958. Helloween / The Time of the Oath. 1996. 4/5

Helloween’s climb back out of the fiery pit of close-to-dead bands to finding a way back toward the top of their tree was one of the best music stories of the mid-1990s. The fact that the degeneration of the band did not occur, like so many metal bands from the 1980’s, by trying to find a way to be relevant in the 1990’s by moving their music into a form of grunge or grunge-related offshoots, is perhaps the most unusual part of that story. Indeed, it was a fall back into a softer or far less relatable genre, so far away from the style that the band had been a part of creating, that was the surprise. That story was once related on several episodes of this podcast’s predecessor (now sadly removed from all platforms) and will be once again in the future once those related album come up for review. It is sufficient to say for this episode that the outlook for Helloween the band in 1993 was dire. It precipitated the dismissal of both drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg and lead vocalist Michael Kiske, replaced in turn by Gamma Ray drummer Uli Kusch and Pink Cream 69 vocalist Andi Deris. The result of this had been the album “Master of the Rings”, one that immediately rectified the sinking ship and put her back on course. Phew!
The return of Helloween as a happy band, along with the return to the sound that their fans knew and longed for, as well as an album in “Master of the Rings” that reinforced this, was a relief. Whatever the aberrations were that had occurred early in the decade, it appeared that the quintet was back in vogue, and all that was required now was a follow up album that showed that it hadn't been a one-off, and that they could continue to produce the kind of music their hard core fans were looking for. To this end, the band returned to the studio in mid-to-late 1995 to craft their next edition. It had come on the back of the tragic news that their former and founding drummer Ingo had committed suicide in March of 1995, jumping in front of a train. Their new album would eventually be dedicated to his memory. With Deris and Kusch now acknowledged full members of the band, it was left to the five members to come up with an album that not only adequately followed up the renewed success of their previous album, but could push them back to their former position as one of the leaders of European heavy metal. The question was, could they do it? It was a question that only “The Time of the Oath” could answer.

