Helloween

[Deenfan]

Hi!

As I think I was brave enough to promise, I'll provide an album by album guide to Helloween's studio albums. I'm at the station (work) for five dayns (days and nights - word's missing from the English language, but now it's there!) now, and I think I'll have time to listen to them all and write a few words, including the absolute truth about how good they are and all that, so that you lot do not have to go through all the hassle of forming your own opinions.

Cool, eh?!

I'll provide the first bit of info immediately.

[Deenfan]

First album, in reality an EP:

HELLOWEEN



This is very old school speed metal with vocals to smile at. I don't rate much of the material on here, but Starlight and Victim of fate are perhaps a bit better than the rest if you really want to have a couple of tracks from every album on your iPod. The best song, if you need only one, is Cry for freedom. In reality, it's only the start that is much to write home about, but it's something...

[Deenfan]

WALLS OF JERICHO



Second offering from 1985, and this is much better already. At least, you have a couple of properly good songs. The style that Helloween created has also taken shape on this one: Very fast metal with astoundingly strong melodies. Up until they came along, it was either melodic or fast. Kudos for launching a new genre, at this point. Later, they will earn kudos for being at the top of the game and still the best band in their own genre. But back to this one:

Ride the sky is probably the first and best definition of "melodic speed metal". It is really an old schläger-melody on a hysterical double bass drum beat with fitting rhythm guitars. Either you'll love it, or you'll be in stitches. I don't believe anyone, short of a few elderly, could get angry at this one. Between this and the next highlight, there are a lot of songs that I feel are a bit nondescript. Not far removed from the EP stuff, but then comes along the closing chapter, and one of the songs they have done most live, ever. How many tears has got that epic feel, and proper melody. But I think the best version of it is to be found on "Live in the U.K.", with Michael Kiske on vocals. Kai Hansen, what ever he might be, is not a great singer.

[Deenfan]

KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, PART I



This is where it all starts, in 1987. Well, not all, strictly speaking, but without this album, metal would sound different today. So it is very important. And to illustrate what a difference it made for Helloween, I could relate to you what Markus Grosskopf, the bass player told me backstage after the Oslo gig in 2005: Since starting preparations for the tour that would support this album, he had never been required to have another job to put bread on his table! He's played bass for a living for 21 years now! -And if I'm not hugely mistaken, he's not been playing a lot for other acts, either. I know he did the job on the first two Avantasia albums (according to Tobias Sammet, he recorded all parts for both albums the same week, and everything was one take only, based on the bass patterns Tobias had written on his keyboard. If that is half true...) but I haven't seen his name anywhere else. Which means, Helloween didn't just get big. They stayed big.

Now, this is the first of two albums that are surrounded by an aura of magic. Everyone says those are the best albums they ever made. Even people who cannot remember a note of any song say they're great. And the rest are under the impression that these are the greatest, despite never having heard them. So, how does an album, let alone two albums, obtain such a status?

Enter Michael Kiske. From having a singer that obviously isn't very good, to one that is arguably the best metal singer in the entire world... well, that makes for a good start, doesn't it?

Then add properly good melodies and quality production, and that important aspect, timing... They were too hard and fast to be beaten up for being puffs, and too melodic to be written off as noise. They appealed to several camps. Even my father could appreciate the ballad, since the singer obviously was gifted, and sang with a clean voice. Coming into people's lives with something new and memorable to offer, will often bring about this magic aura that is almost impenetrable years later. Yet, I will try.

The album starts off with an intro, and then I'm alive kicks in. A very strong song, fast and furious. A little time brings about a downright beautiful melody at times, for all the hard-edged music it features. Twilight of the gods is very fast, but melodic. All these are strong 4's on the dice. A tale that wasn't right, however, is a clean 6. Their first real ballad, and what a vocal fest it is! I double-fuckin'-dare any current rock singer to try this on! It's like asking your neighbour's old father to recreate Luiciano Pavarotti's finest moment. If nothing else, get hold of this song. Then imagine any of the singers in your album collection trying to pull it off. If you think they will, they're either out of this world, or you're on a different planet... In reality, this goes for just about every song on this album, but it's something extra special about ballads. The vocals are so naked.

Future world is a very cooool and relatively silly tune, but my God, what a live favourite!! Halloween is the huge epic of the album, clocking in at 13+ minutes. Not a boring second on it. Another candidate for a 6 on the dice. Bringing the proceedings to an end is something weird and mysterious, called Follow the sign. Essentially a short instrumental with whispering and a free form guitar solo, it must be credited for some of the sensation of darkness that surrounds the album - and darkness is always good and effective when you want to create magic. I remember missing something like this on part II, but that is a story for the next post!

All in all, an album without weak points, and with a lot to like. Maybe one should require the songs in general to be more breathtaking for an album to deserve the status this enjoys.

[Iggy]

Thanks for this. It is interesting to hear a take on all of their albums.

[Deenfan]

Cool! It's taste and opinions mixed with a few facts and general conceptions. It should be possible to discern the difference.

[Deenfan]

KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, PART II



1988. Even though there seems to be a touching harmony within the ranks of old Helloween fans that the Keeper... albums were their greatest moments, I have found that there is just as much division when it comes to the question of which part is the best. I or II? On the one hand, you have the ones that say the first has got the strongest mood, and then you have the others, who claim the songs were overall better and more hummable on the second.

I, for one, see both camps points, and say the albums are different as albums should be, and that I think they are about equally good. But of course, mood... there is just a stronger touch of magic about part I... So, maybe...?

After the expected intro, Eagle fly free bursts out, and it's another fast opener, to set the pace of the album. This is a very good song, and among Michael Weikath's finest moments as a song writer. He's been a bit... discussed of late, and my opinions will be apparent in later posts. But we can all agree that he's done his part through the years. You always walk alone is a good song, but the rhythmic vocal lines might sound a bit silly today. Talking about silly, Rise and fall is just that. It also features quite a few German L's, and they're not possible to ignore. Probably the weakest song on this album, although not bad. The next track, Dr.Stein, is also a bit silly, but it's got a great beat and chorus, and is a live favourite like no other. After showing off a lot more of their humourous side than on part I, they move into the majestic We got the right. This is written by Michael Kiske, and is The Singer's Song. I triple-fuckin'-dare... and so forth. As a man who's brought up with the greatest opera singers as the benchmark, while developing a taste for metal, this might be the perfect mix. Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bongiovi and Meat Loaf can all sing, but not like this.

