have any "good" covers aside from the first two Keepers?

The first two Keeper covers ain't that good either though. Better than the others you mentioned of course, but still pretty poor. All their album covers basically suck to be honest. It's just a good thing that the music is mostly good.

Meh, I think Walls of Jericho's cover is great.

Yeah, that and their first EP's cover are pretty classic stuff.

I love the cover of Better Than Raw, for obvious reasons

and the cover of The Time Of The Oath is decent too.

The Dark Ride's cover is a bit simplistic, but it works pretty well and conveys a minor sense of dread in it. And Keepers III would look amazing if it was a hand drawn thing.

I agree. And Helloween's 80's album covers were good considering they were 80's album covers.

I have always enjoyed how Helloween blends awesome music, with humor. I am looking forward to this album. I liked the video too that just came out. Blended some interesting animation, with a story line, acting and the band of course.

In other words, this shit would be great if it was not shit.

Well, it's a cool concept and the color scheme is nice. Just the CGI computerized shit is pretty weak, is all.

Keeper III Cartoonized (it's big):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Zv132_taI

Interview with Andi Deris, at one point mentioning he will love having Michael Kiske on stage with them, and that he would gladly step back for the classic line-up to play together.

It's not like he has any other options. Kiske's massive ego will surely occupy most of the stage.

I am getting stoked as hell about this album now! Really love the songs we've gotten to hear, as well as the samples. Way to fucking show the bands that turned prog/power how it's supposed to be done!

Too much emphasis seems to be placed in media (I read some early reviews ) on happy or dark, light or heavy. The band themselves love to reassure fans that this will be heavy and such. In my opinion it doesn't matter. Unsuccessful albums were such because they were bland. They can, or in Helloween's case probably not, make an atmospheric light album with build up and dramatic conclusion. And that would be great, it's just that would be asking too much realistically speaking. In the past band members left over disagreements over direction but quality trumps style in the end.