MICHAEL KISKE Reworks HELLOWEEN Classics For 'Past In Different Ways'

Frontiers Records will release the new solo album from former HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske, entitled "Past In Different Ways", on May 9.

This much-talked-about CD includes acoustic and stripped down reworked versions of some of HELLOWEEN's classics that Kiske wrote and recorded in his early days with the legendary German heavy metal band.

"When Serafino Perugino brought up the idea to do this record," says Michael, "my first reaction was, 'No way! I don't want to be dealing with my past all the time anymore!' But after a few days my thinking changed and I thought, 'Maybe it's not such a bad idea after all.' Because on one hand it shows that I don't reject my past just because I'm a different person today and on the other hand it can maybe give people who were part of that past a different view at those songs. It's my music, I can still identify myself with its spirit, so why should I not do this?"

Working in a creatively free environment helped Michael to look at his past with different eyes and brought the idea of working again on the songs that Michael wrote for HELLOWEEN during his years with the band. The result is "Past In Different Ways", a record which includes brand new recordings of Kiske's songs taken off the two "Keeper" albums, "Chameleon" and "Pink Bubbles Go Ape", plus the brand new song "Different Ways".

The unconventional arrangements of many of the tracks will surprise and delight many of his fans and more surprising is to see how well these songs sound with a basic acoustic arrangement, without the "useless weight" and with new keys. "Songs like 'In The Night' or 'When The Sinner', which were never favourites of mine, are much cooler and much more convincing now for my ears," says Michael.

The album was recorded and mixed in Hamburg under Michael Kiske's direction and features longtime collaborators such as Sandro Giampietro on guitar, Fontaine Burnett on bass and Karsten Nagel on drums.

Kiske concludes: "It was not always easy for me emotionally to deal with this material. Music somehow seems to preserve emotional memories and I connect big human disappointments with the last years of that time. There's also something very unsatisfying about re-recording old songs; it's always MUCH better to write new stuff, but I wanted to make those songs mine again. And in spite of the fact that I strongly felt for the last couple of years that I rather have to build myself a new base of friends, it's always good to make peace with your past."

"Past In Different Ways" track listing:

01. You Always Walk Alone
02. We Got The Right
03. I Believe
04. Longing
05. Your Turn
06. Kids Of The Century
07. In The Night
08. Going Home
09. A Little Time
10. When The Sinner
11. Different Ways (brand new song)

Check out audio samples at this location.