Kai Hansen wrote only two songs for this album, and those two are up next. March of time is cool heavy metal with a strong chorus, and I want out is another one of those strong singles they had off this album. Great track live. The album ends in great fashion, with the title track of this whole Keeper business, and it's about half a minute longer than the epic of part I. This one's probably not quite as brilliant as Halloween, but Michael Weikath's Keeper of the seven keys is a piece he must be proud of. Beautiful. Sort of prettier than the aforementioned Halloween, and every bit as grandiose.

This album is probably even better produced than the first. It certainly was a bit louder.

[Deenfan]

PINK BUBBLES GO APE



1991. The band has had horrendous troubles with the label, and haven't been allowed to even talk to the media for years. Catastrophy. But at last, new label in EMI.

I mentioned the word silly a few times in the last post, so I don't know what word to put into use this time...

Kai Hansen (thought of by many as the main founder of the band) has left. One reason he gave to a metal magazine once was that there were too many song writers in the band at this stage, and he had to set up another outfit to be able to express himself. Very well. The replacement was Roland Grapow, a much more Malmsteen-ish guitarist, and at times a song writer of great promise. Today, I have the impression he was out of control. He wrote great songs, but also the worst crap they ever did. Fans all over the world had major issues with both this personell change, and the "new direction", which wasn't so much a new direction as a departure from the serious imagery of the Keeper concept.

And man, did they give another impression...

The title track is a very sweet little intro. Kids of the century is an ok, good or horrible song, depending on who you ask. I think it's good! Sadly, that can not be said for Back on the streets, a very weak first song from Grapow. The fourth song, Number one, is properly good. Very melodic, and perhaps something they'd never done before. Much melody, but not a lot of speed. This is the first truly great song on the album, and you can understand the worry old fans felt when the fifth song was entitled Heavy metal hamsters... -It's not even very funny. It's just... dull and stupid. Next up, another gem: Goin' home is fast and melodic, with a great chorus. And around this point, the album starts to pick up a LOT. Someone's crying is a superb speed metal song with an impressingly pretty melody, and Mankind is very cool. Of course, three in a row is quite enough, so why not ruin the whole thing by adding a song called I'm doin' fine, crazy man? Just imagine how much that one sucks. But then they close the album by presenting another two of the best songs on this album, The chance and Your turn.

As you can see, it's quite a rollercoaster of an album, in the sense that it is very uneven. It's like there's no middle ground, either. There are three tracks that do more harm than good, two that the jury is still out on, and six great songs that is ruined by the company they're in. As an album, this is not very good. The average track (not that such a thing exist) is probably better than on most metal releases, though.

[Appelmoes??]

There are some über songs on bubbles imo, but I still don't have the album. Tried to order it @bol.com, but they didn't have it. And I've never seen it in stores

[Deenfan]

It didn't sell as well as the previous ones, but they still rode the wave of popularity, so it shouldn't be obscure.

I apologize for not having published any more reviews today, but I've actually had to work!

[Deenfan]

CHAMELEON



1993. The world had decided that "Pink bubbles..." was a plunge, a lot of fans had gone from "I buy all their albums" to "I'll need to listen to it first". So, Helloween needed a strong album that would lick the fans' backsides, to keep the sales up this time. What they did was releasing what is widely regarded as their least strong album to date, and what it definitely didn't do, was lick the fans' backsides. It more, like, grated on their nerves...

By the time of its release, Kiske said in an interview that the title was chosen because the three song writers had brought each their own colour to the palette. I don't know what the practical difference was supposed to be. As a general rule, they always wrote each their own songs, and some times someone else would chip in, or write the lyrics or whatever. Just like on this album. Go figure.

First time by Michael Weikath is an uptempo rocker with a sexy lyric and a jolly melody. Not bad at all, and as an opening track, it's just cool. But not breathtaking, and that is something it probably should have been when all the weenyl buyers listened to it at the local record shop. Maybe not so smart to put Kiske's When the sinner on as second. I mean, I like the song - in all it's untraditionality - but it contains brass, of all things. But then, they chose it as first single/video off the album. To make things worse, the third song, I don't wanna cry no more sounds happysilly when it's really a song from Grapow about the death of his brother. I could never get this song. In fact, I listened to it for the first time in many years, today. It's not as bad as I remember, but man...

But now, they will get back on their horses and ride into metal heaven, yes?! Nope. Fourth song is called Crazy cat, and I just knew that Grapow was a tragedy for the band. The only upside to this one is that Lenny Wolf is in the backing choir. But he's drowed out by the brass section (yes, it's back!!) and the general idiocy of it all. If it was funny even once, I'd see the point, but it wasn't, so I don't. Sitting with the booklet in hand, listening to this strange album for the first time, I noticed with some trepidation that Weikath had written the next song, and that it was called Giants. And relief... this is a brilliant track!! All in all, the rest of the album is much better than the first tertial. Weikath continues with Windmill, which is a ballad about as pretty as they come, and soldiers on with Revolution now, an 8 minute cool thing. So, it's looking up!

Next up is Kiske's In the night which I don't like at all, and a big surprise from Grapow, Music. This has got an epic feel and a warmth about it that I enjoy a lot. He then trows in a straight and likeable rocker, Step out of hell. Weird guy. The mentally different Michael Kiske gets to close the album with two tracks. I believe is a strong track with some epic features, and I like this one a lot. Longing is a mellow tune with many facets. At times, it reminds me of The Doors, for some reason, but there are also part on it that are nothing short of wonderful. Weird guy, weird track. Both probably likeable.

I am afraid that a lot of what is good on this album is good in ways not a lot of Helloween fans appreciate. The rest is either crap or hidden in crap, to be a bit harsh. No wonder this album had them on their knees career-wise, and a lot of personal troubles arose. Not to say it had a lot to do with this album, but their drummer, Ingo Schwichtenberg ended his life after the tour, and Kiske would never again sing for the band. In later years, I have also read that while Weikath and Hansen used to sit together on the couch, playing guitar, jamming away, Wekath and Grapow never did that. They didn't click.

Things were looking bleak. Helloween was most probably finished.

