''Straight Out of Hell'' is the fourteenth studio album by German

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

band

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. The band has at times been called one of the most influential European heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Its first ...

. It was released in 2013 and produced by

Charlie Bauerfeind Karl Rudolf "Charlie" Bauerfeind (born 30 May 1963) is a German sound engineer and producer who has worked mostly with power metal bands such as Angra, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Primal Fear, Rage, HammerFall and Saxon. Career Highlightes ...

Overview

Regarding the songs, guitarist and founding member

Michael Weikath Michael Ingo Joachim "Weiki" Weikath (born 7 August 1962) is a German musician, best known as a founding member and one of the guitarists of pioneering power metal band Helloween. Biography Weikath was born in Hamburg and was musical from a ...

stated: Three months after the album release, he commented on it again, saying he thinks it is "kind of very accessible for the listener. And it's a fun album. It's an album that doesn't give you the creeps or annoys you or whatever". Andi Deris confirmed that ''Straight Out of Hell'' was intentionally made to be a "happy" Helloween album. This was, according to Deris, partly in response to the band's darker material during the previous 10 years, and partly out of the band's interest in releasing a positive album in light of the failure of the 2012 Doomsday Prediction. War and peace are the themes of the first two songs. Opening track, "Nabataea", refers to the ancient

Nabatean Kingdom The Nabataean Kingdom ( Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢕𐢃𐢋𐢈 ''Nabāṭū''), also named Nabatea () was a political state of the Nabataeans during classical antiquity. The Nabataean Kingdom controlled many of the trade routes of the region, amassi ...

, which exists in modern

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. Andi Deris explained that Nabatea is "a nation which...was probably the only country which never brought war to other countries". A music video was shot for an edited version of "Nabataea". By contrast, the acceptance of conflict by the modern world consumes the second track, "World of War", which explores how contemporary humanity takes war as inevitable and seemingly cares little about the casualties, according to Deris. Faith is addressed in "Far From the Stars", with bassist Markus Grosskopf explaining that the strength of one's belief, whether associated with a religion or not, is essential for survival. A different tack is taken on the last track, "Church Breaks Down", which highlights the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

's actions throughout the centuries such as its refusal to adapt to scientific developments such as the

theory of evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certai ...

. Several songs deal with the follies and occasionally strange beliefs of humanity. "Burning Sun" is more light-hearted, introducing a protagonist who, according to Weikath, dreams of steering a spaceship into the Sun. A version of the track featuring a

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(performed by Helloween session keyboardist Matthias Ulmer) was dedicated to the late

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

organist

Jon Lord John Douglas "Jon" Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English keyboardist and composer. In 1968, Lord co-founded the hard rock band Deep Purple. Lord performed on most of the band's most popular songs; he and drummer Ian Paice were the only ...

and is included as a bonus track on the limited and Japanese editions of the album. On the other hand, "Waiting for the Thunder" is a piano-driven song about an unrepentant man, after doing wrong, simply awaits the punishment rather than trying to make amends. Deris conceded that, "I know sometimes I'm that guy". In addition to the dedication of the Hammond organ version of "Burning Sun" to Jon Lord, Helloween dedicated "Wanna Be God" to the late

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

due to its affinity to the Queen's stadium rock track, "

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...

". Previously on December 12, 2012, Metal Shock Finland's

Chief Editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's Editing, editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is hel ...

, Mohsen Fayyazi, compared the drums of this track with a traditional Brazilian folk rhythm and also he wrote "''It seems they wanted to wear QUEEN‘s shoes, as this track sounds like “We Will Rock You” by QUEEN to me''" The title track toys with heavy metal

cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...

s while "Years" fixates upon life and death, and "Make Fire Catch the Fly" discusses the fear of rejection that may cause a person to never profess love for another.

Track listing

Regular edition

Limited edition bonus tracks

Japanese Edition bonus tracks

Personnel

Andi Deris Andreas "Andi" Deris (born 18 August 1964) is a German singer, best known as one of the three co-lead vocalists of the power metal band Helloween, and co-founder and former lead singer of the metal band Pink Cream 69. Singing style Deris has ...

– vocals *

– lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals *

Sascha Gerstner Sascha Gerstner (born 2 April 1977) is a German musician who has been one of the guitarists and backing vocalists of power metal band Helloween since 2002. As of 2016, he is Helloween's second-longest tenured guitarist, surpassing his predecess ...

– lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals *

Markus Grosskopf Markus Grosskopf (born 21 September 1965) is a German musician best known as the bass guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the power metal band Helloween. Biography Grosskopf started playing bass at the age of 15 when he became ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Daniel Löble Daniel "Dani" Löble (born 22 February 1973) is a Swiss-German drummer, who has been a member of German power metal band Helloween since 2005. Biography Dani began his career with Rawhead Rexx, a band that he helped form but departed due to hi ...

– drums ;Guest musicians * Matthias Ulmer – keyboards ;Technical staff * Produced by Charlie Bauerfeind * Recorded & mixed at Mi Sueño Studio in Tenerife, Spain * Engineered & mixed by Charlie Bauerfeind for S.C. & Services * Additional engineering & editing by Thomas Geiger * Additional backing vocals by William "Billy" King & Olaf Senkbeil * Cover artwork, 3D design & band photography by

Martin Häusler Martin Häusler (born January 24, 1971, in Heidelberg, Germany) is a German portrait photographer, music video director and art director. In the United States, and other English speaking countries, he uses the adjusted spelling of his name Martin ...

* Pumpkin illustrations by Marcos Moura

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Helloween albums The End Records albums Albums produced by Charlie Bauerfeind