Helloween – Giants & Monsters
Release Date: 29th August 2025
Label: Reining Phoenix
Order/Stream
Genre: Power Metal
FFO: Primal Fear, Mob Rules, Majestica, Hammerfall.
Review By: Eric Wilt
When Helloween released their 2021 self-titled album, the anticipation was through the roof. For the first time ever, singers Michael Kiske, Andi Deris, and Kai Hansen (who also plays guitar) would appear together on a full-length album along with the rest of the band at the time, which consisted of guitarists Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, bassist Markus Grosskopf, and drummer Daniel Löble. The resulting album was excellent at times if a bit self-indulgent but hearing Kiske and Hansen reunited with their former band was worth having to live with a less than amazing song or two.
Four years later, all seven men are back to have a second go at building on their already impressive legacy. The new album entitled Giants & Monsters will be out on 29 August, and like its predecessor, features a beautiful cover painting by the incomparable Eliran Kantor.
Going into album number two with the Pumpkins United line-up, I figured the band would have shaken off the rust and would be presenting a lean, mean power metal album, and for the most part that’s exactly what it is. When the lead single is the weakest song on the record, you know you are in for a treat, and I do believe This is Tokyo, is the weakest track. It’s all up from there.
The first track sees Kiske, Deris, and Hansen all taking a turn on the mic. While it begins with a The King for a 1000 Years vibe, Giants on the Run contains three distinctive sections that makes the song feel like a trip through the three respective eras of the band in a mere six minutes and twenty-one seconds.
One advantage of making an album with two powerhouse singers like Deris and Kiske is you never have to worry about coming up with high quality backing vocals. Take Savior of the World, for instance. It’s a Kiske song, but Deris sings backup, and when those two voices combine, it’s electric. The next track, A Little is a Little Too Much, sees Kiske and Deris taking turns on lines in the same verse, which is perhaps the most exciting use of the two main singers.
In addition to having three singers on Giants & Monsters, Helloween also has three guitarists, and while in most bands three guitarists would be at least one too many, Hansen, Weikath, and Gerstner make it work. Fans of Iron Maiden’s output since 2000 knew carrying three guitars was possible, but there’s a fine line between musicians complementing each other and musicians competing with each other. While I’m not sure how it works in a live setting, there is never a time on the album when I feel the guitarists are getting in each other’s way.
While neither of the Pumpkins United line-up albums are on the level of the first two Keepers albums, seeing this line-up putting out a second album is a treat all its own.
(4 / 5)