 

[Deenfan]

1994. One piece of shocking and mind-boggling news after another. Helloween's new singer is nobody else than ANDI DERIS!!?!??!

WTF?!!?

I mean, I was already a huge Deris fan, since his days in Pink Cream '69 (now there's an accidental nod towards a certain Helloween album!), but Helloween...?! How on earth would this sound?

Then I saw an interview on TV with Weikath and Deris, and they were apparently good friends way back already, and Weikath had asked him if he wanted to sing for Helloween a few years ago, when the chemistry in the band had put everything on hold. The breakup wasn't much of a surprise to people that knew the band personally, in other words. Back then, Deris had said "thanks, but no thanks" because his own band was heading somewhere, and it was after all his own band, which he started. Bigger the shock for him when he found out he was required to leave because of musical differences. Man, if I get thrown out of WinterStrain... Wouldn't that be odd? What if the E Street band decided to kick out Bruce Springsteen?

So, how did it go? Let me tell you about this album...

MASTER OF THE RINGS



They confirmed their sense of humour, while bringing the metal and the serious, proper song writing back to the table. A few things that would confirm that proper Helloween was back. They start off, not with "Initiation" (Keeper I) or "Invitiation"(Keeper II), but Irritation! This, along with the album title and the dark booklet, gave you a sense of getting back something valuable that had been lost for many years. Reading the booklet reveals that this new team liked to spend time together. Weiki and Deris wrote several songs together. Now...

Sole survivor is a W/D song that says METAL, and is just the kind of opener the people craved. Same team delivers Where the rain grows, which is a stunningly good track. It would be obvious to anybody that it's a good song if it was presented to them by way of an acoustic guitar and a voice by the bonfire. THAT is proper song writing. It should be good without any garniture. (I admit some bigger epics would make less sense in such a setting.)

Why is the first proof of what Andi Deris would mean to the future of Helloween. This is as good as a song could ever get. Magnificent melody. The song is 4:11, and for such straight rockers, a quality melody is the single most important thing, and I can come up with no better man for the job than Andi. I usually put him alongside the ones who put the B's in ABBA, but I wonder if they would have managed to write such a brilliant rock single. The unreliable Roland Grapow wrote Mr.Ego (take me down), and that is a unique type of song, and very very good. Weird beat at times, and a lot to dig into. Good job, dude! Perfect gentleman is a humourous straight rocker that you just dig rotten if you're not a grumpy old sod. The video is hilarious. Go to www.helloween.org or YouTube and find it!

Weikath's The game is on isn't too good. I don't know, it's not all bad, but it's a first little low point on the album. But the next song, also W, is just important to the feeling of the album and of "Helloween is BACK!!". Secret alibi brings the thoughts back all the way to "Walls of Jericho" and Ride the sky. This is true and through proper original Helloween material, complete with schläger melody and positive energy!! Take me home (G) is an annoying speed-shuffle thing that I always skip. It's not horrible, but it doesn't give me much. D/W cures all wounds with the beautiful In the middle of a heartbeat. A great ballad, and a great way to get your pop girlfriend to realize that metal bands are much better at writing beautiful songs than the posh dudes are. Metal bands can make a song as slow and soothing as they come, and still maintain some nerve. The G returns to end the album on a great speed metal note. Good for him, and for us all. Still we go is just super cool.

A few other notes on the development: Andi Deris brought something new to the equation, and not just one thing. His voice is multi-faceted and entertaining in a whole different way than Kiske's, who appealed on that Pavarotti level, where what you want is a clean voice that changes pitch but else makes fairly much the same sound throughout the register. Obviously, low notes will have warmth and high notes intensity, but still... I think I've said this on the Deris thread, but Kiske's got a voice I love, while Deris has got about seven voices I love.
Another thing: Like harly ever before, I connect with the lyrics. They were always good enough, and at times very well written and good and all, but it never became much of a point to me. I'd appreciate the odd line or shake my head at some. Why is the first Helloween song since A tale that wasn't right where the lyrics really get to me. Where the rain grows also has something, and In the middle of a heartbeat has a strong haunting sense of grief. Just what I ask for in music.
New drummer Uli Kusch is obviously one of the truly superb drummers out there. So finely tuned technique wasn't common in the world of hard-hitting metal a couple of decades ago. Those guys were consumed by jazz...

All in all, a tremendous return to form, but make sure you buy the extended remaster thing with all those extra tracks. Why on EARTH didn't they lose the two low points on this album and included the great Star invasion and the quite good Can't fight your desire instead? There were other tracks, too, some of which I haven't even heard! (A former employee got all the albums as a parting gift, and she's got all the songs... I'll have to pay a visit...)



PS: Since I have already talked about how big the band became and how the sales figures dropped: This album brought back A LOT of fans, and Deris brought in A LOT of new fans. 500.000 Pink Cream '69 fans came and listened to what this invigorated old bunch might be up to. This album sold 250.000 copies in Germany alone. Talk about getting back on the horse, with a vengeance.

[Deenfan]

1996. The Kiske vs. Deris debate was raging. The mob, mindless as always, and hell bent on a course that is in harmony with their dreams rather than reality, demanded Kiske back. I wouldn't want to be center stage in front of a few thousand of those people. Ironic, isn't it, that most of them had left years ago, and was only back because of what Deris had brought into the band. I fart in their general direction.

THE TIME OF THE OATH



So, after an album filled with pleasant rockers and superb singles, among other things, it was time for some dirty metal this time around. To me, this album was a bit of a disappointment 12 years ago, chiefly because the production is fairly noisy. Just this winter, I laid down on the couch in the studio, and put the album on. The NAD/Dali stereo brought the songs to life, and the noise wasn't as unpleasant as I remembered. And all these great songs came out!! What a lesson.

We burn is very fast and chaotic (another thing that I felt sounded a bit weird - they're not clinically on each other's beat all the time, so the album sounds almost live. This isn't all bad, but it adds to the noise factor a bit.) and not a typical Deris song. I know metalheads who cannot listen to it. I think it's ok. Steel tormentor is uptempo, almost speed, and very evil grin cool. Wake up the mountain features for the first time the song writing of the drummer, Uli. The song is a bit on the mighty side, and very good. Deris wrote the lyrics, also very good. Weiki wrote the first(?) single for this album, the bona-fide Helloweenish Power. This is the way they should sound, and they must never forget that. It is brilliant to spice up an album with some unique tracks or other adventurous stuff, but the backbone should be intact. This is not a band that makes a living out of changing radically. Maybe this single is partly accountable for the fact that this album sold more than any Helloween album had ever done. Did you get that? -No Kiske album sold as much as this second Deris album. In other words, this "New singer" story is a bit different from that of Asia, Marillion and quite a few others.

