SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HELLOWEEN – GIANTS & MONSTERS

HELLOWEEN
GIANTS & MONSTERS
REIGNING PHOENIX MUSIC

Hard rock and heavy metal, with its death, doom, sludge, stoner, and other sub-genres, still ought to be that go-to genre for audio catharsis, no matter the age of the listener. However, so much heavy metal of late has burned itself out. Modern black-suited, evil-looking heavy makers often do not even have real songs per se, just a mix of distorted guitar-and-double bass drum sludge with growling, performed by those that think they could burn churches and execute their bandmates like their heroes. Yet they only produce noise that is more laughable than threatening.

Metal, like any other genre, does not have to be the arena for the tuneless and slovenly. There can be melody and distorted guitars, songs can actually be sung with some necessary growls mixed in, and, with that, lyrics being sung can be understood. These positive factors are what Helloween seem to do on their new release Giants & Monsters. But before dismissing the band off as power metal dinosaurs, consider some key points.

One is that Helloween has musicianship, and even in 2025, Giants & Monsters shows a band’s desire to keep things from being unpredictable. The slow tempo change before the guitar solo in “Giants On The Run” is unexpected in lieu of the rapid-fire drumming hitherto, yet it keeps the song in heavy form and the listener interested. Two is that the track-to-track arrangement of Giants & Monsters is unpredictable. The heavy guitar-driven epic “We Can Be Gods” fades and the melodic, piano-driven “Into The Sun” comes next, again maintaining the listener’s attention. Three is that there are comprehensive dynamics and even a bit of humour. Watch the accompanying video to “This is Tokyo” to see not only a band ready to sing, play loud, and even harmonize, but infuse colourful, cyberpunk-influenced imagery to support the music.

Helloween have been around since the mid-1980’s and it’s understandable that they wouldn’t follow modern metal trends and, rightly or wrongly, utilize certain predictable motifs power metal. “A Little Is A Little Too Much” sounds as if it was an 1980s FM track outtake akin to the Scorpions. The album’s lyrics could pass as excerpts from centuries-old literature and sung as if they were audio self-help guides, as in “We are eternal from the start” in “Into The Sun” and “Elders in the Sky/Left us down to die/Like snowflakes in the sun…” in “Giants On The Run.” So many themes of odyssey and being bigger than life are on the disc overall and perhaps used to extreme.

However, that also seems to be the point of Giants & Monsters. The band that made it have talent, can unquestionably play their instruments, and want to forgo introspection in favour of epic music that is as much opera as it is hard rock. It’s still Helloween doing what they do best and with not a hint of inauthenticity or old age sluggishness. That’s welcome.

The album jacket art is great too.

Artist Links