The album title, Gambling With The Devil, is definitely programmatic. “At the end of the day, life is like a gamble with the devil,” vocalist Andi Deris reckons. The man knows what he’s talking about: Like few other metal acts, Helloween have survived the many crazes and trends the music business has produced, using each new experience to approach their next challenge with new strength. Backed by the impetus of their successful Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy world tour, which saw the band perform 93 shows in 34 countries all over the world (impressively documented on the double DVD, Live On 3 Continents), the five musicians, Andi Deris, Michael Weikath (guitars), Sascha Gerstner (guitars), Markus Großkopf (bass) and Dani Löble (drums), set about recording the twelfth Helloween studio album, Gambling With The Devil. The release of one of the most dynamic and mature offerings in the band’s history has been scheduled for October 26. “The fans’ positive reactions and the great responses to Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy really inspired us. We were rearing to go,” Andi Deris remembers. “It’s been years since I had so much fun composing.”

Gambling With The Devil is filled with haunting melodies, driving rhythms, virtuoso guitar solos and other typical Helloween trademarks, perfectly directed by producer Charlie Bauerfeind at the Mi Sueno studios in Tenerife. At the same time, the band has continued to develop, frequently surprising with progressive orchestrations and arrangements that have their finger unmistakably on the pulse of the times. “It’s all a question of self-confidence,” confesses Deris, whose contemporary and multi-faceted songwriting is a perfect match for the compositions of his colleagues, Weikath, Großkopf and Gerstner, without leaving the established framework of melodic metal.

16 new tracks were completed, 11 of which – plus the intro – have made it onto the regular version of Gambling With The Devil. Two more will be included in the album’s more lavish limited edition, among them the first single release, ‘As Long As I Fall’, a catchy tune par excellence. At the centre of the album is a trilogy, aptly referred to by Deris as the “trinity”, a critical appraisal of a lack of ideologies and proliferation of blind obedience, consisting of the progressive ‘The Bells Of The 7 Hells’, the slightly more sedate ‘Fallen To Pieces’ and the rhythmically demanding ‘I.M.E.’. Then there are typical Helloween numbers such as ‘Paint A New World’, ‘The Saints’ and ‘Can Do It’, which fascinate with their speed and catchiness. Another highlight is ‘Heaven Tells No Lies’, which has Helloween venture into Queen spheres. The album starts with the intro, ‘Crack The Riddle’, featuring Biff Byford (Saxon) as a guest speaker and a reference to the scratch card puzzle in the booklet. A concert ticket for the band’s impending tour of South America, including flight and accommodation, awaits the lucky winner.

Helloween’s Europan Hellish Rock tour, accompanied by Gamma Ray, is scheduled to start in mid-November 2007 and already has the experts click their tongues. Apart from a few festival appearances, this will be the first joint tour by Helloween and Gamma Ray. So here’s hoping that Gamma Ray mastermind Kai Hansen, a former Helloween member himself, will join his ex-colleagues in a jam session featuring Helloween classics. Together with the album release at the end of October, the final months of 2007 will be marked by non-stop highlights from the Helloween camp.

Helloween’s history dates all the way back to 1978 when Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck formed a band called “Gentry“. Around 1981 Kai and Piet changed the name of the band to “Second Hell” and recruited drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg and bassist Markus Großkopf who at the time had been playing in a band called “Traumschiff. In 1982 Piet Sielck leaves Second Hell to become a record producer and sound engineer and the band changes their name to “Iron Fist”. Michael Weikath of the band Powerfool tries to lure Kai Hansen to join his band, but in the end decides to join Kai’s band Iron Fist.

1984 comes around and an upstart independent label called Noise records invites the band to record two tracks on their new “Death Metal” compilation alongside bands such as Running Wild, Dark Avenger and Hellhammer. The band, still not satisfied with the name “Iron Fist” changes their name to Helloween. Ingo Schwichtenberg comes up with the idea to not only replace the “o” in Helloween with a pumpkin, but to also come up with pumpkin artwork which would later become one of Helloween’s biggest trademarks. The band contributed to the Death Metal compilation with two songs, a slower and sloppier version of “Metal Invaders” ( a song that would later appear on their debut full length Walls of Jericho) and the track Oernst Of Life.

In 1985 Helloween goes into the studio with producer Harris Johns and releases their debut, a self titled 5 track EP also known to many fans as “The Mini LP”. In October of 1985 the band then releases their first full length album, “Walls Of Jericho”, also produced by Harris Johns. The band also recorded the “Judas EP” which contained a new non album track entitled “Judas” and a compilation of live cuts. Helloween captured the media’s attention and received great reviews all over the world. In November of 1986 while the band toured, Kai Hansen found it difficult to sing and play guitar at the same time so when the tour was over the band began searching for a new singer. The band recruits 18 year old ex-Ill Prophecy singer Michael Kiske and begins work on a new album. The band decided that they wanted to release a double album, however Noise records said that they did not want Helloween to release a double album and therefore Helloween began work on the first part of a two part concept album.

