Helloween – Live at Budokan

What’s the point of releasing live albums anno 2024?

Taking into the consideration that there is an amateur recording of just about any live performance on YouTube, which despite dreadful quality perhaps does serve as a better representation of a live experience than majority of official live releases. Why? Well because those are often manipulated into the unrecognition. Current technology makes it easy to do with live recording whatever you might please, which for the most part results in something, which is the opposite of realistic documentation of a live performance.

Nevertheless, here we are with another live release from Helloween, only five years after the release of their previous live album United Alive in Madrid. The album came out shortly after the band’s reunion, combining former and current members hit the road for the first time. That Frankenstein-unity consisting of two (and a half) vocalists, three guitarists, a bass player and a drummer worked surprisingly well live (see our review of their appearance at Copenhell festival) as well as on the highly anticipated self-titled album from 2021.

The release of the 2019 live album did make sense as a celebration of the reunion and the success it spawned. Release of the forthcoming new live release, entitled Live at Budokan, seems redundant even though Helloween playing the legendary venue for the first time is somewhat of an achievement.

United Alive in Madrid wasn’t anything special, suffering from lack of live feel, too much sonic manipulation and countless awkward moments. But the album also had its good moment, most noticeably another chance to relish in Michael Kiske’s vocal performance.

Unfortunately, Live at Budokan, doesn’t make things better. On contrary, weak aspects of its live-predecessor are weaker still here, and some of those shiny examples of Helloween’s brilliance are fewer and harder to spot.

The album opens with the epic “Skyfall” from their latest album and by the time it’s +12 minutes are through it seems that this album has even less to offer than their previous one. The sound is still quite processed, robbing it off that live-feel, that should be a cornerstone of any live recording. What does bear a mark of live experience is the band’s communication with the audience, but that’s not good news. Throughout their career that was never Helloween’s strong side and while it also can have some charm to in when experience live, it translates extremely poorly on a live audio recording. There are so many moments when the band addresses the crowd, which are so cringe-worthy that it makes it painfully hard to get through once, let alone several times. And the band uses lots of time on just that.

Some of the same aspects characterized United Alive in Madrid as well, but what (partially) made up for it was the quality of the songs and of course Kiske’s vocal performance. Unfortunately, his vocals on this album are not as impressive, which is perhaps a sign of times and rather normal for an ageing Heavy Metal vocalist. But it’s a pity when we’re talking about one of the finest singers in the genre. He’s still good, better than many, but that smoothness and eminent control of his voice is not as balanced and strong as it was only a few years ago. Still, he comes on top, comparing to Andi Deris and Kai Hansen. The latter of the two again gets his usual medley of early Helloween songs, which is even longer this time around – clocking at 16 minutes.

Many of the songs are actually much longer than normally, and not because of some interesting new versions or twists, but mostly because of endless talking and inciting of crowd participation. This means that “I Want Out” and “Eagle Fly Free” are more than 8 minutes long, “How Many Tears” is +12 minutes long and the masterpiece that is “Keeper Of the Seven Keys” is more than 20 minutes long.

And speaking of the crowd participation, the way sing-along parts, and crowd reactions are implemented makes it additionally hard to digest. Screwing up for crowd singing sections is (over)done so unevenly and poorly mixed, that it stands out as a sore thumb.

On the other hand, performance is strong, and it’s always a pleasure to experience the interplay between the guitars and between guitars and the rhythm section. It’s good to witness “Best Time” from the new album working rather well live as well. Setlist that evening in Japan was predictable, but strong. Still, few twists would serve it well and including “Perfect Gentleman” again seems unnecessary, especially taking into the consideration that it was (mis)placed in the encore.

So, what is the point in releasing a live album in 2024?

Well, the purpose is creating some buzz between the studio releases in order to activate some more streaming activity from people who have “forgotten” about the band. So, releasing a live album serves for the most part as a marketing trigger and as such it makes sense, and it serves that very purpose.

On the other hand, Live at Budokan doesn’t serve as a solid live representation of seeing Helloween live and with all the audio manipulation and focus on underlining the band’s weaknesses there isn’t much here to sink your teeth into. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to look forward to seeing the band live in about a year, when they visit Scandinavia again. Until then, if you feel like enjoying some live Helloween recordings, then the legendary EP Live in the U.K. is the perfect place to go to. And if you feel like digging into some of the live stuff from Deris-era the High Live from 1996 is an ok one.

www.helloween.org