There's been much skepticism about the future of Helloween after the band fired guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch almost 2 years ago. Both have moved on to form Masterplan and are currently enjoying great success with their debut album. Both Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch were prominent songwriters for Helloween and losing their songwriting skills as well as their incredible talents appeared to be a major blow to the band. Filling in the vacancies in Helloween are Sascha Gerstner, guitar (ex-Freedom Call) and Stefan Schwarzmann, drums (Running Wild, Accept and U.D.O.). Mark Cross (Metallium) was to be the new drummer, but came down with Epstein-Barr virus and physically wasn't up to the job. He did perform on a couple of songs for the new album with the rest of the drum tracks being done by Motorhead drummer Mickey Dee.

Michael Weikath, guitar and founding member of Helloween has stated publicly that that he hated the band's last album, The Dark Ride, saying that it was too dark and moody for Helloween music and that he wanted to return to the more spirited and "happy" sound that brought them so much success in the past. Their new album, Rabbit Don't Come Easy is due out May 12th and Just A Little Sign is the first single to be released from the album.

Just A Little Sign is written by Andi Deris and is the lead off song to their new album. If this track is any indication of what their new album is like, prepare for the triumphant return of the classic Helloween sound. This track has it all, speedy fast tempo, great vocals, a typical sing along chorus, killer riffing that reminds one of the older classic Keeper Of The Seven Keys era of the band and most of all, it rocks!!. This is what Helloween is supposed to sound like. For me, The Dark Ride is a solid album but it's missing the spirit, speed and catchiness that was captured so well on albums such as Master Of The Rings and The Time Of The Oath albums (my personal favorite post Micheal Kiske releases).

Also on this CD single is a cover version of Queen's Sheer Heart Attack from their 1977 album, News Of The World. This song, written by Queen drummer Roger Taylor gets the full Helloween treatment albeit being a very up tempo rocker in it's original form anyway. The third song, Madness Of The Crowds is another Andi Deris song that was actually a bonus track for the Japanese version of The Dark Ride. It's a solid and very heavy track with lots of fast riffing and double bass drumming. I've heard this track before and it leaves me wondering why they didn't include it on the version of The Dark Ride for the rest of the world, it would be one of the better tracks. A video for If I Could Fly, a track from The Dark Ride is also included on this release. It's a nice package with some great cover art showing the return of the sinister pumpkins and also of the tongue-in-cheek sense of humour that Helloween once had. Just A Little Sign is one of the best Helloween songs I've heard in years and I can't wait for the rest of the album.