HELLOWEEN

Not everybody loves it when a plan comes together, you cynical bastards, but only the hardest of hearts would begrudge HELLOWEEN their recent return to resplendent, all-hands-on-deck top form. The Germans' tentative reunion with Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen, for 2016's "Pumpkins Reunited" tour, rapidly picked up a head of steam, and the now seven-man line-up have surfed a sustained wave of renewed popularity. The release of 2021's self-titled comeback album could hardly have gone any better either. A critical triumph and commercial smash, it was neither a nostalgia fest nor a clumsy attempt to modernise. Instead, it was simply the best HELLOWEEN album in three decades.

With all the aforementioned considered, one of the most influential bands in melodic and power metal history are having a sensational time, and that confidence and sheer delight are beautifully captured on this long-awaited live album. Recorded last year at Tokyo's most legendary rock hall, "Live At Budokan" is an all-shredding, all-howling celebration, as HELLOWEEN bulldoze their way through two hours of hits, deep cuts and audacious medleys. Playing out in front of a startlingly effusive Japanese crowd who bellow along with every word, the Teutonic septet are on majestic form and in the mood for a heavy metal party.

As if to demonstrate their shared state of supreme confidence, HELLOWEEN kick off the show with all 12 indulgent minutes of their most recent mini-masterpiece "Skyfall". A song that proved that the whole reunion enterprise was a very good idea indeed, it takes on a little more grit and fieriness here, and the Budokan goes politely berserk in response. Thereafter, "Live At Budokan" is a whirlwind of stone-cold classics and uniformly great new material. The newly formed guitar trio of Hansen, Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner intertwine with virtuoso elegance, and Michael Kiske and co-vocalist Andy Deris are so perfectly matched that one could be forgiven for assuming that this is the way it has always been.

HELLOWEEN are having so much fun and getting so much love back from the fans that their intensity seems to grow as the minutes tick by. From the explosive euphoria of "Eagle Fly Free" and "Helloween" highlight "Mass Pollution", to an epic return to "How Many Tears" (from HELLOWEEN's 1985 debut album "Walls Of Jericho"),which also doubles as a showcase for Kiske and Deris's sublime chemistry, the main part of the band's set is ripe with hits but still packed with surprises, not least a gloriously overwrought "Forever And One (Neverland)" and a magnificent medley of songs from Kai Hansen's tenure as frontman, including enough of "Metal Invaders" to snap the strongest neck. More importantly, HELLOWEEN give songs from their most seminal albums the respect they deserve. "Future World" is ferocious, "Dr. Stein" is a goofy joy and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" is dispatched with precision and progressive flair. It ends with "I Want Out": an ageless anthem for the disgruntled that still resonates 36 years after it was first released. The crowd goes wild. Everybody goes home happy. HELLOWEEN conquered the Budokan, and they had the sense to record it for posterity. "Live At Budokan" is like being mugged by serotonin. Bravo, legends.