Deris' Forever and one (Neverland), also a single, is a beautiful ballad, and Before the war, a tremendously fast rocker with ominous lyrics. The melody is as always with Deris, impeccable. Uli Kusch wrote the music and co-wrote with Deris the lyrics for A million to one, and it's another promising track from an unlikely source. It's written as from parent to child, and it really gets to me today. Look it up if you got kids or can imagine the situation. Hell, I'll paste it in here:

Born into somewhere unseen and unknown
Just like a wonder so small and alone
Take me away into your innocent dreams
Maybe I'd see what it all means

A million to one you will lose it all
A million to one you'll be falling
Down to the wire I am an unholy man
A million to one you'll be falling

It's so sad and so true but what can I do
Only a few years then it's up to you
To care for yourself,
I hope I gave good advice
for all your life
how to survive

A million to one...


As if they wanted to look at this from the diametrically opposite angle, Uli and Deris wrote Anything my Mama don't like and put it next on the album. This one's üüübercool and digadelic, as well as funny as hell. Weiki brings back the Helloween core values again in Kings will be kings. Speed, hummability and honest metal with those trademark harmony solos. I haven't mentioned them much, but they were an integral part of the music, and much more musically sensible and important than most widdly solos in the back catalogue of metal. This album really is back heavy. They end it in tremendous fashion, with the conceptual Nostradamus references that are the backdrop of the last three or four songs. Mission motherland (Weikath) is about extraterrestrial life helping mankind into what it has been for thousands of years. This nine minute thing is mighty and entertaining. Just close your eyes between lyrical sections. Weikath's on a roll, and the ballad If I knew gives us a little break from the metal and the might. A nice tune. The time of the oath (see, Nicky, a confident band!! -And not for the first time. ) closes the album, and is the only product of Grapow this time around. Lyrics are written by Deris, and is the definite center of the Nostradamus topic. Anno Domini 2000 - Rain, blood, milk, famine, sword, plague. In the heavens shall be seen a running fire with long sparks. Death comes out of snowfall, whiter than white. This song is ggggggrrrreeeeaaaat, with that wonderful EPIC feel!!!

Truly an album so much better than I credited it for being. I really need to stop getting hung up on details...

[Deenfan]

Heh... just found Michael Weikath's biography, and I paste a section here:

His favorite bands/ influences: The Beatles, Deep Purple, 60/70ies/teenie bands ( Sweet, Bay City Rollers, Mud, Slade, Rubettes, Hello, Suzi Quatro, T.Rex, Kincade, etc etc ) Gigliola Cinquetti, Mothers Finest, Rory Gallagher, Wishbone Ash, Black Sabbath, Alan Parson's Project, ELO, Wizard, Pink Floyd, Van Halen ( I believe I must have been the first one in Germany who owned their first record...), KISS, Dio, Def Leppard, Journey, Brian Auger, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Ted Nugent, KRUIZ, Omega, Sex Pistols and div Punk bands, Motorhead, Gary Moore, April Wine, Y&T, Sammy Hagar, Montrose, Johnnie Winter, Doobie Brothers, Allman Bros, Balance, Shadows, UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Boston, Frank Zappa, Rush, Rolling Stones, Demis Roussos and Aphrodite's Child, YES, Geordie, AC/DC, Uli Jon Roth, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Kinks, CCR, TenCC, Jeff Lynne, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Mamas And Papas, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Al DiMeola, Glenn Miller, Randy Rhoads, Buddy Holly, Walter Trout, Vanilla Fudge, SAGA, BB King, Loudness, Robert Palmer, The Who, Ten Years After, Chuck Berry, Joe Cocker, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Santana, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, ABBA, Status Quo, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, Foreigner, Spooky Tooth, Mott The Hoople, David Bowie, Thin Lizzy, Heart, Eagles, Nektar, Focus, Camel, div international and german hit or evergreen or classical composers; Simon & Garfunkel, Ennio Morricone, Giorgio Moroder, Burt Bacharach, Beethoven, Bach, Haydn, ....AAAAH who else???

German artists: Udo Lindenberg, Udo Juergens, Katja Ebstein, Klaus Doldingers Passport, Volker Kriegel, Lenny Wolf, Atlantis, Frumpy, Kraftwerk, Nina Hagen, Peter Maffay, Spliff, Supermax, Baccara, Birth Control, Kraan, Wallenstein, Scorpions, Accept, Extrabreit, Hubert Kah, Rio Reiser, Destruction, Pink Cream 69, East german artists: Renft, Karussell, Cesar Peter Glaeser, Karat, Reform.

"Just for everyone to know and because it pisses me off each time I get asked, I did NOT mainly get influenced by Iron Maiden and Metallica. So cut it!

If too many queries come up regarding this biography, I'm threatening you, I may get it updated!!!"

[Nicky007]

... see, Nicky, a confident band!! ...

OK, Deenie !  And thanks for your extensive exposition of the Helloween studio albums. Although I'm not (yet) much of a H-fan, I'v ended up reading all of your stuff properly, as I believe that we should share everything in the Room.

Now that you know my taste quite well, which H-album would you recom for me ?  I promise I'l get it and spin it 

Nicky.

[Deenfan]

1998. Time for Helloween's most METAL album ever...

BETTER THAN RAW



The intro this time is called Deliberately Limited Preliminary Prelude Period In Z... It leads into Push. Easily the hardest rocker Helloween had ever done at the time, and even today it's not far behind. But as long as it's also melodic and frightfully cool, I don't mind. And the kids just love it!! Falling higher is a fast melodic thing by D/W. Pretty free of compromises. Exactly what old fans would appreciate. But Helloween was always about great singles, too, and as album after album came out, it became almost a rule that the singles were written by Andi Deris. Which isn't very strange, 'cause he has a way with melodies, and would probably be filthy rich if he (ab)used his talent by writing songs for pop acts and busty ladies with microphones. Hey Lord is a good single. Straight and melodic as hell, and the crowd can sing along. It's not a masterpiece of incomprehensible dimensions, but singles rarely are.

