For Helloween, it’s all in the numbers: One (where the German power metal band’s previous album landed on the charts). Seven (the number of members in the reconstituted lineup). Forty (the number of years the band has been together).
That data is buzzing around the group as it is riding the momentum from 2021’s landmark album while it promotes its new album, “Giants & Monsters,” and a 40th anniversary tour that will take it around the world starting next month in Europe.
“We put in a lot of effort, a lot of time, and we were quite creative,” drummer Dani Löble says during a Zoom call from his home studio near the German-Swiss border. “And to me personally, it’s one of the most creative albums we’ve ever done. On the other hand, we are slap bang in the middle of the preparations for the upcoming 40th anniversary tour. So we are all quite busy and we can’t wait to get back on stage. I mean, the last time we’ve been on stage was in two years. So it’s an interesting, exciting time indeed.”
In 2016, the band brought back former members Kai Hansen (guitar, vocals) and Michael Kiske (lead vocals) to form the seven-headed beast for the Pumpkins United world tour, joining up with Michael Weikath (guitar, backing vocals), Markus Grosskopf (bass, backing vocals), Andi Deris (lead vocals), Sascha Gerstner (guitar, backing vocals) and Löble on drums.
Löble says there was no plan to do anything beyond the tour, “but there was a creativity that was flowing there. It was kind of magnificent. And so we thought, OK, let’s stay together, but not as a pumpkin scenario thing, but as the real Helloween, a seven-person Helloween lineup.”
The resulting self-titled album — the band’s first with Hansen since 1988 and with Kiske since 1993 — was widely acclaimed by the global heavy metal press and went to number one in Germany and Spain and top five in many other European countries. The response, Löble says, gave the band “confidence.”
“I mean, if an album goes to number one, that means something and then gives you a confidence that there are people who want to listen to what you do. So that was the starting point for us to keep this lineup together.”
For “Giants & Monsters,” Löble took a new approach to recording his drum parts.
“We decided to do something really special. We wanted to give every song the perfect feel and also the perfect drum sound. So that means that we brought into the studio tons of drum kits. For most of the songs we recorded three versions. So we set up a heavy metal drum kit and recorded a heavy metal version. And then we set up a kind of a rock drum kit and then a kind of a stadium rock drum kit. We used tons of drumheads and cymbals. My drum tech completely went crazy.”
The tour, he says, will feature new “content,” including the stage set, special effects and drum kits. The band is already talking about adding dates through 2027, and there will be North America shows, he says, possibly in April or May of 2026. He notes the challenge of balancing back-catalog songs with new tracks on the setlist. And not all songs work on stage: “Sometimes you play it twice or three times live, and then you realize, oh, skip it. It’s a great song for the album, but not live.”
Löble joined Helloween in 2005.
“Oh, I was quite familiar because I grew up with listening to Helloween,” he says. “I’m a metalhead through and through, and from a certain day on, I already knew that the day will come where I will play in this band, as crazy as it might sound. But there was a certain feel and I knew, OK, the day will come and I will be the new Helloween drummer. And then one day the phone rang and the rest is history. I mean, a lot of things in my career, I already dreamt when I was a little kid. Most of the things I experienced I already dreamt before as a kid. I visualized my goals, my dreams, I visualized, and I went for it. That’s my passion. That’s my dedication and my love. And now after over 20 years, I’m still in the band.”
Helloween’s melodic take on heavy music and epic themes made it a forerunner of European power metal. Early albums such as 1987’s “Keeper of the Seven Keys” were particularly influential. Remarkably, the band is still a chart success and performing to large audiences, especially in Europe, where it will play in arenas this autumn.
“I joined the band when they were around 20 years in, you know? So half of the band’s career, I’ve been with them,” Löble says. “So when I joined Helloween, what was really amazing to see was how these old farts, in the sense, still have this kind of dedication, passion and love playing heavy metal music, this kind of heavy metal Helloween music, they are so into it. So Andi, for example, he just sits on his sofa all day long and all of a sudden certain sparks comes up and he pens the song so you can see how he enjoys himself writing music and being creative. And that means also Kai or Sascha or Marcus. I mean, after all these years up to today we are so full of love and dedication and once again, passion. This kind of passion that goes on in this band. It’s overwhelming, this kind of fire that was ignited as a young kid.”
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