Cries from the Quiet World: Germany

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domingo, 11 de octubre de 2026

High'n Dry "Hands Off My Toy! (Germany, Bellaphon Records, 290.09.066)"

High'n Dry is a Heavy metal band from Köln (Cologne, Germany), made their first album in 1988.

During his musical activities in London, Dee Gee Kay met bass player Gino at a party organized by ex-Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno. Due to common musical interests, they decided to play together. However, a qualified singer and drummer was still missing, and after countless rehearsal sessions with a wide variety of musicians, the right reinforcement was finally found in Joe Mitz and Mark Rich.

Their debut album, Hands Off My Toy was released in 1988.

Tracklist:

Intro 00:44
Run Away 04:09
The Last Time 03:55
Streets of Fire 03:44
Too Much to Lose 04:54
Piece of My Heart 04:12
Love Reaction 04:58
In the Dark 03:47
Bad in Black 03:51
Lost Souls 03:46
Ain't Gonna Take It 03:30
Standin' on the Frontline 04:06

Time: 45:36

Recording information:

Recorded at Hansa Studio in Bonn on Summer 1988.

Produced by Detlef Kowalewski

domingo, 4 de octubre de 2026

Helloween "The Dark Ride (2013 Reissue, Limited Edition Digipak, Germany, Nuclear Blast, NB 3264-0/27361 32640)"

The Dark Ride is the ninth studio album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 2000. The album's style was quite different from Better Than Raw as it had a much darker sound, drop-tuned guitars, and gruffer vocals. The album was produced by Roy Z and Charlie Bauerfeind. It is the last studio album to feature Master of the Rings-era lineup with the dismissal of guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch after completion of the supporting tour for the album. They went on to form the band Masterplan.

The album contains two singles, which are "If I Could Fly" and "Mr. Torture".

In later interviews, bassist Markus Grosskopf commented on the album, saying: "The Dark Ride was kind of constructed, all the people were telling us try this, let's do this, you know, it's a good album but it's a very difficult way to do records when there's somebody always going on your nerves all the time", and that the album "sounded like it did because certain people wanted us to work with other certain people. We let people come in and mess with the arrangements, and re-work the lyrics, and generally do just what they wanted. They wanted us to work like that, and we agreed. If they wanted us to do it that way, then we were willing to give it a try and see what happened with it."

Track listing

"Beyond the Portal" Andi Deris 0:45
"Mr. Torture" Uli Kusch 3:27
"All Over the Nation" Michael Weikath 4:55
"Escalation 666" Roland Grapow 4:24
"Mirror, Mirror" Deris 3:43
"If I Could Fly" Deris 4:09
"Salvation" Weikath 5:43
"The Departed (Sun Is Going Down)" Kusch 4:37
"I Live for Your Pain" Deris 3:59
"We Damn the Night" Deris 4:07
"Immortal" Deris 4:04
"The Dark Ride" Grapow 8:48
"The Madness of the Crowds" Deris 4:12
"Deliver Us from Temptation" Markus Grosskopf, Weikath 4:54
"If I Could Fly (Single Edit)" Deris 3:30

Time: 01:05:20

On some copies of "The Dark Ride" and "Rabbit Don't Come Easy" (as a special two for the price of one cd) the disc has "Mr. Torture" and "All Over the Nations" in reverse order so this way the latter is track #2. The tracks are also flipped on the Japanese version of the CD. Also on copies of the special two for one cd, there is a listing for track #13, "Far Away" on Rabbit Don't Come Easy, which does not exist on the CD and is a misprint on the back label.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed 2000 at Mi Sueño Música, Tenerife, Spain.

Mastered at Staerling Sound, New York, USA.

Helloween "I Want Out - Live (2000 Reissue, USA, Spitfire Records, BMG 5125-2)"

Live in the U.K. is the first live album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 1989. It was released in Japan as Keepers Live. In the United States, it was released as I Want Out – Live without the track "Rise and Fall", and with a shorter edit of the introduction.

All tracks were recorded in Edinburgh Playhouse, Scotland, by The Manor Mobile on 6 November 1988, except "I Want Out" recorded in Manchester Apollo, England, on 7 November 1988.

This is Helloween's only official live album with drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg, and the only one recorded with vocalist Michael Kiske and guitarist Kai Hansen (who had left the band a few months earlier), until the release of United Alive in Madrid in 2019.

For the first time, the "o" in the "Helloween" logo was not represented by a pumpkin. On I Want Out - Live, it was represented by a globe showing portions of Western Europe, Central Europe, and the British Isles. On Live in the U.K. it is instead drawn as a pumpkin logo on a bass drum.

Cover Artwork by Frederick Moulaert.

Track listing