Review of Helloween - Rabbits Don't Come Easy

Helloween continues to march on despite losing drummer Uli Kusch and guitarist Roland Grapow. However, they have gained two great talents, new drummer Stefan Schwarzmann (Running Wild, U.D.O.) and new guitarist Sascha Gerstner (Freedom Call). "Rabbits Don't Come Easy", despite having a weird title, is a great album. The title is reminiscent of "Pink Bubbles Go Ape"-era Helloween, but the content is something entirely different. Helloween continues to tread onto new ground with their latest disc. Between the release of "The Dark Ride" and "Rabbits Don't Come Easy", there has been many a line-up change in Helloween. They acquired drummer Mark Cross of Metallium, but then for some reason he is no longer in the band. Motorhead drummer Mickey Dee actually played on all but two tracks of this album. The drumming is absolutely excellent, not a single beat is missed, and everything is done at very high speed. Obviously each member in Helloween is a great musician. Despite inconsistent drummers, they now seem to have a solid one, and many thanks to Mickey Dee for helping out with the skins on "Rabbits Don't Come Easy". Songwriting on this album is interesting, no two songs sound too similar, yet every song is distinctly from the same album. Like "The Dark Ride", every song on this album is a solo effort. Gerstner actually wrote three of them: Open Your Life, Sun For The World, and Listen to the Flies. His writing style fits very well with Helloween, it is reminiscent of "Better Than Raw". I find Michael Weikath's writing to be somewhat hokey, yet enjoyable. However on "Nothing to Say", he created something quite engaging. It sounds somewhat Led Zeppeliney and has almost a bluesy sound, it's very hard to describe, but I like it. Andi Deris is a sort of hit-or-miss writer. He wrote the raga-led "Never Be A Star", which I loved, but he also wrote "Back Against the Wall", which was just OK. All in all, the writing on the album is pretty diverse, possibly due to what they did on "The Dark Ride", writing every song separately. If you try to compare "Rabbits Don't Come Easy" to "The Dark Ride", you'll be disappointed, because I think that TDR is their best album. RDCE is a great album though, suitable for old fans and new. It is by no means the masterpiece that "The Dark Ride" was, but it encompasses all of the elements of what makes Helloween a great band, and Sascha Gerstner turned out to be a great writer as well as a great musician. For fans of the genre, you are bonded by the code of power metal honor to buy this album. For non-fans, I'd still recommend a listen or two, because Helloween is on top for a reason. Wrathchild's Choice Cuts: Never Be A Star: some weird raga sound going on, me likey Open Your Life: Gerstner's first track on the album, sounds great Nothing To Say: Helloween is great at writing long ones, this one is pretty unique (in a good way!)

Release Details

Helloween

Rabbits Don't Come Easy

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