Various

The collection of bands is basically limited to those hailing from Italy (where power metal is king), Spain (where this comp originates) or Germany (where they'll listen to just about anything and call it brilliant). For whatever reason, Helloween never really caught on over here. Not enough exposure, no real profile or presence, too much humour in their music, not enough bad taste in North American metal fans - who knows, but it can be safely said that Helloween are a cult band and that cult is lead by Europeans. This disc starts off mighty strong and promising with Italy's next prime ministers, Rhapsody, tackling "Guardians" with great aplomb and milking the melodic chorus for all it's worth. Sonata Arctica's take of "I Want Out" is pretty faithful, as is pretty much everything else here. Herein lies the problem: if you're a Helloween fan, you'll love the renditions because it'll be almost like listening to a greatest hits album, of sorts. I'm not exactly what you'd call a Helloween fan, so you do the math. Either way, highlights include Luca Turilli doing "I'm Alive," Labyrinth's version of "Future World" and Cydonia rocking out "Save Us."