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Rating: No beating around the bush: "The Dark Ride" is a kick, a shovel hit right in the face of happy power metal that for many years the legendary pumpkins of Hamburg have pushed forward with powerful, melodic, and in some ways amusing songs. For this reason, "The Dark Ride" is a controversial album that older fans of the Hamburg pumpkins just cannot stomach. Let's make a brief summary of their history, complicated, dense, and rich with continuous line-up changes: sensational flops and total successes.
It begins with three amazing albums at the end of the '80s. Raw power metal, fast, and incredibly powerful and guitar-driven for the debut "Walls Of Jericho" that made waves with horrible production and a flat voice (that of Kai Hansen). General bewilderment? No, curiosity for a passionate work, fast for an aggressive genre, but wonderfully melodic at the solo and break phases. (See: listen to How Many Tears and Ride The Sky just to name two). With the arrival of singer Michael Kiske, the band undergoes a melodic turn and the successive release of "Keeper Of The Seven Keys part I and II." Practically, the "Bible of melodic power metal" that has been popular for the last decade. I Want Out, Future World, Eagle Fly Free, Dr. Stein, Rise And Fall are songs that are regularly taken as a model of "inspiration," not to say imitation, by the emerging generations even 20 years after the release of the Keeper albums. With the departure of Kai Hansen, heading towards Gamma Ray, Helloween faced a crisis, saving themselves with two records featuring a lesser inclination towards metal.
The controversial "Chamaleon," which follows "Pink Bubbles Go Ape," marks the end of an era with Kiske's departure, who heads towards a brief solo career. The suicide in 1993 of the drummer, who, stricken by depression, threw himself in front of a speeding train, is the darkest moment in Helloween's history. Weikath shoulders the band and with the addition of Deris on vocals and Uli Kusch on drums, revives the new pumpkins thanks to inspired songwriting. Escalation of three albums of happy and powerful power metal and Helloween is reborn up to "Better Than Raw" in 1998. Then comes the kick, the hit in the face to the dear happy power metal named "The Dark Ride."
The dark side and never a more appropriate title. Airy, happy melodies can only be found in All Over The Nations and Salvation. Already with the opener, the listener is bewildered. The riff of Mr. Torture and Deris's gritty singing project us into a new sound for the pumpkins. The melodies act as a backdrop, a mere enhancement for refined but never pompous choruses, while the real heart of the album is represented by the meticulous use of dark keyboards, rough vocal lines, riffs, solos, bass lines, and rhythm changes that suit well with an aggressive power metal devoid of double bass. Songs like Mirror Mirror and Escalation 666 see Andi Deris excel in low tones, no longer a prisoner of Kiske's ghost and his high notes. Weikath and Grapow don't frantically seek lightning solos but erect metallic walls with heavy riffs purely for headbanging. Even the single If I Could Fly with its melodic inclination is a hypnotic mid-tempo with gothic shades. I Live For Your Pain, We Damn The Night, The Departed (Sun In Going Down) are all songs that fit well with this new sonic revolution by the band that invented melodic power metal. Less speed and solos for a more cerebral, powerful, and cadenced heavy metal. The CD concludes with the title track. A gem from Weikath with a wonderfully long break and a plethora of tempo changes for 8 exceptional minutes in constant motion and worthy to close a groundbreaking CD.
"The Dark Ride," precisely because it strongly renounces the past (even the recent past as it is light-years away even from "Better Than Raw") is a CD that many fans hated. However, I believe that Andi Deris offers his best performance and the level of songwriting, mostly entrusted to Kusch and Grapow, is high with that right mix of melody and power. The production is professional and encourages you to turn up the volume. An album, therefore, that angered and disappointed many fans who didn't expect this change. Almost as an apology, Weikath, after the tour, fired the two innovators mentioned above, who formed Masterplan, and returned to happy power metal with "Rabbit Don't Come Easy" and "Keeper III" (in my opinion, mediocre).
I am convinced that "The Dark Ride" is a great album of the pumpkins even though it is totally alien to the rest of their discography, and I recommend it without reservation to those who love heavy metal in general and not just the Keepers Of The Keys.
Tracklist
1. Beyond The Portal (Intro)
2. Mr. Torture
3. All Over The Nations
4. Escalation 666
5. Mirror Mirror
6. If I Could Fly
7. Salvation
8. The Departed Sun Is Going Down
9. I Live For Your Pain
10. We Damn The Night
11. Immortal
12. The Dark Ride
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Mr. Torture (03:27)
(Kusch)
Welcome to the torture chamber
Said the sign above the entrance
Laughing as he takes you by the hand
Looking like a manic savage
Inside you can sense the anguish
Heater of pain has just begun
Mr. Torture give pain
With his whips and his chains
He knows just what you crave - Mr. Torture
If you're feeling alone
Then just pick up the phone
Dial 1 8 Double 0 - Mr. Torture sells pain
Only sixty cents a minute
For his special brand of sinning
Phoner guaranteed to blow your mind
You can catch him on his website
Has a live chat every weeknight
Cyber-torture soon coming your way
Mr. Torture sells pain
To the housewives in Spain
He knows just what they crave - Mr. Torture
If you're feeling alone
Then just pick up the phone
Dial 1 8 Double 0 - Mr. Torture sells pain
Handcuffed, bound, chained and blinded
Body, soul and mind ignited
Every sense is torn and ripped apart
He's been banned in twenty countries
Though he does it for the money
He gets pleasure from hearing you scream
Mr. Torture gives pain
With his whips and his chains
He knows just what you crave - Mr. Torture
If you're feeling alone
Then just pick up the phone
Dial 1 8 Double 0 - Mr. Torture
Mr. Torture
Mr. Torture sells pain
03 All Over the Nations (04:54)
I keep wondering all these days
How to thrive the way we stray
A year, a lifetime - parted, together
will be all the same
Many things to make me sad
Some can even drive me mad
Just fear forever
No more endevours
Leave me where I stand
You are here
And make me feel so high
Day by day
Something one can't deny
Lets give each other certainty
All over the nations the tunes come alive
Winners and losers, we're all alike
No matter as truth ain't some great mystery
We all fade into one
Don't you feel too hypnotized
Or keep your future jeopardized
So whats accomplished crying for nothing?
