The Dark Ride by Helloween

The Dark Ride is the ninth studio album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 2000. The album's style was quite different from Better Than Raw as it had a much darker sound, very tuned down guitars, and gruffer vocals. The album was produced by renowned figures Roy Z and Charlie Bauerfeind. It is also the last studio album to feature guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch, both of whom were fired after completion of the supporting tour for the album. They went on to form the band Masterplan. The album contains two singles, which are "If I Could Fly" and "Mr. Torture". On a later interview, bassist Markus Grosskopf commented on the album, saying: "The Dark Ride was kind of constructed, all the people were telling us try this, let's do this, you know, it's a good album but it's a very difficult way to do records when there's somebody always going on your nerves all the time."