Helloween large & in charge...

This album is a nice surprise from the boys in Helloween... the track listing is pretty good; the band tends to concentrate on material from "Master of the Rings" (Sole Survivor, Where the Rain Grows, Why?, Mr. Ego, Perfect Gentleman, In the Middle of a Heartbeat) and "Time of the Oath" (We Burn, Steel Tormentor, Power, Wake up the Mountain, Before the War, Time of the Oath)as well as 4 tracks from the Michael Kiske/Kai Hansen era (Eagle Fly Free, The Chance, Future World & Dr. Stein). On the whole the recording is good, although not quite near where "I Want Out/ Live in the U.K." was... it could have used a little bit more of the old Kiske/hansen material (on the previous tour, they had performed "Ride the Sky", "Mankind" & "Giants") but it is a satisfying disc nonetheless. Why? Because Helloween finally proves that they are beyond the "they couldn't do it without Michi" talk... Andi Deris, while not as sharp as in the studio (who really is, though, when they are touring?)provides tremendous lungpower, especially on old Kiske tracks like "Eagle Fly Free" and "Future World"... the crowd interaction with the band, while not on the level of "I Want Out", is still there and amusing at times... Roland & Weiki sound tight, Markus is strong & Uli proves that he takes a backseat to no one in the drumming department... a great cd to add to your collection...

It's sad when Andy Deris butcher's all of Kiskes song's....

First of all I think the new singer is a horrible joke,and this album proves it.It's bad enough when he sings badly written song's,but when he try's to sing Michael Kiskes song's with his horrible vocal's it makes me physically ill,and frankly I don't understand how any mid career Helloween fan could even like the new stuff at all.The only answer must be that their just people who haven't heard the good singer,or just don't like Power metal to begin with.Or maybe they are the vocally hearing impared fan's of Gamma Ray who think this is the second coming from the god of horrible singer's Kia Hansen.Well if that's the case then they might be beyond all hope.So ofcourse I don't recommend this album to any fan of good Power metal.Quite frankly I'd take Michael Kiskes worst album Chamelian over any of their new album's.Just because Michael Kiske is that much more of a better singer,not to mention my all time favorite singer,and yes I do think he's even better than Bruce Dickinson,I mean if Iron Maiden is the first level in being a Power metal fan,than Mid career Helloween is,and should be the second,and no I don't give a rats ass what group came out first,and who influenced who,or which is more popular,I mean Pop music anyway's can be some of the most horrible music to ever be recorded(Iron Maiden excluded ofcourse),and we are supposed to like it.Well not me,I'm a free thinker,and I think Korn,Blink 182,Incubis,and most of the pop metal band's suck!!!not alway's excluding some hard core ones that tend to sound exactly the same with their Horrible in you'r face yelling,not singing yelling vocal's!I mean just get Fear Factorie's Digimortal album,and that's all the Hard core you'll ever need.And for Power Metal fan's start with Iron Maiden,and graduate to Helloween's Keeper album's,and maybe even the underated Pink bubbles go ape album....

Michael Kiske ,come back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the albums,in my opinion would be better if Michael KIske sings on this . It's all RIGHT with Andi deris ,but kiske is a great singer!!!!! he wouldn't leave the band.

Sound quality not up to par with other live cds/ studio cds

I have to compare this live cd with live cds from Gamma Ray: Alive 95 and Stratovarius: Visions of Europe

Both of these afore-mentioned recordings enhance their studio counterparts by bringing an increase in a raw energy aspect to the songs performed, with a sound quality that is just as good as the studio recordings.

Helloween's live cd does very little to enhance the songs, mostly coming from the studio albums: 'Master of the rings' and 'Time of the oath', with a sound quality that is not as good as compared to the studio recordings and the other afore-mentioned live cds.

To me this is because of poor production which hopefully the newly remastered version will correct this in a significant way.

Compared to their previous live cd: 'Live in the Uk'/'I want out', the sound and performance on this one is a bit better.

You also get the some other the older material performed by the then new members who do an admirable job.

If the newly remastered cd keeps all the songs intact, you will have a double cd that is only 2 dollars more than the current newly remastered single cds, thus making it a bargin if the remastering improves the sound.

Due to comparison of other live cds and Helloween's studio recordings which this live cd is mainly based on, it gets a 5/10