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Features, Tours and Festivals

Helloween Announces North American Tour with Hammerfall Supporting

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The Press Release:
Legendary German heavy metal icons HELLOWEEN will return to the US and Canada this Spring as part of their ongoing United Forces world tour alongside supporting special guests, HammerFall. The trek will commence on May 13th in Dallas, Texas and wind its way through a total of thirteen cities, the journey drawing to a close on June 3rd in San Francisco, California. Fans can expect an epic night of HELLOWEEN hits spanning the band’s legacy as well as tunes from their latest album, Helloween, marking the first time tracks from the album will be performed live for US and Canadian audiences.

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Features, Tours and Festivals

Helloween Announce 2018 North American Pumpkins United Tour Dates

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The Heavy Metal Legions recently got some new music from the legendary Helloween and this new track was more special than anyone could have imagined since it featured legacy members as well. Now, the band has announced a tour with dates in the USA. Dig it.

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The Press Release:
German metal legends Helloween, who have reunited with vocalist Michael Kiske and guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen, have announced North American dates for their Pumpkins United World Tour.

Says the band: “Indeed, the North American Helloween fans had to be very patient. Reading about Pumpkins United’s touring schedule and sold out shows in Latin America, Europe & Asia, but yet any shows in the upper half of the American continent… but your constant demands were heard! We proudly announce the Pumpkins United shows in the USA & Canada!”
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Music, Reviews

“Pumpkins United” (Single) by Helloween

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Artist: Helloween
Title: “Pumpkins United” (Single)
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 10/13/2017
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 4.5/5

Fans of the Power Metal titans in Helloween have been chomping at the bit for new music ever since the historic reunion of some of the bands legacy members was announced and tour dates began to appear across the Social Networking channels. Historically speaking, the bands name is that of Power Metal legend and it wouldn’t be too far off the mark to say that the genre actually exists because of their efforts. So before we get any deeper into this, let’s get a roll call on just who these “Pumpkins United” actually are and it begins with Michael Kiske (lead vocals), Andi Deris (lead vocals), Kai Hansen (lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals), Michael Weikath (lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Markus Grosskopf (bass, backing vocals), Sascha Gerstner (lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Daniel Löble (drums) and Eddy Wrapiprou (keyboards) – Whew. Think that you can remember all of that? Now let’s get into a quick overview of the first single track that will hopefully be one of many from this superb combination of players.
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Events, Reviews

Helloween & Gamma Ray @ B.B. King Blues Club (9/21/2008)

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The pairing of Helloween and Gamma Ray was nothing less than a dream come true for many of the Power Metal fans of the world and when the “Hellish Rock” tour hit NYC we were there to document it.  So far, September had been one of the craziest months we ever experienced in the role of Metal Media guy but we were still happy to be able to present our views and images of the fun with the worldwide PiercingMetal.com readership.  We shot photos of both groups at some length and those who wish to learn more about it need only click the logo below to be brought to the item on the main website.

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Artist: Helloween
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Gamma Ray
Date: 9/21/2008
Label: SPV Records

The concerts to attend on my planning schedule had already been rather fruitful with interesting appearances from the legendary Carcass who brought a bevy of supporting acts with them, all the way through show featuring Trouble, Opeth and the mighty Motorhead which was actually only last night for me. Yet despite the roster of things already done and being worked out for the Metal legions to enjoy – the very premise of both Gamma Ray and Helloween touring together on the same package was enough to make you tremble in your leather jacket even if we were still dealing with the warmer weather that would find such things in our closets for the next few weeks. They called this event “The Hellish Rock Tour” and it would thankfully feature no other openers and only be the two main bands. I say it like this based on the wide assortment of opening talent that I had absorbed over the past couple of weeks and since the longer the show the more exhausting it can be, I was happy to just see the pair of killer Power Metal acts taking the stage. Plus, with no openers to speak of this would mean a much longer set for each of the bands and one cannot go wrong with that. The show once again would be something that took place at B.B. King Blues Club and the venue was jam packed from the moment that I walked inside the place. I won’t lie when I say that I loved seeing that many Metal heads gathered together for the cause. Here is how the very exciting event took place if you were one of the few Metal heads that seemed to miss out.
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Reviews, Videos

“Keeper of the Seven Keys – The Legacy World Tour 2005-2006” (DVD) by Helloween

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Artist: Helloween
Title: “Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy – World Tour 05/06 Live In Sao Paulo”
Label: SPV Records
Release Date: 2/20/2007
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 4/5

Once you bypass the rather deceiving title of “Live In Sao Paolo” and realize that you are actually getting a film from three continents, the viewer gets a rousing live concert from the one and only Helloween. It captures the band during the tour that supported their most recent studio album “Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy”. While it is true that we have seen the band with numerous lineup changes over the years the viewer of this DVD will find the band is still sounding fresh, exciting and true masters of the Power Metal genre – a musical style that the original lineup of the group actually helped to launch so many years ago. If you heard the studio album for which the tour comes from you will remember that it found the legendary group returning to a purer form of the genre as opposed to experimentation and changing the style around. As you can see the concert set list is loaded with their classics numbers such as “I Want Out” and “Future World”, and while Michael Kiske will always remain a favorite among the bands original fan base there is no knocking Andy Deris for his killer performance across all the material in this film. Given the historic nature of many of the older Helloween tunes and their being regarded as classic anthems for Metal I am happy to report that Mr. Deris does really well on them and blasts through them without any difficulty. Since the new album was the focus of their tour we see that the band touches upon “TKOTSK3: The Legacy” and of the songs represented from this album, “The King For A 1000 Years” is perhaps one of the best. The DVD opens with this number and it is a blazing number that literally will bring the viewer into the mix as far as audience participation goes. It is during shows like these at countries such as Brazil that have me complimenting the people in the audience because these folks really appreciate their Metal. It seems as thought the more videos that I see shot from this location the stronger this belief is reinforced in my heart. People around the world need to treat their Metal with as much enthusiasm and energy as this region.
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