Rabbit Don't Come Easy?.......what the hell does that mean?? Those were my first thoughts when I heard the title for the new album from the German power metal masters, Helloween. The band has been in turmoil for the last 2 years or so with the firing of both Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch (both have moved on to form Masterplan) and the exhaustive search for both a new guitar player and a drummer. Studio time had been booked at Andi Deris' Mi Sueno studio and time was running out. Heinjo Richter of Gamma Ray was rumored to have offered his services if needed in case a replacement guitarist couldn't be found. The band settled on Sasha Gerstner (ex-Freedom Call) as their new guitarist and Mark Cross (Metallium) as the new drummer. Things were progressing until Mark Cross came down with Epstein-Barr virus (chronic fatigue syndrome) while the band was in the studio and rendered him unable to fulfill his obligation to the band. Mickey Dee (Motorhead) was then brought in to finish the job. Seeking another permanent drummer, the band then recruited ex- U.D.O., Accept and Running Wild drummer, Stefan Schwarzmann. They also endured other acts of fate such as a major flood in the studio which not only interrupted the recording process and wasted valuable time, but resulted in lost equipment as well. In a sense, writing and recording an album is not always as simple as a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Sometimes, rabbits don't come easy, especially like the one on the front cover holding on for dear life! Once again, the band has shown it's tongue-in-cheek character and lack of a total grasp of the English language and called the new album Rabbit Don't Come Easy

Produced by Charlie Bauerfeind (Blind Guardian), this latest release sees Helloween triumphantly returning to what they do best; playing very spirited, fast and melodic heavy metal. I consider this album to be both a return to a more traditional Helloween style as well as somewhat of a rebirth. It has the excitement and feel of the Master Of The Rings album which saw the debut of both Andi Deris and Uli Kusch in the Helloween line-up. Andi Deris contributes 4 songs here with the first being the opening track and current single from the album, Just A Little Sign. As I stated before in the review for that, this song is an instant classic. It's speedy, energetic, has some killer riffing and double bass drumming and has a chorus that will get stuck with you. Two other Andi Deris penned tracks are more of the typical style we've seen from him on past albums. Never be A Star has a tempo and feel that is very much like Perfect Gentleman from Master Of The Rings and uses a very effective verse, pre-chorus, chorus pattern that makes their songs so unique. This one as well , has a very catchy chorus. Don't Stop Being Crazy is as close to a ballad as you'll find on this album. Acoustic guitar and voice alternates with more heavier passages and combined with lots of vocal layering as well as some piano and keyboard orchestrations results in one very radio-friendly song (the next single perhaps??). Andi turns it up a notch with Back Against The Wall, a track that features lots of electronic effects and has a darker and heavier feel than the rest of the album.

Michael Weikath contributes 3 songs to this effort, the first being The Tune. Using some great guitar harmonies for the intro, it then launches into a heavy and fast song that has a bit of a different feel for Helloween. I think it's the use of harmonized vocals by Andi that creates the "mood" for this song. A great pre-chorus, a soaring main chorus and some very crafty lead breaks and thematic riff interludes makes this song one of the big highlights of the album. Do You Feel Good is a straight ahead "fun" Helloween track that was actually left over from The Dark Ride sessions. It's fast and heavy and also has a catchy chorus. No real surprises here though. Michael's last contribution is the 8 minute opus Nothing To Say that ends the album. A slower pounding heavy rhythmic structure gives way to a main riff that really brings 2 tracks to mind; Whitesnake's Still Of The Night and Nazareth's Changing Times from the Hair Of The Dog album. It has the guitar grove that both those tracks have as well as the stops for the vocal parts. Reggae(?) passages and quieter dreamy passages occupy the mid section of this track which slowly builds to heavy and climactic ending. A somewhat strange sounding track, but a good one none the less.

Markus Grosskopf contributes 2 tracks to this album; Liar one of the faster, more aggressive tracks and Hell Was Made In Heaven, which has the classic Helloween sound. This song slowly builds then gets very fast and heavy and uses lots of harmony guitar parts. It has a charging beat, awesome instrumental passages with harmony lead breaks and a great catchy chorus. Another album highlight for sure.

Newcomer Sasha Gerstner contributes three tracks, 2 of which are major album highlights. Open Your Life is an outstanding track and uses a mix of tempos ranging from quiet and slow to mid-tempo heavy for the pre-chorus then blistering and fast for the chorus. The use of different tempos for the vocal lines ie. verse/pre-chorus/chorus is amazing, unique and very effective and is something I don 't think I've ever heard before. Sun 4 The World begins with an Eastern flavor with the use of sitar guitar and bongos before settling into a mid-tempo pace with some speedy elements. It's a softer track and reminds me of the material on Andi Deris' solo album, Come In From The Rain. Sasha's last contribution, Listen To the Flies is another blistering powerhouse of a track that has some quirky instrumental passages and outstanding lead breaks. A true album highlight.

Mickey Dee just smokes on this album and it's no wonder that he's regarded as being one of the best metal drummers there is. Every track on this album has it's own unique identity and in only a few instances did I hear similarities to other Helloween tracks. For having 4 separate songwriters on this album, it has a stunning sense of coherency and flow. I find it very hard to just listen to a few tracks, you pretty much end up listening to the whole thing every time I put it on. So the burning question.....is this better than the new Masterplan? I think it's as good, but not necessarily better. I think this album takes the band back to the sound that they had on the Master Of The Rings and Time Of The Oath albums with a few influences from The Dark Ride. Some tracks are very predictable whereas others suddenly change tempo and some very uncharacteristic passages are thrown in. I think Helloween set out to reinvent themselves with this release much the same way they did with Master Of The Rings and I think they have done just that. Trademark sounds are mixed with a new and fresh approach and combined with truly exceptional songwriting from 4 members of the band, they've got a winning formula to work with now and for the future. Rabbit Don't Come Easy?....now I think I understand......