Pumpkins United

Helloween disappointed me a bit with their last album "My God-Given Right" in which only the title track convinced me. The two previous albums, "Straight Out of Hell" and "7 Sinners" were pretty good but not exceptional. Therefore I was fearing for the band a sort of change in their style that would definitively disappoint me.

Then came the announcement of the exceptional reunion with former singers and guitarist Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen. As a die-hard Helloween fan, this was the best news I could have ever hoped. Seeing this band performing all their classics with their former members reunited all together in a very long special show was the best conceivable thing for me (and probably for every Helloween fans).

Then, another unexpecting thing came out, this single. I discovered through their Youtube channel the "Pumpkins United" single, featuring once again Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske (actually this single was made to promote and to mark the occasion of their exceptional reunion). I was expecting great things from this single but I was a bit afraid because the previous Helloween release didn't convince me at all. But the band cleverly avoided making a very traditional song like their previous standard ones and since "Pumpkins United" was created to celebrate the reunion of the classic members, this song had to be up to the event. And they completely succeeded, which show that they know precisely what the fans love more than everything else in their music.

The song starts with a very epic and melodic introduction that may remind old Helloween era and gives us right after the main riff, this time much heavier and much more modern, which offers an interesting contrast. This main riff is marked by a lot of melodic leads.

The very first line is sung by Kai Hansen, which was the very first Helloween singer. In a more general way, the three singers alternate very often, almost every three verses. The opposition between the verses and the chorus is exactly the same as in the riffs: the verses are soft, which may remind the "Time of the Oath" period whereas the chorus is more like modern Helloween, with a high-pitched scream on a very heavy metal riff. The band punctuates its song with numerous references to famous old songs such as "Halloween", "Dr. Stein", "We Burn", "Ride the Sky", "Eagle Fly Free", "Wake up the Mountain" and "Walls of Jericho". And, by the way, (probably this is a "die-hard-fan thing") it is quite interesting to hear the singers uttering the name of the songs they didn't sing (for example when Michael Kiske sings "And we're riding the sky..."). The three singers show a huge vocal potential and it is very complicated to say which one is the most powerful.

The solo, and more generally the instrumental part, is probably the best part of the song. It starts with a break after the second verse in which we can hear nice bass riffs, which is somehow a "Markus Grosskopf-dedicated part", one of the two remaining original members of the band and who is yet not very often highlighted. The solo starts with a melody that might remind neoclassical metal and then alternate between melodic solos and very technical and shreddy ones that may remind this time the "Keepers of the Seven Key" era with its very complicated solos (like in "March of Time").

In conclusion, this single is the perfect gift for a die-hard Helloween fan who misses the old era with Kai Hansen, Michael Kiske, and in a more general way that time where Helloween was still playing speed metal before their transition to a much calmer and heavier style. Fans will find everything they like in it: speed sound, melodies, shreddy solos, amazing voices from the three singers (whose reunion is the strength of the single), real bass play and heavy drumming.

Some might say this exceptional reunion worked so good Kiske and Kai could actually stay in the band... With all the esteem I have for them it wouldn't be that great (first because they already have to run they own band) and then it wouldn't be exceptional anymore and all the magic would disappear because we would be used to them. What makes us love this song, except its quality, is the fact that this reunion is exceptional and our nostalgia have an effect on our global impressions, right?