Following the phenomenal success of the bands 'Keeper of the Seven Keys – The Legacy' album, things have never seemed more secure and relaxed.  The tour that followed in  support of that particular album consisted of 93 dates in 34 countries!  With that in mind it's surprising the band had any time spare to write, never mind record, this new album, but that is exactly what the band have succeeded in doing with their latest and most monstrous album to date ‘Gambling With The Devil’.  If you like me thought 'The Legacy' would be a hard album to follow then you will also like me, be totally blown away this new release.

The album gets underway with the intro 'Crack The Riddle', a narrative by the one and only Biff Byford of Saxon (!), this opens up the heavy metal carnival that’s about to unfold.

The album gets underway proper with the storming ‘Kill It’, a monstrous metal assault with Andi Deris unleashing some killer vocals (pun intended), with the bombardment of drums courtesy of Dani Loble and the punishing bass of Marcus Grosskopf, all interwoven with some stunning guitar riffs from both Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, this is a mighty impressive song to get things underway.

The album continues to impress as each track unfolds to reveal another blistering piece of no holds barred metal as only Helloween can do.

‘The Saints’ carries on where 'Kill It' left off with another pummelling drum section by Loble while Deris lays down another powerful vocal performance.  This combined with the familiar soaring guitar work of Weikath and Gerstner ensures this 7 minute epic is pure Helloween through to the very core.

The album takes a turn along the melodic metal path with one of my favourite tracks on the album the dark tones of ‘As Long As I Fall’.  This track is also destined to be the first single to be taken off the album, although it will only be available as a download.  The digipak version of the album also includes the video which will be released in support of the single and was shot in Munich.

Now it's back to the all out rampaging metal with the superb ‘Paint A New World’ before slowing down just a touch, and I mean just a touch, with another of my personal favourites ‘Final Fortune’.

We now reach the pinnacle of Metal brilliance as the band unleash the three part epos which includes the tracks ‘The Bells Of The 7 Hells’, ‘Fallen To Pieces’ and ‘I.M.E’, all of which musically unwind the story behind the album's name.  As Deris himself says ... “At the end of the day, life is a gamble with the devil”.  The first track ‘The Bells Of The 7 Hells’ is a total metal trip into oblivion with its pulsating attack of drums and bass followed by the thunderous guitars, all of which are over taken by the might of Deris’s vocals.

‘Fallen To Pieces’ is another track where Deris shines supreme as he covers his entire range on this one track.  From the highs and lows his vocals simply can't be beat in the Metal world.

The final chapter in this epic poem of life and death is ‘I.M.E’, another gigantic slap of pure fiery metal with its soaring guitars and thumping bass, this what the band do best, story telling thru metal.

The band inject a little up tempo rock into the mix with the positively dance-along vibe of ‘Can Do It’.  This one is sure to be a sure fire hit when played live, it certainly has that ‘I Want Out’ vibe about it.  Short, sharp and very memorable.

'Dreambound' is another guitar fuelled attack on the senses with Weikath and Gerstner totally running rampage on this one, with Deris reaching new heights vocally and Loble thrashing away at the skins like no other.

This quite magnificent album comes to a close with ‘Heaven Tells No Lies’, another epic slice Metal from the German Masters of Metal and one that rounds off what can only be described as a sublime metal classic. 

As mentioned earlier the album will also be available as a limited first edition digipak that will feature not only the video for ‘As Long As I Fall’, but also two bonus tracks and a 'Making Of ...' video.  But that is not all, quite possibly the second most exciting thing about this digipak, other than the songs of course (!) is that each special edition digipak will contain a competition scratch card.  Think Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and the gold ticket. 

Only in this case if you manage to solve the puzzle on your scratch card, you could be in with the chance to win the absolutely breathtakingly exciting prize of trip for you and a mate to go meet the band on tour in America.  Not only that but this prize includes the flights, the hotel and the backstage passes as well!  As if this wasn't enough there's also signed Gibson/Epiphone guitars and fan packs to be won as too!!  It has to be said this has to be one of THE most exciting offers I've ever come across with any cd release and one that is sure to have all their diehard fans frothing at the mouth with excitement at the very prospect of being in with a chance to win. 
Remember you've got to be in it to win it so get those digipaks ordered today!