The Dark Ride (CD - 2000)

Additional personnel: Joern Ellerbrock (keyboards); Rolf Koehler, Billy King (background vocals).

Recorded at Sueno Music, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Personnel: Andi Deris (vocals); Michael Weikath, Roland Grapow (guitar); Jorn Ellerbrock (keyboards); Uli Kusch (drums); Rolf Kohler, Billy King (background vocals).

Recording information: Mi Sueno Music, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (2000).

Illustrator: Rainer Laws.

Photographer: Roger Mendez.

One of the most appropriate album titles in metal history, Helloween's 10th full-length release is exactly what it says. The German quintet's first album for Nuclear Blast sees the band break from its traditional pomp-and-romp power metal leanings and experiment with a more dramatic (and less humorous) songwriting approach. Produced and engineered by melodic metal masterminds Roy Z. (Halford, Bruce Dickinson) and Charlie Bauerfeind (Blind Guardian, HammerFall), THE DARK RIDE breathes new, gritty life into the Helloween canon--with a sinister sneer. minimize