Skip depression now
Come, arise and take me higher
No more lies, and every soul can see
We're incarnate sincerety
All over the nations the tunes come alive
Winners and losers, we're all alike
No matter as truth ain't some great mystery
We all fade into one
All over the nations the tunes come alive
Winners and losers, we're all alike
No matter as truth ain't some great mystery
We all fade into one
04 Escalation 666 (04:24)
Black you stripped me
Reveal me the secrets of your pain - painful lies?
Life itself that feeds your wisdom
Almost everyday you put yourself high on a shelf
Whatever you do, wherever you go
Never turn my back on you
Shadows on the wall
Darkness is spreading
I warm my hands on the flames of lies
In vain I scream against the wind
They don't understand my last testament
Escalation 666
Escalation 666
Deceit and malice
Every smile hides betrayal and greed, Hypocrisy
We've been like brothers
Now I hold out my hands to a bloodless soul
Shadows on the wall
Darkness is spreading
I warm my hands on the flames of lies
In vain I scream against the wind
They don't understand my last testament
Escalation 666
Escalation 666
05 Mirror, Mirror (03:43)
My age you cannot me certain
This spell cannot be broken
Visions of eternal youth
We share one face together
Associates forever
Only you know the truth
Mirror mirror on the wall
Whose the master of them all?
Mirror Mirror split in two
Look at me, who are you?
I swim in my reflection
Mirror answer my question
Tell me what I want to hear
I see a perfect creature
My evil I can teach her
I'll drown you with your vanity
Mirror Mirror on the wall
Whose the sickest of them all
Mirror Mirror split in two
Look at me - who are you?
No, my life is beautiful
I said, No my life is beautiful
Mirror Mirror on the wall
Whose the sickest one of all
Mirror mirror split in two
Look at me - Who are you
Mirror Mirror on the wall
Whose the master of them all
Mirror Mirror split in two
Look at me - who are you?
07 Salvation (05:42)
Sent to a world cold as steel
Don't know where else I have been
Where will I go? - I can't tell
Who would save us if we fell
Can you feel what I see?
In blind faith would you believe?
Don't share my point of view
But it may mean a lot to you
Tell me will we remember
How it used to be?
Will it be the same
In a time in the future?
Will there be a different way
Can one ever say?
Anthem for a distant world
We'll all be alike
Be there till eternity
One will see
When salvation comes our way
All my life I was sure
Kept my thoughts clean, real and pure
Just as I will always know
We're down here to learn and grow
I am my own entity
And the world is there for free
Keeps me alive till that day
When my soul will find the way
In another dimension
You may find paradise
We'll be safe and warm
I've been told there will be everyone
I held so close and near
There will be no fear
Anthem for a distant world
He'll be all alike
Be there till eternity
One will see
When salvation comes our way
10 We Damn the Night (04:06)
Blood on my pillow
Blood on my skin
Am I going mad
Or was this a dream?
There in the depth
The hollow souls wait
Voices surround me
Tempting my fate
Then out of nowhere
Figures in white
Guarding my soul in the fight
We are strong we're alive
We have faith in his might
We believe in the everlasting light
Anytime, anywhere we will always be there
We will fight for what's just and what's right
We damn the night
Out in the blackness
Shivering cold
Doubt takes on shape
Fear the unknown
Eyes of the fallen
Piercing their glance
Whispers of doom
Left without chance
Then out of nowhere
Figures in white
Shield my soul in the fight
We are strong we're alive
We have faith in his might
We believe in the everlasting light
Anytime, anywhere we will always be there
We will fight for what's just and what's right
We damn the night
We damn the night . . .
11 Immortal (04:04)
Two lives, one fate
I have to leave
So you will follow me?
That's how it's meant to be
I reigned as God
I'm monumental
Soon I will arise
With you by my side
And we will radiate the skies
He who will gaze our lights
Will kill his mind, his vision blind
Tonight we are stars
Stars that shine on bright
Tonight we are stars
Stars immortal light
Tonight we are stars
All treasures all goods
We bury where we lay down to die
And pay for paradise
Await the highest thorn of all
And who will gaze our lights
Will kill his mind, is going blind
Tonight we are stars
Stars that shine on bright
Tonight we are stars
Stars inside the nights of ache
Love and hate
Hope and shade
Take you away
I'm gonna take you away
I will take you away
Tonight we are stars
Stars that shine on bright
Tonight we are stars
Stars immortal light of ache
Light of hate
Hope and shade
Part of the fate
Tonight we are stars
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