In any fair appraisal of the album, it should be noted that the stylistic flourishes do differ within the framework of the record, and that while there is a fraternal bond between “Master of the Rings” and “The Time of the Oath” there are differences in the overall output.
The opening four songs on the album give it the mastery push that will draw in fans of the album new and old. They mirror the excellence of the best of the previous album. The opening of "We Burn" opens with faux poor whistling before bursting in hard and fast, leaving nothing to the imagination. The drums and bass line tear along, dragging the two guitars along with them. This is then extenuated into the dual solo spots where the speed of the track intensifies as a result. With the tempo racing at the very top speed that the band would operate at, it is Andi Deris’s vocals that expound the enthusiasm of the track here as well, and the enthusiasm is contagious. It’s a more than solid opening to the album, that is then followed by "Steel Tormentor", which is one of my favourite songs of this era of the band. This is classic Michael Weikath musically, great riff, tempo charging, and terrific combnation of the guitars and bass to fuse together. Matched with appropriate lyrics from Andi, and the song is a car driving delight, one made for listening to while cruising along the highway with the arm out the window. Fabulous. Uli's brilliant drumming throughout is a star attraction, perfectly matching the urgency that the song requires. "Wake Up the Mountain" follows, and showcases the best of Uli’s songwriting. It features the superb drive underneath by the drums and bass that Uli always writes well, and that he and Marcus perform with precision. The harmony vocals brighten the song in the best Helloween traditions, offering plenty of opportunity to sing along. The final of the quartet is "Power", another great example of Weikath’s song writing. Te guitars from Weikath and Roland on this track bring back the ‘happy guitars’ sound that was always prominent in the early years of the band, and is driven by Andi’s terrific vocal performance that lifts everything above the norm. This opening burst on the album remains fantastic all these years later.
In some ways, the excellence that is apparent on those opening tracks doesn't quite flow through to the remainder of the album. That doesn't make them or the album bad, just different. Or perhaps I’m just indifferent. Much of the mood looks for something closer to the reflective, though not quite as bad as balladish, and also look to draw upon epic proportions without quite being able to achieve it. "Forever and One (Neverland)" sits in that power ballad genre, slowing up the tempo of the song and letting Andi sing in his soaring harmonies while the keyboards tend to dominate the structure of the song. It isn't a terrible song, but it is noticeable because of the major tempo shift from the opening songs. This change in style is exacerbated by "Before the War" because it heads back into that fast paced rhythm of Uli Kusch's drums and Marcus Grosskopf's bass driving the song, before Weiki and Roland's solo section really ups the ante nicely. The solo section of this song is the closest these two have come to mirroring what Weiki and Kai were able to do on those early Helloween albums. It sounds terrific, and is the equal of those opening tracks in true metal style. It’s just a shame that it has had a bit of the wind taken out of the album by the previous track. Of course, the previous track was also released as a single so... you know...
"A Million to One" is an interesting song, because it has a slight deviation to the musical flavour from the “Chameleon” album, but is written by Andi and Uli, who are the two members who were not in the band at that time. The differing piece of the puzzle that raises it above that album's songs is the harder and heavier rhythm section, and Andi's driving vocals, rather than soft and soaring vocals that highlighted the disappointing songs on that album. While this song does have a change in style from the opening barrage on this album it actually still fits in very nicely. "Anything My Mama Don't Like" is a much more straight forward hard rock track with plenty of tongue in cheek about it, an enthusiastic vocal from Andi and supporting players and a raucous band in good spirits. Both “A Million to One” and “Anything My Mama Don’t Like” show what a great songwriting combination Andi Deris and Uli Kusch make, offering differences from what would be considered a typical Helloween track, and yet it fits within the framework of their version of the band.
Michi draws back from his early roots to offer us "Kings Will Be Kings" which charges along at a good clip as well, rarely pausing for breath. The rollicking rhythm and hard riffing guitars drive the song onwards, and is a more seriously toned song that he usually writes, but it does have those happy melodic guitars in the middle of the song to counter any thoughts that this isn’t a Helloween song.
The final three songs on the album are where some may perceive that problems lie. "Mission Motherland" is a nine-minute epic which mixes a whole conglomerate of different styles and tempos within the song, and it is perhaps arguable that it doesn’t quite work here. Their epics in the past have always been outstanding, retaining the interest of the listener from start to finish. But it is possible that this one does lose interest along the way. Yes, the musicianship is still terrific, but the structure and output are not as hugely fulfilling as Michi’s songs usually are. This is followed by "If I Knew" which goes one further, really slowing up the tempo to what probably isn't quite what you would categorise as a power ballad, but it has many of the characteristics of it. The soaring guitars, the soaring vocals, the mid to slow tempo, the clear guitars along the way. You know the drill. These two songs, along with "Forever and One (Neverland)" are the outliers of the album. The album then concludes with the title track "The Time of the Oath", a track that has its moments. This is Roland’s sole writing credit on the album – for the music only – and the very heavy riff and slow grunging tempo throughout offers a completely different sound to what has come before it on the album. So perhaps it is not unusual given it is Roland’s only offering. It acts as the Helloween long epic closer, and almost appears to have been written and performed with that very thought in mind. And it is a terrifically moody way to do so. When it has been played live it sounds great. It just sounds a little out of place here compared to the entire rest of the album.

