Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Most, December 9, 2006
Originally released in 1998, Better than Raw is, in my humble opinion, the absolute best album Helloween has released since the classic Keeper of the Seven Keys albums. By bringing in former Pink Cream 69 vocalist Andi Deris to replace Michael Kiske, the band seemed to regain the focus and energy missing from the last couple of Kiske albums. All of the Deris-era Helloween albums are quite good, especially those released in the 1990's, but Better than Raw stands out as the best of the bunch.
This is Helloween doing what they do best - delivering the kind of high-energy melodic power metal that they pretty much invented in the first place. Everything about this album, from the songwriting to the music to the cover art is an improvement over its predecessors. The album is full of strong tracks, though songs like Push, Hey Lord, I Can, and Midnight Sun stand out. This is the kind of album that would bring old-school Helloween fans back to the fold, and one of the only albums released since founding guitarist Kai Hansen left that is truly on par with his band Gamma Ray's albums.
Sanctuary finally got around to remastering the Helloween catalog earlier this year, and they certainly did it right. In addition to digitally remastered sound, the reissued version of Better than Raw serves up 4 bonus tracks - Back on the Ground, A Game We Shouldn't Play, and live versions of Perfect Gentlemen and the bizarrely titled track called Moshi Moshi-Shiki No Uta, which is essentially a 7-minute drum solo with some guitar soloing thrown in for good measure. You also get expanded liner notes, photos, etc. plus a nifty slipcase for the disc.
This is what a remastered version of a great album is supposed to look and sound like. If you're already a Helloween fan, it's time to replace your old version!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So you got tired of Helloween?, April 4, 2007
So you loved the Keepers albums, kept buying the ones after that hoping they would come out with something decent, and was let down time after time again? You aren't impressed with Andi Deris's voice, or you heard "The Dark Ride" and "Rabbits Don't Come Easy" and thought the songs were booooooriinng??? Don't give up yet! Better Than Raw is definitely a break from the string of highly unsuccesful, bland, albums that Helloween has been cranking out in the 90's. Ok, fine, so Keepers Pt. 3 was great, but it was not on par with Keepers 1&2. But this one is even better than Keepers Pt. 3. The music is definitely Heavy Metal, it is rough, has some progressive aspects to it, but there is also some variety.
The catchy songs "Hey Lord" and "I Can" really got me into the album. But the intense "Push" not only features some creative vocals from Deris, but is probably the high-point in songwriting for the album. Heavy, yet catchy. Not too distorted, and the vocals actually aren't that bad! Revelations is the real proggy one, Time is a really different song with an acoustic intro that brought great dynamics to this album, and lets see...Laudate Dominum is this really cheesy happy latin power metal song that I ended up loving (then got sick of). A few boring tracks that I couldn't get into such as Midnight Sun and Back on the Ground, but overall the songwriting is definitely a few notches up from other boring Helloween releases.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helloween At Their Best, February 17, 2009
To me this is one of my favorite Andy Deris era cd's.I own all the cd's.The song Revelation rocks and is the best one on the cd.A close second is Push and Hey lord!The guys put together a great cd for us fans to enjoy.You pretty much can listen to it all the way through and when you can do that you spent your money well.Now some will say how come i didn't mention the song "I Can" with praise well i'm not a huge fan of Helloween's hit songs like I Can, A Perfect Gentleman,Dr Stein,As Long As I Fall,and the corny Can Do It but i guess they have to write songs like that to keep the EXECUTIVES happy,but those songs don't appear on this one except I Can.All Helloween fans must love this cd and you will too!Also check out The Time of the Oath That also rocks and you won't be wasting your money!
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