Don't spit on my mind is a collaboration between Deris and the bass player, Markus Grosskopf. He chips in with a tune every now and again. This one is fairly proggy in a bone-hard metal way, cool and angry. Good track. Next up is the drummer's most insane contribution. You can really tell that the guitar riff is written by a drummer. Fiery, fast and complex pattern. Speed heavy, and thoroughly melodic. Often mentioned as the best track on the album. I believe it might be, but all the same, few things are more wonderful than, say, a track like Time (Deris) after such an onslaught. This is soothing, then marching, then rocking, and back to soothing... and so on. Not a dull moment. A mix between a ballad and an epic. Very good. Second single, I can(D/W) is also a fairly uptempo straight rocker with a good chorus it's easy to sing along to. Enjoyable.

Like a rising star in the department, Uli pours out brilliance. A handful of pain is my favourite track off the album. My GOD, I dig this to bits. Just about the coolest and most digadelically rocking chorus since "We're not gonna take it", and the rest is superbly melodic and well arranged. As usual, Deris delivers the lyrics. Bloody hell, I don't want this song to end... When it does, Lavdate dominvm kicks in. -Helloween's only song ever to be sung in LATIN! It's inner core Helloween in style, maybe no surprise that it's written by Weikath. The surprise is how well the latin lyrics work! It's bloody cool!! Sic transit, whatever...

Weikath gets to close this album with the beyond brilliant and majestic Midnight sun. Really, after listening through this album, I realize there are no weak points. Not a single one. The low points are where parts of songs are only really good, and not mind-bogglingly magnificent. This is rare. I bow my head. I remember a home party once, where an old friend of mine, a fellow weener, and I listened to this album, and the superlatives got more and more "sparkling". At one point, and I saw that it was something that came from deep within, and that was no mean feat for him to bring out in the open, he went as far as to say, with great care, that he had begun thinking that this might be the best Helloween album ever. This was an earth-shattering bomb to drop, 'cause that meant it was better than the "Keeper..." albums! -And I agreed. He'd been scared to even suggest such a thing, and so had I. But here we were, in complete understanding. Outcasts from the world of metal forever, but we stuck together... In later years, I've learned that just about everyone that got into Helloween in the mid or late nineties feels the same. If you weren't there when the original Keepers came out, you don't get that magic the rest of us talks about. Judged on the merit of the quality of the songs, in the bright light of day, without any intangible yet strong attachment to the old days, few people prefer the old albums to the new, saying it sounds just that. Old.

This is why it is a crime to work towards having potential fans only checking out "proper Helloween with Kiske" and teach them that the rest is not a patch on the original Keepers. You can not know what another person will connect with. The quality is pretty consistent. Give it all a chance instead.

THIS is a superb album. If you like your metal hard and fast and melodic, check it out.

[Deenfan]

OK, Deenie !  And thanks for your extensive exposition of the Helloween studio albums. Although I'm not (yet) much of a H-fan, I'v ended up reading all of your stuff properly, as I think that we should share everything in the Room.

Now that you know my taste quite well, which H-album would you recom for me ?  I promise I'l get it and spin it 

Nicky.

Ah, an assignment that puts some serious responsibility on my shoulders... I have a feeling what I should reply, but let me do all the albums first, and then add my suggestion. Thanks for reading them all. If some review should seem more interesting, maybe you'll have the answer without me pointing it out. Let's see. But I do have a feeling...

[Deenfan]

2000. Time for the darkest album in Helloween history.

THE DARK RIDE



After a short intro, a brilliant and proper Helloween song from Uli starts this dark party. Mr.Torture is hard, fast, simple and complex, and with one of the best trademark Helloween choruses ever. All over the nations is even faster and with a singalong chorus that makes you think this isn't all that dark anyway. Grapow, who didn't write a single note for "Better than raw", contributes with Escalation 666, the meanest track ever to come out of Helloween. It's marching, evil and with a superb chorus. Probably the best work he ever did for this band. This is where he wanted Helloween to go, and the most profound sign of a new direction on this album. But Michael Weikath didn't want the band to become dark and all 7-stringy. More about that later.

Deris also got into the darker style, and Mirror mirror feature more of the deep and almost growling vocals that shocked me when I heard Escalation 666 the first time. Still, not without strong melodic parts. But hardly among his greatest moments. Not bad, but where Deris is concerned, I am used to brilliance, not sufficiency. It is wonderful, then, to note that Deris' single If I could fly is nothing short of fantastic. THIS is a single that is almost too good to be a single. I dig this song so I can hardly type. My oh my, I love this track. Salvation is a Weiki track that brings some light into the album. It is obvious that he wasn't ready to be depressing in his expression of his art. This is speed metal with a melody your grandmother would hum in the late evenings if she was presented to it in a less metal package. A truly great song.

Uli is on fire on this album. The departed (The sun is going down) is a suuuuper cooooool track with everything you could ever want. Great keyboards, great guitaring, great vocals, great drumming, great melody, great lyrics (that he apparently wrote), and a pulsing beat that make your body want to move. It is also very dark, and Uli was very pro this development... This is his swan song... I live for your pain is another dark thing from Andi Deris. But the melodic content is stronger and more prominent on this than on Mirror mirror. A bit anonymous in the great scheme of things, but a good song. We damn the night(also Deris) is also hard to remember when you haven't listened to the album for a while. But when i listen to it now, I remember the übersuperb chorus. Typical haunting Deris magic. But the desire to sound dark invariably clouds what could have been even more brilliant, so the verses are buried, in a way. Great solo theme, though.

Three Deris songs in a row. Immortal is a grandiose balladish straight mid-tempo with something special about it. Hard to describe. But all the ingredients that usually work are present, to put it that way. The lyrics are dark as hell itself, and very very very good. It's epic feel plays up to the last song in fine style. The dark ride is Roland Grapow's last contribution to this band, and it is another masterpiece. When he left, he left on a high note, if a very dark one. This is complex, long and wonderful.

