After the ludicrously overblown and entirely unnecessary Keeper of the Seven Keys 3, Helloween return with Gambling With the Devil. In the interests of truth and honesty, they ought to have called this Pink Bubbles Go Ape…Again. Gambling is being given too much of a credit for being a return to form by people who didn’t like Keeper 3; when in fact it’s a seriously flawed album - much more so than The Dark Ride and Rabbit Don’t Come Easy.

A pity because it could’ve been their best recent release — it at least starts off sounding like its going to be a no holds barred go-for-the-jugular assault — Kill It sounds like Dimmu Borgir finally came all the way out of their power metal closet instead of just sticking out the occasional arm, limb or grimacing corpse-painted mug. The problems start with track 3 The Saints and never quite let up — the song kicks things off with a fierce riff backed by decidedly Keith Moony drumming — perfect; until Helloween import an entirely unnecessary Euro-pop chorus — the sort of cloying soul destroying sap that Modern Talking or Air Supply would’ve shelved for not being manly and powerful enough. And all this after a pre-chorus that fit the song a lot better.

But that’s Gambling’s horrible secret — good verging on great power metal songs spoilt by the band’s insistence on getting all catchier than thou. And unlike Gamma Ray or yes, even recent (pre-Keepers 3) Helloween, these more often than not don’t fit in seamlessly. The album chugs along tantalizingly throwing out the odd-riff and lead that keep you rooted only to smack you over the head with a horrifying amalgam of Abba and some fourth rate 80s pop band — think a Bananarama B-side.

It’s all too schizoid to really sit through, unless you have a masochistic streak, nothing better to do or are cut from the same bizarre cloth as Helloween. It reminds me of many lazy afternoons I’d spend watching a friend get totally drunk — he did this every day, it was near impossible to find him sober after 2 pm — sometimes he was astonishingly lucid and would come up with some great ideas and anecdotes; but it was just as likely he’d stare morosely for hours on end. Someone with a lot more initative than I have ought to remix this album — cut away all the crappy parts and maybe loop some of the better riffs to make this a really good album instead of a weird one with some good parts.

Year of Release: 2007
Label: SPV