Back in 1993, a few months after I got married, I remember clearly buying Helloween’s new album “Chameleon” with great excitement, despite money being extremely tight for two newlyweds. I wore a reasonable amount of abuse from my lovely wife at the time for spending money that we plainly did not have on an album, but I tried to explain that this was Helloween, and I simply couldn’t do without it. As most of you listening now will realise, the album is rubbish, I could CERTAINLY have done without it, and the abuse I received was well warranted. So bad was this album, that I swore off Helloween from that point, vowing that they were done and that I could move on from them.
Flash forward to 1997, and on a trip to my most frequented record store Utopia Records in Sydney, I am browsing the CD cabinets, and come across the band Helloween. And I see that there is not just one album there that I have no knowledge of, but two! And, a live album as well! And despite the knowledge that the last album I owned of them was a basket case, I suddenly get all excited about hearing new Helloween material, that just HAS to be better than what I last listened to. So I buy all three albums (along with Gamma Ray’s ‘Land of the Free’ and ‘Alive ‘95’ - so you can see that it was a big day!), and I take the train back home to where I was living at the time near Newtown, frantically unwrapping CDs to read all about these new albums I have just purchased. And it was here, before I even got home, that I discovered that Helloween had two new members, and that rings and keepers appeared all over the album artworks. Over the next couple of days I listened to all five of those albums, and they all went into the rotation for the next few weeks. Within this lay some of the problem of where this album falls for me. Because I was listening to all five at the same time, and because there were two Helloween albums, along with a live album that had songs off both album in the mix as well, it was an interesting time trying to work out exactly how I felt about each. Obviously for this review, how I felt about “The Time of the Oath”. I was not only weighing up how I felt about each of these Helloween albums with a lead vocalist who WASN’T Michael Kiske, but also trying to concentrate on Helloween when the absolute utter greatness of Gamma Ray’s “Land of the Free” was taking all of my available listening time. There was also the requirement to balance the live versions of the songs from this album that were on “High Live”, which was recorded on the tour to promote this album and thus had six of the songs from it.
Long story short – I really enjoyed this album and the previous one. For me listening to both of those albums at the same time, I thought Andi Deris slotted straight into the band brilliantly, as did Uli Kusch on drums. All of my fears of the band dissolving into a sad relic of itself proved to be unfounded, and this album proved it along with “Master of the Rings”. And yes, it was a different Helloween from that original band formation, but it was still a Helloween worth listening to.
Today, the Pumpkins United formation of the band lives on, though I doubt I will ever get a chance to see them live. I still listen to this album, and have had my CD bought on that fateful day back in 1997 back on my stereo this week, and it has been as enjoyable as it always is. You will have picked up from my review that a couple of the songs may not be my absolute favourites, but that really doesn’t affect my listening of the album at any stage. The energy and freshness of the album remains, along with the exuberance especially of Andi Deris.
Overall Helloween had done an excellent job of returning to its roots, and drawing its inspiration from the beginnings of the band's musical writings, while not trying to reproduce them note for note. This is another excellent album, one that shows further growth from their previous album, and continued to point towards a bright future. The albums going forward did see a variance in output, but given they are still out there doing their thing it is obvious that this era of the band managed to revive their fortunes.

957. Helloween / Pink Bubbles Go Ape. 1991. 2.5/5

In 1991 I was on my first trip to Bali, and apart from sampling plenty of satay and Bintang, I also perused the elaborate cassette stalls that were set up in those days. I was still a vinyl collector in those days and was beginning to move towards CDs as well, but in Bali you could buy practically anything on cassette tape. As I browsed the selections, I came across this strange looking cassette cover with a woman trying to deep throat a fish. On closer inspection it was - FINALLY! - a new album from Helloween! You beauty I cried! And so the purchase was made and I had my first listening of new Helloween material in three years.

Having gotten over Kai Hansen's departure with the release of his new band Gamma Ray's album the previous year, I was interested to hear what Helloween would produce now that one of the main songwriters had moved on. In his place had emerged Roland Grapow, who had taken over the contribution schedule of Kai, as well as Michael Kiske stepping up his writing contributions as well.
So what do we have? Well, I can say with some certainty that although my youthful self was initially excited with the first couple of listens to the album, I knew something was wrong from the outset. This had increased in danger signs by the time I had arrived home from my overseas jaunt, and was confirmed when, even though I went out and bought this album on CD on my arrival home, it has rarely been pulled from the shelf since.
The continued development of the Helloween sound from album to album continues here, but is arguably even more dramatic than what occurred between their debut album and the Keeper albums. There is now no semblance of the speed metal that was a part of every track of the band's early days, and you would argue just how much of this material could really be attributed to the power metal genre either. It has a very easy listening feel to it, it isn't threatening and there's not a lot to get up and jump around with. The question that is raised most by this album is "who is to be credited with this softening approach to the music"? Historically, it has been Michael Kiske who has been lumbered with the blame for how this album, and eventually with the follow up album Chameleon, was written. Given his later comments on the heavy metal music genre, he was probably an easy target. But he wasn't the only writer on this album. Perhaps the larger problem was the lack of material produced by Michael Weikath, who along with Kai Hansen had produced the bulk of the recorded material in the band's history before this. Weiki's only written contributions on Pink Bubbles Go Ape are the second single "Number One", which is a somewhat lumbering power ballad, and a co-write with Kiske on "Heavy Metal Hamsters" which is goofy interlude somewhat in the traditions of "Rise and Fall". Given the almost complete revamp of writers on this album, it probably shouldn't be surprising that the sound of the album is almost a complete 180 degree reversal from their earlier work.
Even when trying to look on the positive side of the album, it is difficult to decipher what works here and what doesn't. The opening gambit of Kiske's "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" was amusing the first couple of times, but appears like an indulgence not worth pursuing after that. The first single "Kids of the Century" is fun enough and listenable enough, as is the follow up "Back on the Streets", but by this time it is obvious the who musical direction is being twisted. Following "Number One" and "Heavy Metal Hamsters", "Goin' Home" and "Someone's Crying" don't inspire any further wonderful feelings about where we are headed. "Mankind" is probably the closest you will come to here of a fully recognisable Helloween song, though it still mixes things within the framework that make you wonder what is happening. "I'm Doin' Fine, Crazy Man" further pushes those boundaries. "The Chance" at least allows Kiske to fully utilise his amazing voice and it travels along in a pleasing way, that perhaps only sounds that way because of what has come before it. Any good work is washed away with acid by the dreadful and deploring closing track "Your Turn", which would do the term 'power ballad' an injustice. Yes, that's how much I think of it.