So, what happened? Uli and Roland wanted the band to go in a darker, more modern direction. Deris thought it was a cool enough idea, but he had the feeling Michael Weikath didn't want this, and to Deris, Weiki was Helloween, and also his old friend. Weikath was horrified by the idea, and opened for the possibility of leaving!! He felt like the identity of Helloween was about to be forcibly changed by other people. He'd felt like that once before, and he remembered how it had all ended (Chameleon and all the crap surrounding it). Grosskopf was faced with the possibility of being the only original member left because of this, and both he and Deris felt it would be too absurd to continue without Weiki. Things got unpleasant, as you might imagine, and the band split apart.

Uli and Grapow left to form Masterplan, a band that's had it's own turbulence. But they did make a great first album, I cannot put a lid on that.

To sum up, yes, this is another brilliant album, and I think this one also is better than any Kiske album. I wouldn't mind a little darkness, but that is not the reason why this album is so great. It is great in spite of a few passages and parts that are more tainted than enriched by the newfound evil, humourless grin. If Helloween isn't your thing chiefly because of the happiness of their music, check this one out. Maybe it's the only H album that is made for you?

[Deenfan]

2003. A lot has happened since last time. Grapow and Kusch out, Sasha Gerstner (Gt) and Mark Cross (Dr) in. Mark Cross out again! Mikkey Dee in to record the drums in the absence of a drummer, and when all was recorded, Stefan Schwarzmann in. -Known from Accept. Confused?! The Mark Cross thing was because he managed to take on an ailment that would make his joints hurt like hell if he played drums. Not a good thing. He recorded two tracks, but couldn't go on. They needed someone that could learn the songs and record them in no time. Somebody mentioned Mikkey Dee (King Diamond, Don Dokken, Motörhead), and they called him up. He was in doubt about whether he could do it. He hadn't played that sort of complex music since his days in King Diamond.

Well, he heard that the bar in Deris' studio at Tenerife was well stocked, so he thought, "What the hell... Motörhead is having a little breather right now, and I could use a drink". So he came, he listened, he tried, he laughed like a little boy with joy that "I can do it, I can do it!!", and he recorded. All in two days. Eleven songs. Bloody hell.

He had a few drinks, too...

And Michael Weikath finally had a fellow guitarist he would sit down in the couch and just play together with. Weiki and Sasha are thick as thieves, musically. Yay!

RABBIT DON'T COME EASY



This album has got no separate intro. Instead, a few seconds of keys and whuzzit leads into Just a little sign, a song that is so typical ancient Helloween that I would bet money on it being a Michael Weikath song. But it's my dearest Deris who have found the joy of the traditional melodic speed metal, once invented by the band. This album was expected to be, and talked about in interviews as, a reaction to the darkness of "The dark ride". The opener leaves no doubt. Open your life is another positive sounding Deris song, but new guitarist, Sasha Gerstner has contributed to the music. Most promising. Sasha had been in, and left, Freedom Call. A band pretty obviously inspired by Helloween. When they weren't going as far as he had hoped, he quit, cut his hair, and started writing songs for, and producing pop acts. Then Helloween's manager calls... He didn't have to do extensions, but he had to color his hair back to black, from bright green...

Michael Weikath, in joy over not having to make depressing music, sat down and wrote The tune, and it's so full of positive energy that I can only smile. A fine song it is, too. Song number four is in some ways reminiscent of Perfect gentleman, but also completely different. This song is our guitarist's favourite song on the album. I see what he means. It is a song that shows Deris' ABBA influences as a song writer. Appears simple on the surface, but man there are some harmonies hiding within. Grosskopf, Deris and Gerstner co-wrote Liar together, and it's definitely the hardest and most violent song on the album. A part in the song must also be the fastest they've ever played. Bloody hell... I don't know if I can do that even for five seconds.

Sun for the world is music by Sasha Gerstner, and I think it's a very good song, with a proper chorus that can get on your mind and get stuck. The thing I can't understand is that the lyrics Deris delivered are completely idiotic. Don't read them! I would have asked him in Oslo on the Keeper...Legacy tour, but I didn't meet him. Ach, even if I did, I would never bring up that subject!! Don't stop being crazy is a fine ballad, if the title is a bit unique. I have mentioned in one of the Keeper reviews that Michael Weikath's song writing had been discussed. The discussions started on this album, and probably with the song Do you feel good. The chorus lacks that something. But I like the lyrics a lot, and everything else on the song is very good. But the chorus, man... it needs to be no less than the verses, else there'll be that negative experience when you head into the chorus. I don't know. This isn't bad, just... it's a bit... you know.

Hell was made in heaven (M:Grosskopf/L:Deris) has got a good riff, a good speedy beat and a good melody. This stuff is the backbone of any album in this genre. And in this one, there's an orgy of Helloweenish harmony solos that show everyone that the new guy is a great team player. Back against the wall (D/W) has got good lyrics, and is a song full of features. It's got parts with only weird background noises and vocals, and then a pounding 6/8 beat, then a shuffle feeling, then some syncopated speed, then some odd patterns... And all the time, the melody is there. Good stuff, and cool drumming, as is the case on all Mikkey's songs. I just bow my head. I spend months doing half this job. Fuckin' hell. No less. Gerstner was allowed to chip in as much as his creativity would allow, and I don't know what was left out, but he certainly got a lot in. He and Deris wrote the music for Listen to the flies, and that is another speed metal orgy in screaming and great melody, with lyrics I would love to know what are about. They don't tell much, but they are well written and a bit of a mystery.

If the fans thought Do you feel good was of dubious quality, no song has divided them into camps like Nothing to say. It's reggae, Led Zeppelin groove, cabaret Whitesnake, soothing flute theme, and contemporary metal and a great riff all rolled into one. I simply LOOOOOVE it!! As long as there are "standard" tracks on an album, giving you what you expect, I endorse strongly the inclusion of something new or different - the odd challenge. I think this one is about as cool as an ice cube with sunglasses. Freakin' freezin' sub zero stuff.  Without being mentioned on the cover anywhere at all, Grosskopf's Far away appears at the end of the album, and takes us back to the music that defines Helloween's style so well. Fast, melodic and rocking without being noisy. Good job.

And that's it. An album with a reputation for not being among their best. But I can tell you, it's not among their worst. Come to think of it, I don't think I've been digging many other albums to this degree the last few years. I say...

[Deenfan]

It is 2005, and a new album is out. Two years between albums when you tour extensively is nothing short of impressing in this day and age. And this time, they've taken up the Keeper topic. Promising, or a record company requisite to boost sales? One spin of the two discs that make up this album, and the question is irrelevant. What ever the motivation, this just works!

