HELLOWEEN: New Audio Interview With MICHAEL WEIKATH

January 23, 2013

Metalshock Finland's Mohsen Fayyazi recently conducted an interview with guitarist Michael Weikath of German power metal veterans HELLOWEEN. You can now listen to the chat in three parts below.

"Straight Out Of Hell", the new album from HELLOWEEN, was released in Europe on January 18 and in North America on January 22. The cover artwork for the CD was once again created by Martin Häusler, who previously worked with the band on the "7 Sinners" and "Gambling With The Devil" CDs.

"Straight Out Of Hell" was produced by Charlie Bauerfeind, who also worked on "7 Sinners", and sees the five musicians maintaining a rawer edge throughout, working quickly in the studio (MiSueno Studio in Tenerife) and delivering 13 brand new compositions that, in the words of founding member, guitarist Michael Weikath, will "kick even the laziest listener's ass!"

Bristling with positive energy, songs such as "Make Fire Catch The Fly", "Far From The Stars" and the title track itself, written by bassist Markus Grosskopf, show that when HELLOWEEN push their collective foot to the floor they are never too keen to ease off the gas; and they take chances, ever willing to use their well-documented virtuosity to break out of the mould.

Says singer Andi Deris: "We've always followed our own path when it comes to music… and if someone had ever tried to stop us, well, we'd have done what we wanted, anyway! Some of our moves have attracted negative reactions at first, but in time they've gone on to reap success and reward, and that's the kind of freedom you can feel on this new album — we don't allow ourselves to be put under pressure…"

With Deris, Weikath, Grosskopf (also a founding member) and guitarist Sascha Gerstner all providing material, "Straight…" is a passionate, multi-layered affair, complete with a limited-edition premium package featuring a special Hammond organ run-through of Weikath outing, "Burning Sun" — this version conceived as a tribute to DEEP PURPLE's Jon Lord.

"Straight Out Of Hell" track listing:

01. Nabataea
02. World Of War
03. Live Now!
04. Far From The Stars
05. Burning Sun
06. Waiting For The Thunder
07. Hold Me In Your Arms
08. Wanna Be God
09. Straight Out Of Hell
10. Asshole
11. Years
12. Make Fire Catch The Fly
13. Church Breaks Down

Limited-edition bonus tracks:

14. Another Shot Of Life
15. Burning Sun (Hammond version; dedicated to Jon Lord)

Interview Part 1:

Interview Part 2:

Interview Part 3:

"Nabataea" video:

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).