HELLOWEEN - My God-Given Right (2015)

Genre - Heavy Metal

 

Track listing:

 

01 - Heroes
02 - Battle's Won
03 - My God-Given Right
04 - Stay Crazy
05 - Lost In America
06 - Russian Roulé
07 - The Swing Of A Fallen World
08 - Like Everybody Else
09 - Creatures In Heaven
10 - If God Loves Rock 'N' Roll
11 - Living On The Edge
12 - Claws
13 - You, Still Of War
14 - I Wish I Were There (bonus track)
15 - Wicked Game (bonus track)
16 - Free World (bonus track)

07 - More Than A Lifetime (bonus track)

My God-Given Right see's Helloween returning to their roots and in many ways recapturing the magic that spawned the classic Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums all those years ago.
In fact, the song writing on "My God-Given Right" is pretty easy going, there's simple and effective arrangements and as usual with Halloween, lots of humour.
The album opens strongly with a trio of tracks that are simply brilliant. 'Heroes' offers a nicely-crafted melodic and almost soothing verse with a punchy chorus, 'Battle’s Won' is a fast-paced double-pedal driven power metal anthem with an overblown, hook-laden chorus and the title track is, if anything, even better.
The verse of 'My God-Given Right' has an understated feel to it that is reminiscent of Master Of The Rings era material but it’s the chorus that transcends the song into Godly anthemic realms. Andi Deris belts it out as powerfully as I’ve ever heard him and, coupled with a gorgeously memorable melody and more double-pedal drumming, it is devastatingly infectious. There’s even a moment in the middle where everything quietens down before building inexorably to another rendition of the chorus. 'Stay Crazy' features some utterly ridiculous lyrics but thanks to a classic '80s metal-meets-melodic hard rock sheen and another breezy carefree chorus, the silliness is easily overlooked. To be honest, silly lyrics are part of the charm of Helloween, remember Future World, Dr Stein etc?
To just to emphasise this point and the humorous element of the band, look no further than the preposterous ‘If God Loves Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and the spoken word segment that suggests that ‘even in heaven you need a bass guitar, a guitar and a second guitar’ for pure tongue in cheek lyrics. 'Like Everybody Else' is very '80s sounding, a ballad of sorts with a really good main melody.
But as can be seen / heard with the ominous overtone of ‘A Swing Of A Fallen World’ and closer ‘You, Still Of War’, however, Helloween demonstrate that they have not entirely abandoned their more symphonic and epic attributes. That said, these moments are definitely the exception rather than the rule on this record.
There are various bonus tracks available spread over the various formats, which is always annoying, but My God-Given Right is the best album that Helloween have produced in years.

Well worth checking out

Rating - 9/10