But another member has left since Rabbit. Maybe not much of an earthquake. The leaveee (!), Stefan from Accept, never played on an album. When he came into the band, it was to replace the member who had to leave because of health problems. He didn't join in time to record drums for Rabbit..., and when he was introduced to the new material, he called the guys together and told them he couldn't do it. Some parts were so fast he didn't stand a chance pulling it off, and he didn't want the band to have to limit what was their natural expression. He gave them a bit of advice: "Find a young guy with all the chops in place." The band thought this was a most mature way of handling this, although they were very sad that he wouldn't be in the band any more. Because here was a guy they had hit it off with, and who'd been in the business long enough to know the catch.

"What if we don't have to look among people we know? Maybe we'll have to settle for an asshole that can really play what EVER we throw at him?"

The search began. This is Andi Deris' words on how it came to be that Dani Löble got the job:

Well, the good part was that in the back of our minds there already was a guy who even recorded in my studio with his former band, Rawhead Rexx. We were touring Japan and I remember my lady calling me and saying "ah, there's a band producing in the studio with Charlie [Bauerfeind] again, called Rawhead Rexx and they're really funny guys and that Dani is one hell of a drummer" etc... even my friends were fans of his. And when I came back from Japan, the boys were gone but all my friends were... or even my son was "Oh Dani, I played basketball with Dani and he's so funny!" etc. [Laughs] I was "what the fuck is with this guy? I don't even know him and everybody is talking about him". I was like "shut up!"...and 1.5 years later we called him! [All Laugh] For him it was like coming home because he had already spent 6 weeks in my studio. And my friends were right, he is a really funny guy.

And Sasha Gerstner is still in the band, with a bit more hair than last time!

HELLOWEEN - KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS - THE LEGACY



The first track, The king for a 1000 years is a rollercoaster of brillance that keeps the quality and entertainment value for close to 14 minutes. Talk about sensible opening track?! It makes no sense talking about whether it's fast or mean or beautiful, 'cause it's all that and just about everything else. I think it's arranged and written terribly well. Indeed, the music is written by each and everyone in the band, something that has never happened before in Helloween. Normally, I don't put much weight on co-writing and it's impact on band feeling, but in this case, it's easy to think they've had a ball in the rehearsal room. Even the new drummer has got song writing credits. Can't be a bad sign!! Deris wrote the lyrics (as he most often does, unless otherwise noted), and they are intriguing and well written.

The second track is The invisible man, written solely by Sasha, who shows what he can do left to his own. The lyrics play up nicely along the associable lines of the Keeper subject. This is speedprog! Solid. Good. Nothing wrong with this. And by now you know I don't think it's awe-inspiring. But it is very likeable. Next up is Wekath's Born on judgment day (which taught me that you can spell that with only one 'e') - a song he wrote on September 15th, 2004, and dedicated to all people in Brazil. Fairly fast and melodic, with a great singalong chorus. Proper Helloween, as so often with the songs from the core of the band. Pleasure drone is another Sasha Gerstner track, and it's just about the coolest and most digadelic tune I've heard from any band in quite a while. Naughty lyrics, too.

As an Andi Deris fanatic, I start to get restless. "Where are the Deris songs?!" Well, next track is the single, Mrs.God, and on the surface it's not enough to make me sit back in my chair, content and put at ease. Deris says in an interview that it's cheeky as hell, complete with silly lyrics, supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek and easy going. That is fine, and it's not a bad song. It got something, 'cause people who wouldn't be speed metal fans have been humming along to this a lot. I mean, my friend's kids dig the shit out of it, and they are like 6 to 8. And the lyrics are most timely, if ever so silly: Free the masculine world. Cancel their humility. Next, Silent rain is horrendously fast, and a great song (Sasha), with terrible (but quality) lyrics from Deris. Don't read this if you are faint of heart and get your dose of mankind's evil through the news every day.

If the avid Deris fan isn't satisfied yet, he or she will be after 11 minutes of Occasion avenue! How on earth this lone singer could ever manage to write something as grandiose, complicated and grandiose as this monumental epic is beyond me. I know he can play the guitar, and some keyboards, but hell and double hell... If you want only two songs off each Helloween album, take The king for a 1000 years and Occasion avenue from The Legacy! -You'll get 25 minutes of sheer brilliance!! Both songs feature ample evidence of a drummer that might just be the best they've ever had. Holy macaroni, this guy knows what he's doing!! -And I've seen him live. The changes in bpm, obvious or subtle, would rip my mind apart. And here he's changing the beat and the pace in mid drum roll... The lyrics for Occasion avenue are very good, too.

Then, there's almost a little pause... a longer silence than usual, before the tear-wrenchingly beautiful Light the universe comes floating through the speakers. Andi has reused an original idea he built another song around at an earlier stage, but that song is on his first solo album, which would be obscure to most Helloween fans, and it's put to a very different use in this song. I don't mind at all, but I hear where the chorus comes from! The song's a duet between himself and Richie Blackmore's wife, Candice Night. The video is also beautiful. Check it out. Just my kind of thing. Do you know what you're fighting for (Weiki) might not be the most brilliant title I've seen, but as a chorus line, it works well. This is powerful and well made. Come alive (Deris) is a fairly straight-forward and simple thing that I can't imagine anyone become upset over. It doesn't leap out at you, on the other hand. It's just... good, y'know...

If Deris was hiding a bit at the start of the album, he's now taken over the whole ship! The shade in the shadow has got a lot of power and a gripping chorus. I truly like this one. Get it up, on the other hand, is a bit too cheesy to be all the way up there with the flawlesses. It's an autobiographical live-spirited thing from Michael Weikath, the stage act. Not bad, but, yeah... cheesy. Markus Grosskopf and Andi Deris wrote the last song together, and My life for one more day is fast enough to leave you with the good old Helloween feeling, and good enough to let you feel that you've just heard a very good album. 'Cause it's a while since you heard the first song... and how was that again...? Just put it on and check it out, it's bleeding worth it, it is!!

