So there’s a new HELLOWEEN album dropping later this year, and they just released the first single from it – a 7-minute sprawling epic called “Skyfall” that, quite hilariously, references MEGADETH and pays great tribute to the great-granddaddies of heavy metal:

Honestly, that is about as good a HELLOWEEN song as you will ever experience. It has exactly the right mix of old- and new-school elements. You get the epic operatic vocals of Michael Kiske from all the way back during the Keepers era, plus the awesome guitar melodies and shredding that Kai Hansen always brings to the table, and then to top it all off, you’ve got the organic sound that HELLOWEEN developed over the past 25 years with Andi Deris.

It’s just about perfect.

There has been quite a bit of speculation in recent years that HELLOWEEN might just call it a day after reuniting with its “classic” lineup (save for the tragically deceased Ingo Schwichtenberg, of course). After all of the years of feuding and bad blood between Kiske, Hansen, and Michael Weikath, it appears that they’ve put it all behind them and re-emerged as good friends. And now it looks as though, in the long-stretched twilight of their truly amazing careers, they’ve put something of a capstone on all of it with this new album.

If that is the case, then it’s one hell of a great way to go out – HELLOWEEN-style. And I, for one, am really happy for them.