1987’s Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1, produced by Tommy Hansen and Tommy Newton, puts the band on the map. Helloween received rave reviews everywhere around the world including America where they embark on their first US tour with Grim Reaper and Armored Saint. The following year the band released the second part of their concept album called “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II” which is even more successful than part 1. The band embarks on the Pumpkins Fly Free tour which takes them all over Europe and they even become one of the headliners at the Donnington Monsters of Rock festival in England along with bands such as Kiss, and Iron Maiden. In late 1988 Kai Hansen decides to leave the band because of the long touring schedule. In 1989 Helloween recruits former Rampage guitar player Roland Grapow and the band then embarks on their second Headbanger’s Ball tour in America with Anthrax and Exodus. Helloween also releases two best of albums, “The Best The Rest The Rare” and “Pumpkin Tracks“. They also release a live album from their Pumpkins Fly Free Tour of Europe. In Japan the album is called “Keepers Live”, in the USA it’s called “I Want Out Live” and around the rest of the world the live album is entitled “Live In The UK”. Helloween, unhappy with their current contract with Noise records decides to break their contract and sign to EMI records. Noise filed a lawsuit against the band for breach of contract and the band fights a major legal battle with Noise records which would last a long time. In the end, Helloween loses the legal battle and must not only pay Noise records a huge sum of money, but they cannot release any material outside of Europe or Japan. This left many people around the world wondering….”What happened to Helloween?”

Finally in 1991 the band releases the “Kids of The Century” single which contains a message from the band telling fans where they have been for the last 3 years. They then release their next album “Pink Bubbles Go Ape” which was not received well by the press and fans alike. Although the album does contain some great songs, especially the ones written by Roland Grapow, tensions inside the band begin to build up between members over which direction musically the band should take.

1993 sees the release their next album “Chameleon” which becomes the band’s most unsuccessful album to date. The band begins to endure even more trouble on the Chameleon tour as tensions build up even more while drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg begins to have problems with his psychological condition and cannot finish the tour. Richie Abdel Nabi replaces Ingo on a temporary basis and finishes the tour. After the tour EMI releases the band from it’s contract they fire singer Michael Kiske, citing musical and personal differences.

In late 1993 Andi Deris, former Pink Cream 69 singer, joins the band along with former Holy Moses and Gamma Ray Drummer Uli Kusch, a new lineup for Helloween is born. The band signs to Castle records in 1994. Their next album “Master of the Rings” was released and became what many people called a great comeback album! The band went on a successful tour and new singer Andi Deris surprised many fans with his versatile and powerful voice. The album was released a year later in North America with a second disc containing all 7 b-sides from the album. Tragedy also struck the band as former drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg committed suicide in 1995.

Helloween went back into the studio and released “The Time Of The Oath” in 1996, which was hailed by the press as their best album since the Keeper era. The album contained songs loosely based on the writings of Nostradamus. Helloween was back on top as The Time of The Oath earned them many gold and platinum albums throughout the world. Later that year they released the double live album “High Live” and was elected best band of 1996 by the Japanese magazine Buurn.

While the band began to write for the next album, Andi Deris released his first solo album “Come In From The Rain” and Roland Grapow released his first solo album “The Four Seasons of Life”. 1998 brought along the album Better Than Raw which was yet again released to rave reviews throughout the press. The band combined modern elements with their traditional Helloween sound which made for quite a unique album and went down well with fans. Roland Grapow also releases his second solo album. 1999 saw the band take a break and release a covers album entitled “Metal Jukebox”. This album contained a variety of rock, pop and metal classics which influenced the band. The band then set off to write their next album.

The band signed a two album deal with Nuclear Blast in the year 2000. Their next album entitled “The Dark Ride” , produced by Roy Z and Charlie Bauerfeind was released shortly after. The album became one of Helloween’s worst selling albums ever as the band took a darker and more modern sounding approach. Reviews of “The Dark Ride” in the press were mixed along with many fan reactions. Some liking the new direction and most wanting the Helloween of old. Tensions between members of the band began which led to the firing of guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch. The band also released “Treasure Chest“, a 2 disc best of release that also had some older Helloween songs remixed. The best of also came as a limited edition with a bonus disc called “Buried Treasure” which contained some rare b-sides.

The band then recruits former Metalium drummer Mark Cross on drums and former Freedom Call guitarist Sasha Gerstner. In 2003 the band began to record for their next album, however their new drummer Mark Cross was diagnosed with mononucleosis and could only complete two songs for the recordings and thus was forced to leave the band. Former King Diamond and current Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee is called in to complete the band’s studio recordings on the drums.

Rabbit Don’t Come Easy was released and drummer Stefan Schwarzmann is called in to join the band for the tour. The album sold well and the band completed a very successful tour around the world. Stefan Schwarzmann decided to leave the band after the tour but stayed throughout the preproduction for the next album until the band found a replacement. Dani Löble, ex-drummer of RAWHEAD REXX turned out to be the perfect drummer for Helloween and the band began to record the follow-up to Rabbit Don’t Come Easy.

