Hot on the back of their impressive new longplayer, My God-Given Right, German power metal exponents Helloween will be bringing their pumpkins to Australia in October.
They will hit the stage of The Metro Theatre in Sydney on Friday, October 16, the second date in a tour that will also stop in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Staples of the European festival scene, Helloween have amassed album sales exceeding eight million.
Now in their 30th year, the coming tour marks only their second trip to Australia.
The latest album is the band’s 15th and shows the outfit in fine creative form.
My God-Given Right includes all the hallmarks that have led the band to be heralded one of the scene leaders — fiery riffs and solos, backed by a relentless double kick assault and soaring vocals.
Helloween arrived on the global metal scene in 1985 with the release of a dazzling self-titled five-track EP, which was quickly followed by the debut album, Walls of Jericho.
In 1987/88 the band released its magnificent Keeper of the Seven Keys I and II albums, a pair of masterpieces, which today sound every bit as vital as when they were first unleashed.
Throughout their career, Helloween have held high billing positions at globally renowned festivals, including Brazil’s Rock in Rio, Japan’s Loudpark and the world’s premier heavy metal festival, Wacken Open Air.
The band is also in high demand as an international touring headliner, not only in established metal kingdoms, but in remote regions including the Indonesian island Borneo and Brazil’s jungle metropolis Manaus.
They even plied their craft in La Paz in Bolivia at the dizzying altitude of 3500m above sea level.
According to singer Andi Deris, Helloween has always operated on a simple motto: ‘‘back to the roots, but with new songs’’.
‘‘More than ever, our fans want to sing and rock out along with us,’’ he said. ‘‘This simply works best with the use of distinctive choruses and 80s hooklines.’’
Guitarist Michael Weikath said it was not about the band living in the past.
‘‘It is not our mission to just relive the 80s at all costs — to our own surprise, the whole dynamic of this working concept took on a life of its own,’’ he said.
‘‘Surely there’ll be haters again that will presume that we have nothing better to do than to keep recycling the past instead of moving on into the 21st century. But such critics have followed us all along and never impressed us.
‘‘We’ve always had a liberal attitude towards heavy metal: to do anything we want and not follow the directions the know-it-alls would have pushed on us. We remained unfazed and acted out our vision of anything goes in the songwriting process to My God-Given Right because we believe that it is our god-given right (no pun intended) to do as we please and fulfil our musical vision without any boundaries.’’
The new album is like a best of the best, with all facets of the band on display throughout, from the speed of Jericho through to the progressive elements of more recent releases 7 Sinners and Straight out of Hell.
My God-Given Right was released on May 29.
Tickets for the coming tour went on sale on Monday and are available by visiting here.
Special VIP meet and greet packages are available for the Sydney show.