About the best I can say about this album is that when I put it on today to review, I listened to it five times all the way through, and found I could accept it for what it is without trying to make it something it isn't. By my standards of Helloween the band, this is not a Helloween album. It's an album that has members of that band playing on it, but its like a side project, one where they have diversified their sound from what they would normally play. I can listen to it fine enough, but it brought no feeling in me like the best heavy metal albums do. It is like an easy-listening album. Perhaps that is this album's greatest put down.

Rating:  "We're the Kids of the Century, it wasn't our fault, everything's done now we fall".   2.5/5

956. Helloween / Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2. 1988. 5/5

Sometimes it is handy to have an exchange student come to your school for 12 months. We did so in my final year of high school in 1987, and when Hans returned to his native Norway we kept in touch via letters (no emails and texts and Facebook in the good old days, just hard copy writing) in a story I related in the episode of Season 2 of this podcast that relates to the sister album to this, “Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 1”. Check it out, it’s a great episode, and a great album. Having introduced us to Helloween in that year he spent at our school, I made mention in one of my letter responses that I was enjoying their music thoroughly. His reply was to send over yet another cassette, this one containing their brand new album, “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II”, which was all the rage in Norway where it went to #12 on their album charts, but for the time being was nowhere in sight in Australia. And thus was my first exposure to an album that was to dominate my listening for the next 12 months and pretty much the rest of my life.
As has been reported in several media, Helloween’s initial idea for their previous album had been to make it a double album, encompassing all of the Keeper of the Seven Keys. Their record company had refused this and insisted that they be released separately. However, the outro to the first album, “Follow the Sign”, acts as a flow on to the first intro on this album, “Invitation”, so that you can listen to them both as a double album and enjoy the entire experience as the band initially imagined it. And to be honest, if you listen to that first album, how can you possibly not go on to listen to this album immediately after? It is impossible.
“Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1” had had amazing sales, and the tour to promote it had taken the band throughout Europe as well as the UK and the US. It was around this time the first cracks began to appear in the band, with Kai Hansen picketing for time off from their hectic touring schedule to rest, and the first signs of dissention about the songs coming to the fore. As the bands popularity was continuing to grow they wanted to build on that and so stopping touring was not on the table. After 12 months of constantly being on the road, the band then entered the studio to finish writing and to record their follow up to that album.

Modern day reviews of "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2” often appear to either praise the album as a brilliant addition to the band's legacy, and a standard bearer for the genre that they were blazing, or that it is a weaker, less heavy version of the band, stripped of the speed and power that was a part of the band in its beginning. In general, these opinions will vary as to whether those people grew with the band through the 1980's, or came into the band at a later date either through isolation or age barriers. As someone who was fortunate enough to discover the band when they were at their theoretical peak my opinions settle in the first category. In this day and age I can see why others opinions may not match with mine. Listening to the album while trying to put aside 35 years of knowing every note an nuance of the album, and trying to be objective about what I hear in a more modern sense rather than an historical one, there is a slight case that can be understood why younger listeners out there may think this is less dazzling than previous efforts, or even future efforts. Whereas the songs on “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I” equally drew on positive attitudes towards life along with science fiction themes and even the power ballad, what do we have here? "Rise & Fall" is full of complete nonsense lyrics - fun yes, but very cartoonish in its output. "Dr Stein" pokes fun at the old Frankenstein story, changing it up and really once again having fun with the whole story. "I Want Out" is a teen anthem that could apply anywhere through your lifetime (though perhaps Kai’s lyrics were in fact written about other issues he had at the time), but appears aimed at that age group. But guess what? I LOVE those songs! They are brilliant, mixing the fun of their subject matter into music that is happy and joyous. They all have those 'happy guitars' that made Helloween the band it was during this era. Mixed in with these light hearted songs are the serious, hard core lyrical songs, such as "We Got the Right" and "March of Time" and "Eagle Fly Free". Each of these are epic in their own right. Apart from their lyrical exhibitionism, the songs climb throughout to reach crashing crescendos, while Michael Kiske's vocals soar to unobtainable heights for those mere mortal like me who want to sing along.