On October 31st 2005 the band releases a follow-up to their legendary Keeper albums entitled “Keeper of The Seven Keys – The Legacy”. The album brought more critical acclaim to the band and was received well throughout the world. The success of the album and it’s subsequent tour was so strong the band released a double live DVD and double live CD. In 2007, to commemorate their last two years of success, Helloween released a double Live CD entitled “Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 – Live In Sao Paulo” and a double live DVD entitled “Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 – Live On 3 Continents“.

The band has just released their newest album “Gambling With the Devil” to great reviews. It’s an album that takes them down a much heavier path and is described by singer Andi Deris as a mixture of Walls Of Jericho and Master of The Rings”. The band will be embarking on a world tour that kicks off in Europe with Gamma Ray and Axxis.

Laure P., the winner of the “Crack The Riddle” main price has made the trip of her life: She flew from Southern Europe to Latin America to meet her idols. She and her friend Rodolfo G., who she had invited to join her (both of them originally from Colombia but living in Madrid/Spain), travelled over to Sao Paulo/Brazil to meet their favourite band Helloween!

Laure and Rodolfo had to go through many difficulties such as delays, bad flight connections and changes in the flight plan, but finally they arrived safely in the band´s 5-star-hotel.

After they received their precious Access All Areas backstage passes and the keys to their hotel rooms, they attended the band everywhere: Eating in the backstage catering, watching the band´s soundcheck, watching them doing interviews, driving with them in their shuttle from the hotel to the show and so on. One of the absolute highlights of the day: Rodolfo – playing drums himself – was allowed to be the Helloween-drummer during the soundcheck and played the complete “Dr. Stein”-song together with the guys! In the evening Laure and Rodolfo have experienced the definite highlight of their trip:

Helloween live in Sao Paulo in front of more than 6.000 crazy Latin American fans! They had the best positions in the whole venue – they could watch the concert from the pit in front of the stage, from the mixing desk area or directly from the stage – this made it to an absolutely unforgettable experience! After the concert a big aftershow party was waiting in the band’s dressing room and afterwards in the hotel lobby.

The next morning, of course after a nice breakfast, the ways of the winners and the band unfortunately were separated. Helloween had to fly on to the next concert in Porto Alegre. But the band has invited the winners again to be their guests during the band’s next concert in Madrid. Full of impressions and emotions the winners had an easy trip back home and as a special bonus they were provided with a big box full of merchandise as a special gift from Helloween!

So watch out for the next benefit, surely there will be some further specials to win at The KINGS CLUB, the official worldwide Helloween fanclub!!!

The Latin American part of the Hellish Rock world tour started with an unbelievable enthusiastic welcome of over 3.000 Fans in Argentina & Chile and will now continue with 8 Shows in Brazil before the tour hits Peru, Salvador and Mexico!

After a well deserved break the Hellish Rock World Tour goes on finally! The boys and their very special guests Gamma Ray have already landed in South America and will kick off the tour tonight in Buenos Aires – Argentina. They are looking forward to a five-week-tour and almost twenty concerts in front of their craziest fans!!

Just before the departure the band has signed the three GIBSON Epiphone-guitars from the “Gambling With The Devil”-contest – also expected in Sao Paulo are the two lucky winners from Spain who has won the riddle-contest and will be traveling from Europe to South America to see a Hellish Rock concert at Credicard Hall, stay in the bands hotel and meet all the guys for a nice dinner!

After 13 shows in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia, the guys safely arrived back home.

Singer Andi Deris comments the tour as follows: “”It was quite a piece of work to travel all these distances, being in the plane for many hours every other day.

But it was more than worth it – we went to exotic countries, met great people who gave their best to arrange the shows best possible and the enthusiastic fans made every single concert a very special memory for us. In some countries we have been before, some we visited the first time, but one thing is for sure: It was not the last time, we will be back! Thanks to everybody who came to the shows and had a great time with us!”

After a small break to recover, we are looking forward to meet our crazy fans in Latin America next!

Due to the tragic happening at a metal concert in Bandung/Indonesia February 9th, where 10 metal fans were trampled or crushed to death, Indonesias authorities enacted a law that from now on every rock and metal concert has to take place outdoors. This affected Helloweens performance on Feb 22nd, which was originally scheduled at the Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta. Luckily, the area has a tennis outdoor arena next to the indoor venue, so there was no big change for the fans. The weather being very cloudy and rain was forecasted, the promoter engaged a Pawang Hujan, a magic rainmaster to prevent the show from rain, and, it worked! Throughout the evening not one drop fell down, and Helloween celebrated with 4000 dedicated fans an evening to remember for everybody who witnessed!

After their tour in Japan and shows in Seoul, Bangkok and Jakarta, Singapore is the last one of Helloweens Asian tour, before the Pumpkins head to down under for three more shows.

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