Giants & Monsters

The band started working on the album as early as March 2023 and entered the studio in mid-2024. According to vocalist Michael Kiske, the band wrote over 20 songs that they considered "great" and the next album was, therefore, already written. Vocalist Andi Deris told Billboard Brasil that they created a total of 23 songs, 10 of which were picked by the management staff for the album. Recording took up to five more months Drummer Daniel Löble used three different drum kits in the album. == Music and themes ==

Bassist Markus Grosskopf described Giants & Monsters as "a great heavy rock album", with a "pop rock attitude and some long, epic or progressive songs". == Song information ==

According to Deris, the opening track "Giants on the Run" was written by him and then Hansen added "a whole new song" in the middle, and he thought it was "perfect". but claims the message stretches out to the concept of small things getting out of control; For Giants & Monsters, four different versions were released: the standard one, featuring both Deris and Kiske; two versions with each of them singing solo; and a classical version. "This Is Tokyo" was released as the album's first single. According to Deris, he "always wanted to write this song" About the second single "Universe (Gravity for Hearts)", songwriter Gerstner commented that "everything in the universe is connected, and what looks like infinite stars could in reality be moments, hearts, and choices. He was inspired to write it after looking at the night sky and conceiving the idea that each star represents a "heart that's counting". "Hand of God", also written by Gerstner, is related to death and how people reflect on their lives as the end comes near. According to him, "it could be from a religious point of view but it could be generally about all the decisions you've made in life." "Under the Moonlight" was written by Weikath about acquiring all the things one yearns for but still feeling the same as before, while also discussing "habits. Some people do strange or forbidden things in the backrooms and think they are great and need to get more and more and more..." Deris saw Queen influences on this track, as well. The closing track "Majestic" was described as having elements of UFO's "Love to Love" (in its intro) and Queensrÿche's "Queen of the Reich". It was originally written by Hansen for his other band Gamma Ray, but it remained unfinished. It is inspired by ancient astronauts beliefs and he says the chorus ("here we are, the majestic, the masters") could be about the band itself ("masters of power metal"), but he prefers to leave it for the listeners to interpret. ==Reception==

Writing for Echoes and Dust, Geoff Topley praised the album, production and performance-wise, and called it "a brilliant album that makes no apologies for the sounds therein. The band are unashamed in not taking themselves too seriously and just enjoy creating music they love, and their fans can appreciate. Superbly polished and produced and not a note wasted, it packs a lot into the run time. [...] Giants & Monsters is a cracking metal album bursting with big tunes [...]." Classic Rocks Dave Everley compared Giants & Monsters favorably to its predecessor, citing that the latter was "an obvious desire to not reignite past acrimonies lent it an air of cautiousness". He denied it as a power metal album, classifying it as a "thoroughly modern melodic metal album", as concluded by saying that "this bulked-out line-up could easily have tripped over their own feet, but they've avoided it. 'The masters we are!' Kiske sings on closing mini-epic Majestic. He's not singing about Helloween, but he might as well be." Steel Druhm wrote on Angry Metal Guy that "Giants and Monsters is a weird collection of styles, and it's only a power metal album about 30% of the time. [...] There's a looseness to the writing, suggesting that the group has become more comfortable working together, and as a result, you get a wide-ranging set of songs covering everything from classic power metal to hair metal and stadium rock". He praised the vocals and guitar work, said there are "are no duds present, and every song has its weird charms and endearing quirks. At 52 minutes, Giants and Monsters avoids feeling long despite the presence of multiple 8-minute epics." He finished by calling it a "stronger, more refined album overall" than Helloween. Michiel Hoogkamer, at Zware Metal, also compared it favorably to the previous album, saying the overall sound "feels far more consistent, and the album flows more naturally as a unified listening experience." He also praised the "balanced" production and mix for allowing most songs to "hold their own impressively". On the other hand, he criticized "This Is Tokyo" and "Hand of God" as "a bit too simplistic and repetitive". He praised the three-guitar, three-vocal work, commented that "Helloween still sounds best when they go all out: full speed, full variety, full epic grandeur—in both vocals and guitar work" and concluded by saying that "by occasionally pulling back on certain fronts, the band is likely to keep fans from all eras on board". Sam Jones, writing for ''The Razor's Edge'', said the seven-men line-up of the band "has also aided Helloween in championing this massive soundscape where every member gets their due across every song so there's hardly a time where you'll feel something is being neglected or waylaid for another track". He said "their riffs feel more accentuated, organised, whereby the band strengthen that impact". He also praised the "cristal clean" production, because of which "everything regarding Helloween is on fullest display", and commended the band for "restraining" in some moments instead of delivering full power from start to finish. He concluded by saying that the band "blow any naysayers out of the water to deliver a massive-sounding, triumphant record". My Global Minds Travis Green called Giants & Monsters "an excellent album overall" and analyzed that is had more "experimental" tracks than its predecessor, sometimes falling into "hard rock and melodic metal territory", commenting that "this is one of the band's most varied albums in quite some time". He praised the guitar and vocal work, but thought that "this is a noticeable step back into more 'normal' quality" compared to Helloween, also noticing what he saw as "inconsistency" among the tracks. He concluded by calling the album "a bit of a frustrating release, but also one which sums up Helloween as a whole pretty well". Rock Hard, via Jens Peters, named Giants & Monsters "their best album this side of the millennium" and said the band "succeeded brilliantly" in making the album reflect their 42-year history. Jürgen Fenske discussed at Metal.de how much Giants & Monsters could be seen as a "Helloween Part II", and concluded that "it all depends on the perspective [...]. There's more mainstream music on "Giants & Monsters" than on "Helloween." However, what the pumpkin heads almost consistently achieve is delivering a cohesive LP. [...] Ultimately, there is once again a top genre representative that is somewhat more focused on consensus and the mass market than its predecessor from 2021". ==Track listing==

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. Helloween • Andi Deris – vocals • Michael Kiske – vocals • Michael Weikath – guitars • Kai Hansen – vocals, guitars • Markus Grosskopf – bass • Sascha Gerstner – guitars • Daniel Löble – drums Additional contributors • Charlie Bauerfeind – production, recording, mixing • Dennis Ward – production, recording, mixing, background vocals • Sascha "Busy" Bühren – mastering • Laura "Zauberdame" Morina – mastering • Matthias Ulmer – keyboards, keyboard arrangement • William Billy King – background vocals • Maria Valiskova – background vocals • Andrew Skrabutenas – orchestral arrangement and programming on "Into the Sun" • Nicolo Fragile – additional keyboards on "Out of Control" • Oliver Hartmann – acoustic guitar on "Into the Sun" • Eliran Kantor – cover artwork • Mathias Bothor – band photography • Thomas Ewerhard – artwork, design • Marcos Moura – pumpkin sketches ==Charts==