Band:	Helloween
Album:	7 Sinners
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	October 31, 2010
A review by:	Baz Anderson

01. Where The Sinners Go
02. Are You Metal?
03. Who Is Mr. Madman?
04. Raise The Noise
05. World Of Fantasy
06. Long Live The King
07. The Smile Of The Sun
08. You Stupid Mankind
09. If A Mountain Could Talk
10. The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner
11. My Sacrifice
12. Not Yet Today
13. Far In The Future
14. I'm Free [deluxe digipack edition bonus]
15. Faster We Fall [Japanese bonus]
16. Aiming High [iTunes bonus]

Helloween have been forging a new path for themselves for many years, seemingly cursed in the way that anything with the Helloween name on it will be compared to those influential Keeper... albums, and almost every time the new offering inevitably falls short.

7 Sinners is the third album with the current line-up, and the first since The Dark Ride that has been able to square up to the Keeper... albums and come off looking pretty good. The reputation of those early albums will never be matched again, but Helloween are determined to continually prove their worth as the genre's kings and still as a legitimate and current power metal band.

The album itself is faster, harder, catchier, and simply better than the previous few by a long way. 7 Sinners is a much more organic and natural-feeling album, perhaps due to the line-up bonding closer still and for the first time ever recording an album without a drum click track. Each band member except for drummer Dani Löble wrote songs for the album, and it perhaps the mixture of styles each of the four brought to the table that makes 7 Sinners a diverse and interesting album.

Andi's presence is felt with the tongue-in-cheek "Are You Metal?" but also with the "If I Could Fly"-esque ballad of "The Smile Of The Sun". Weikie's quirkiness is brought out with the flute solo in "Raise The Noise", and Sascha once again shows his merit in the writing department with the killer track "Who Is Mr. Madman?" and its catchy chorus. Markus' input comes out on top this time however, with the similarly catchy "World Of Fantasy" and epic "If A Mountain Could Talk", both keeping a good pace and making evident some of the best material the band have put out for years.

Indeed, quality-wise 7 Sinners has hit the jackpot. It has been many years since Helloween have released an album so solid and consistently enjoyable. It is therefore strange that the production of the album is a little muffled and actually quieter than most other modern albums. As long as you have the sound system though, this shouldn't be so much of a problem when it comes to enjoying this magnificent modern power metal album from the kings doing it their own way.