Long-running German power metallers HELLOWEEN check in with the following news:

"Hello to all Pumpkin Maniacs!

We deeply apologize for the weeks of silence - which were weeks of insecurity for us - about the bands European label situation and the release date of the long awaited Unarmed - Best Of 25th Anniversary album.

Thus we are proud to finally announce that we have teamed up with Sony Music in co-op with SPV, to release our upcoming records!

We also want to use this opportunity to welcome the highly motivated team of Sony Music in the world of Helloween and it's fans!

Release dates for Unarmed - Best Of 25th Anniversary:

December 16th - Japan & Southeast Asia (JVC/Victor)

January 29th - Europe (Sony/SPV)

The release dates for the American continent will be announced soon

Unarmed - Best Of 25th Anniversary is a big ‘thank-you’ to all our fans, old and new all over the world! Instead of putting together a regular greatest hits compilation featuring our most successful tracks to celebrate this anniversary, we completely rearranged and re-recorded the greatest songs and melodies of our career.

Together with our tried and tested producer, Charlie Bauerfeind, we invited many great musicians to guest on this special record, with the doubtless highlight of having the 70-piece Prague Symphonic Orchestra performing 'The Keeper's Trilogy', a 17 minute medley consisting of the songs 'Halloween', 'Keeper Of The Seven Keys' and 'The King for A 1000 Years' - goose bumps guaranteed!

Here's a list of all songs we recorded:

'Dr. Stein'

'Future World'

'If I Could Fly'

'Where The Rain Grows'

'The Keeper's Trilogy'

'Eagle Fly Free'

'Perfect Gentleman'

'Forever & One'

'I Want Out'

'Falling To Pieces'

'A Tale That Wasn't Right'

We aren’t one of those bands who like to celebrate themselves, we just want to say ‘thank you’ in our own special way to all of you who have followed us through the past 25 years - to us, this album stands for an official celebration.

It was a big challenge & great experience and we had a lot of fun recording our most important tracks in an entirely new ‘outfit’ and with new arrangements - we hope you like them!

Sincerely yours,

Andi, Michael, Markus, Sascha & Dani."