Metal Jukebox

Metal Jukebox is a covers album on which Helloween takes up songs by various artists who became their roots and influences. Heard not as a mere collection of past classics but for how they translate outside songs into their own timing, voice and guitar sound, its interest comes into deep view. Rather than relying on the fame of the originals, Helloween’s own habits and aesthetic rise in the push of the rhythm, the thickness of the choruses and the making of the air around the solos. From hard rock and progressive rock to pop, the very selection tells of the members’ broad musical tastes, and how the Deris-era band, different from the Michael Kiske era, cooks the originals is a highlight. Though a project apart from the line of signature albums, it is in the way of reinterpretation that an artist’s essence shows. Rather than the origin of each song, one wants to note the unity born of passing through the Helloween filter. It is an intriguing covers work that lets you confirm their musical background in three dimensions from another angle.