“Keeper of the Sevens Keys, Part 2” is heavily weighted with material by Michael Weikath, whereas the previous album had more material from Kai Hansen. Initially this had been because of Michael’s absence for much of the Keeper 1 album, but the balance of having more songs composed by Kai on that album was utilised again here with the majority of the album composed by Weikath, thus each album having a similar style of songs throughout.

The brilliant instrumental "Invitation" segues straight into "Eagle Fly Free", which not only is a marvellous opening track, it also gives every individual the chance to show their wares - Kiske his vocal talents, Weikath and Kai their own solo spots along with the dual harmony break, and Marcus and Ingo both get a solo spot of their own as well. A terrifically constructed song. More than that, it is an epic opening song. If anything could have promoted Helloween to the world, it was this song. Kiske’s vocals especially are out of this world for someone who was still yet to reach the age of 20 when this album was recorded. This is followed by "You Always Walk Alone", which is a come down from the previous song. "You Always Walk Alone" changes in tempo and pace a bit too much, such that it can feel a bit choppy. The final third of the song, from the solo breaks to the climbing vocal strains of the final chorus is excellent, it's just that sometimes the first half of the song can get a bit lost within itself. "Rise and Fall" and "Dr Stein" are the two Weikath fun numbers, which Kiske has a ball with when singing them. “Rise and Fall” combines both a serious side of the song, which seems to be referencing Michael’s breakdown prior to recording the previous album, along with several episodes of the breakdown of relationships, being it dragons and knights, spacemen and wives, Romeo and Juliet. While the music and pieces of the lyrics come across as fun and bright, perhaps the undertones are not quite so much. “Dr Stein” takes on the basic storyline of Frankenstein, and creates as sequel, mixed with Michael’s own semi-serious view on the world. Both of the songs are humorous and playful songs, with the underlying serious nature that the band still had running through the lyrics of all of their songs.

"We Got the Right" and "March of Time" return the album to serious topics within the lyrics, but the songs are quite magnificent. They rise in majesty mainly thanks to Kiske’s vocals and the backing chorus, which helps turn good songs into great ones. The musicianship here also is top shelf, complementing everything that has been inspired by the writing. “We Got the Right” sings for the average person, to stand up to those that believe they have the power to do everything they want, while “March of Time” preaches not wasting your life and using each moment you have. Both of these songs have wonderful, spine-tingling moments, both provided in the main by Michael Kiske’s vocals, and both in the back part of each song. In “We Got the Right” the final chorus is sung with such high emotion that it is impossible to sing along such are the heights of his voice. And in “March of Time”, the final bridge leading into the last chorus is just magnificent, beginning with ‘Please, please, help me see, the best way to be’ into ‘Life’s too short to cry, long enough to try’ and into the chorus, it is one of the best phases of any song ever. Chills.

These are followed by the anthemic "I Want Out", the single from the album whose video showcased the brilliant musicianship of the group as well as their playful side. The lyrics may appear somewhat teenagerish if taken on face value, but the message behind them is significant, and helps to make this one of Helloween's most identifiable songs. Certainly my kids know it off by heart. But there is a deeper meaning to the song, which becomes more apparent when you find out about Kai’s disapproval of what was happening in and around the band at the time. Knowing all that, and listening to the song again, you can hear him asking for a change, to come to terms with what was happening with the band and its management. As Kai’s two contributions to this album, “March of Time” and “I Want Out” tell a story in themselves.
The album then concludes with the second part of what has become known as the Keepers Trilogy, with the title track "Keeper of the Seven Keys", which like its counterpart on the previous album stretches beyond thirteen minutes while telling its tale through the changing tempo and waves of guitar. It is an amazing track, beautifully composed and brilliantly played and sung. It's a fitting way to conclude an album that is epic in its own way.

