Quite the undertaking, encapsulating the German power metal pioneers' career in a hefty, nearly 500 page coffee table tome (the paperback weighs 2.5 kg/5.5 lbs, while the limited edition, hard cover, with 58 extra pages, 3kg/6.6 lbs), the price tag almost doubles for anyone attempting to ship the thing overseas (by itself, the gold covered hardbound retails for 169 Euros!). Most shocking is the text is entirely in English! Essentially a gloriously colorful picture book (mix of live and session photos, many seemingly from Japanese sources), there's an extensive band/album timeline, individual Wikipedia style, condensed histories of major members (past & present), as well as those bit players, who temporarily stopped in the Pumpkins' ranks, along the way. Interesting factoids for the casual fan, like Mikkey Dee's (Motorhead drummer) involvement. However, the multiple pages of in-depth gear run down, for each player, is sort of pointless. 

Sadly, no real interviews, although each guy does "answer" a Q&A sheet (typical of those seen in fan club newsletters: Favorite place to travel? Hobbies? Pre-show ritual...etc), though guitarist Michael Weikath's answers showcase how troublesome he can be. Come on, think fans forked out over $100 USD to read your evasiveness? There's the band's family tree, a list of all the guests on Helloween platters and then all the other artists who have had a Weenie appear. There's also lithographs of each album's artwork, a complete list of every concert (by date & city), a chronology of tour photos, beginning in '87, profiles of old managers, producers and cartoonist/illustrators. Encompassing nearly 200 pages, lyrics for every album, EP, single, cover song, etc are listed (often accompanied by era specific photos!), going back to the two tracks from the '84 Death Metal compilation, on Noise Records. Remember playing that LP on college radio, back in the day! Available solely via the band's website, hopefully they'll bring copies with them on tour, to make it a little more (financially) accessible.