The tour after this album was extensive. I believe it went on for a year, took them to three continents and I have no idea how many shows, but it had to be between 150 and 200, in like 90 different countries. And in Norway, I met the guys behind the stage after the show. We had just released our own album, and I was on a business trip to Oslo, and had a lot of talks with a lot of people in the business. It was magic to drink beer with these guys. The bass player was a jovial kind of man that was fun to talk to. Weiki was also a humourous type, and these two have been around since 1985... I can't believe they weren't visibly tired of backstage meetings. Sasha was cool, and I spoke a lot to him and the drummer, Dani. He told me about the absurd click-tracks he has to endure throughout the set. The keyboards and some effects are "on tape", and he's got to keep the time down to every last beat 100%. With the above mentioned changes in beat, rhythm and pace, the click tracks have to spell it all out, and end up sounding like a meteronome with a far gone prog-disease!!

I regret not having met Andi Deris yet, 'cause he kept away from people and drink to preserve his voice and avoid the germ assault that is his female fans when they see him! Most wise and understandable. But I will try to see him one day. Maybe I should visit his studio...

When this album had sunk in and the tour was done, and the live DVD was consumed, I thought "Well, what do you know...? They've ONLY released strong albums since Deris came into the band. But next time, they will struggle to follow this up!"

What happened?!

[Deenfan]

It is 2007, and to everyone's astonishment, Helloween has managed to write and record and release a new album, a mere tertial after ending the Legacy World Tour!!

This album was doomed from the start, coming after Keeper...The Legacy. And here they were being hasty about it, too... tsk tsk tsk

GAMBLING WITH THE DEVIL



Maybe it's a safe way to start the album; first an intro and then a Deris song? But my oh my, is this fireworks gone mad in musical form!?! Kill it is the meanest, most intense and most metal tune ever to make it onto a Helloween album. It wipes the floor with the now puny and fluffy Push from "Better than raw". I have never heard anything like it, and it's just horrendous and I... I... love it to pieces!!!!! Weren't it for the fact that I'm rendered speechless by this song, I'd continue to tell you that the second song is also freakin' brilliant and quite bone-crushing. Unusually bad-assed for a Weiki song, but there you go. Energy in sound. Poooooweeeeerrrrrr!!! As long as I fall is the first single, and is as usual a Deris track. This one is widely regarded as one of the weakest songs on the album. Well, it's just so very good, and if the general conception is correct, then this must be one hell of an album! It's a true hit, this song. Super-cool lyrical ideas and fairly straight, but not without an interesting and good solo section.

After this pleasantry, let's get back to METAL, eh? Incredibly fast and completely über in every way, Paint a new world rips your head off and have you being thankful for it. Gerstner and Weikath wrote this together, and there's a lot of fire going on. Another aggressive motherfucker of a song. Traditionally, Markus Grosskopf have been writing or mostly co-writing, the hardest and fastest songs on the albums, so how will this Final fortune thing sound then?! Again, I'm rendered completely speechless. I'm totally without words. That is the main reason why there is no way I can tell you what I feel. Which is that this is probably the best Helloween song ever. I have never heard such a brilliant chorus, and I would have bet all the money in my wallet that this was a Deris song. I still hold him suspect for the actual melody lines, but it says "Music & Lyrics", so maybe Markus had his most magnificent muse visiting one night. The verses and everything else on the song is also top notch. I just can't believe that I am treated to such an experience after all these years. Usually, even the best track on a new album is barely a patch on the greatest songs from my youth. This is so not a patch. RESPECT!!!!!!!

Deris, however, wrote the next song, The bells of the seven hells, and the two following it. These three tracks make up a concept within a non-conceptual album. I won't say a word about the concept, for reasons that will become clear later. But the lyrics are well written, be sure of that. The bells of the seven hells is a mean track, hard and pretty fast. Fallen to pieces is epic, with haunting melody lines in the chorus. It changes from ballad-form to grandoise with grace, even though the transition is pretty short. The solo parts are uptempo and rocking, then floating and harmonic. Brilliant track with some superb backing vocals. I.M.E. is a thoroughly cool and mean mid-tempo rocker, with guitars so wicked they sound like sportscar engines. This one got to my 5-year old Son of Power first time he heard it in the car, and he demanded a recording of it for his room!! I am proud as hell, and the song just got even better for it.

Can do it is a Weiki track in the vein of Get it up from The Legacy, but this one is a bit better. Still, pretty obviously the weak spot. Gerstner/Weikath is behind Dreambound, and that is a superb track. Sort of fast, sort of complex here and there, and always melodic. I have almost stopped pointing that out, because all Helloween songs are. Just so you know, if you thought the first few tracks off this album weren't! Heaven tells no lies is another Grosskopf track, and it's another contender for Best Song of the Album!! Incredible. Obviously, it'll lose to Final fortune, but what a brilliant second best song!!!! Cool and entertaining, and some of the more progressive stuff they've done. Superb melody. He also write some good lyrics, the bass man. I'm most impressed. I'll be sure to tell him when I see him next, 'cause these guys I need to see live again. The concert in Oslo was the best concert I've been to.

And that's it.






The best Helloween album, ever.

Nothing less. Add the bonus tracks, and you've got an even better album. They had 24 tracks ready for this album. I wish I could hear the dozen tracks I haven't heard yet.

[Deenfan]

OK, Deenie ! (...)

Now that you know my taste quite well, which H-album would you recom for me ?  I promise I'l get it and spin it 

Nicky.

The contenders are:

The Dark Ride

Keeper... The Legacy

Gambling with the devil





For sheer brilliance in the song writing department, for the consistently high level throughout the album, and for reasons having to do with the logic fronted by Nicky himself on the matter of TEN...







...the honour goes to...
































































Ok, then...








Gambling with the Devil

It is the sentiment of the jury that this is the most fair place to start, because this is the most current work of the band, showing where they are today, and it is also the bands greatest accomplishment to date, and the least point is how surprising that really is.

Go fetch...

[Deenfan]

I think my work here is done...

[Bupie]

I think my work here is done...

And what a work !    There are a few bands I could do the same with but alas I would pale in comparison (and not only because of my poor English). Now waiting for the Keeper Pt1 to arrive in my mail box ...

[Deenfan]

Hey, thanks. If your english was poor, you wouldn't have pulled off that sentence, there!

You could always write shorter and more to the point!

album 1: good
album 2: better
album 3: disappointing

and so on...


Good job on ordering the pt.I!!