Helloween - The Dark Ride (2000) (Japan VICP-61169)

Date: Oct. 8, 2010

After a surprising resurgence following 1996's The Time of the Oath, Helloween continued to expand and enrich their patented power metal, and while 2000's The Dark Ride might lack some of the youthful exuberance of the group's seminal '80s recordings, there are still many fine songs and fiery performances to be appreciated on this late-career gem from the influential German group. While the extreme guitar solos and overall precision of The Dark Ride will surely capture the ears of first-time listeners, it's the massive production and songwriting cohesiveness that will hook metal fans of discerning taste. As usual with this kind of release, there are some tedious and overwrought lyrics, but these things have to be accepted if one is to try and appreciate any power metal offering. Standouts include the detuned "I Live for Your Pain" with its inventive riffing and the epic closers "Immortal (Stars)" and "The Dark Side." Throughout The Dark Ride, and on the last two cuts especially, Helloween proves their historic value by delivering a critical combination that metal bands generally fail to even approximate: that is, high melodicism and sonic excess combined to form a kind of power through isolation. Difficult to explain perhaps, but metal fans know it when they hear it, and they hear it often when listening to Helloween. While not the best this band has to offer, The Dark Ride is still better than nine out of ten metal discs in any subgenre, from any era.

~ by Vincent Jeffries, AllMusic.com

Tracklist:

01. Beyond The Portal - 0:46
02. All Over The Nations - 4:55
03. Mr. Torture - 3:28
04. Escalation 666 - 4:24
05. Mirror Mirror - 3:44
06. If I Could Fly - 4:09
07. Salvation - 5:43
08. The Departed (Sun Is Going Down) - 4:37
09. I Live For Your Pain - 4:00
10. We Damn The Night - 4:07
11. Immortal - 4:04
12. The Dark Ride - 8:51
13. The Madness Of The Crowds (Japanese Bonus Track) - 4:13

EAC extraction logfile

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 4. September 2010, 18:44

Helloween / The Dark Ride (Victor, VICP-61169, Japan)

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-T40N Adapter: 3 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 0:45.60 | 0 | 3434
2 | 0:45.60 | 4:54.50 | 3435 | 25534
3 | 5:40.35 | 3:27.67 | 25535 | 41126
4 | 9:08.27 | 4:24.35 | 41127 | 60961
5 | 13:32.62 | 3:43.38 | 60962 | 77724
6 | 17:16.25 | 4:08.72 | 77725 | 96396
7 | 21:25.22 | 5:43.00 | 96397 | 122121
8 | 27:08.22 | 4:36.70 | 122122 | 142891
9 | 31:45.17 | 3:59.48 | 142892 | 160864
10 | 35:44.65 | 4:06.40 | 160865 | 179354
11 | 39:51.30 | 4:04.20 | 179355 | 197674
12 | 43:55.50 | 8:51.37 | 197675 | 237536
13 | 52:47.12 | 4:12.58 | 237537 | 256494

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Ripped By liveevil\Helloween - The Dark Ride (Victor, VICP-61169, Japan).wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 7F95CF47
Copy CRC 7F95CF47
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [2F9E8902]
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [B2810FD4]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [7D09A538]
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [FF33825D]
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [35726496]
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [03B6122A]
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [38CBFEA9]
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [0CC1324C]
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [6CB40C29]
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [F996DE27]
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [C79A93E3]
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [0413A3D9]
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [F2131790]

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

• Andi Deris - vocals
• Michael Weikath - guitar
• Rolad Grapow - guitar
• Markus Grosskopf - bass
• Uli Kusch - drums

Recorded and mixed 2000 at Mi Sueno Studio, Tenerife , ES
Poduced and engineered by Roy T and Charlie Bauerfeind
Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York.

See others Helloween albums and CDS

Lossless (FLAC)*
http://uploaded.net/file/78quctod/2000TDRD-VICP61169LOS.rar

All Covers (PNG)
http://uploaded.net/file/fko1r1ls/2000TDRD-VICP61169COV.rar

Lossy HQ (320 Kbps CBR)
http://uploaded.net/file/i7ppd9ra/2000TDRD-VICP61169MP3.rar

* Original CD -> EAC image, embedded cuesheet & more, foobar2000 ready, etc.
Huge thanks to my friend liveevil for original CD!
Please, do not write these links at any web pages. Enjoy & keep the files alive!