Apart from the songwriting, the musicianship on this album is beyond magnificent. Ingo Schwichtenberg’s drumming is on another level, precise and intricate, with perfectly punctuating double kick and some amazing rolls throughout the songs that require it. It is probably the finest performance of his all-too-short career. He is amazing on the opening two tracks, but then in “Dr Stein” where he is asked to just play the bare minimum, he is still so noticeable because of the WAY he plays the straight stuff. An amazing drummer and a wonderful performance on this album. Markus Grosskopf once again shows why his is one of the most underrated bass players of all time, with his amazing work throughout. Listening closely to his playing on this album is a joy in itself. His left hand is all over the fretboard, running back and forth and underscoring the guitarists with a base that is as important as any other part of each song. Just magnificent. Kai and Michael’s guitaring is probably the benchmark for the band. The so-dubbed ‘happy guitars’ of Helloween are what mark each and every one of their songs, their harmonies creating the sound that IS Helloween, while their soloing is pure joy. On top of their song writing, they have again created an album that is beyond compare. And then we have the lead vocalist, Michael Kiske. His ability to hit those high notes is one of his superpowers, but it is the emotion he can bring to a song with those vocal chords that truly win the day. The finishing flourish of “Eagle Fly Free”, the final chorus and scream of “You Always Walk Alone”, the emoting throughout “We Got the Right”, and that closing bridge and chorus of “March of Time”, is what still gives me shudders down the spine. This quintet, apart from bring amazing in every way, combine to become greater as a whole than the sum of their parts.

I related earlier in this episode how I came to not only discover Helloween, but first get this album. And I still remember the first time I listened to it, on my parent’s stereo, and how truly amazed I was at it. I already loved “Walls of Jericho” and “Keeper 1”, but this went to another level. It was, and is, the album where the band’s sound matured even more, much closer to a power metal album than a speed metal album which is what their first two releases basically were. “Ride the Sky” and “Eagle Fly Free” are both majestic opening songs from two magnificent albums, but to listen to them both you can notice the slight differences in them.

In 1988 for me, this album was a revelation. Coming off the back of Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” album earlier in the year, this just attached itself to my psyche, and that cassette (on which on the other side Hans had recorded the Helloween EP and some B-side singles) started smoking from the number of times it was played over and over again. Utopia Records soon had my money for the vinyl and eventually CD copies of the album as well. There would barely have been a three-month period in the past 35 years that I haven’t listened to this album. It has gone everywhere with me, either being a permanent member of my car’s cassette collection, or on album playlists in the days of mp3’s, or now as a constant streaming companion on trips anywhere. In the band I had so much fun with not long after this album was released, we had a half-hearted effort at playing “I Want Out” before surprising fans who actually turned up to watch us live by playing “Dr Stein”. It will be easy to conclude that I love this album. Indeed, alongside everything Helloween had released to this point of their career, I find it to be completely brilliant. This was the music of my late teens, alongside the typical contemporaries such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest who obviously influenced them so much. On my work playlist over the last month, surrounded by the albums that make up the episodes around this one on this podcast, it was this album every single time that lifted my head, and brought me out of whatever I was doing, and had me singing along all over again.

As was expected with the building of frustration over the previous two years, Kai left the band following this album, and it took years for Helloween to recover. And while they have managed to write and record some terrific albums since, nothing matches their output prior to Kai’s departure. This was the band’s golden age, and it highlights and dominates that part of my life as well. This album sits comfortably in my top 20 of all time. And so it should in yours.

 
Rating: "Leave time behind, follow the sign, together we'll fly someday". 5/5

955. Helloween / Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1. 1987. 5/5

As related in my review of Walls of Jericho, back in 1987 our school hosted an exchange student from Norway called Hans. He had brought with him his own musical interests, one of which was a band called Marillion, which never really caught on with me but found acceptance amongst others. What did pique my interest was two albums he had on one cassette, that I quickly got a copy of once I had heard them. Both were by a band called Helloween which until that time I had never heard of. On Side A was the album Walls of Jericho. On Side B was an album that had the endearing title of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I. These two albums changed the way I felt about music in a profound and amazing way.

There are some quite startling changes between the way the music sounds between these two albums, and it almost quite literally comes down to the vocals of the two lead singers. Kai Hansen sang on both the initial EP and on Walls of Jericho. The songs were fast and heavy, true speed metal, and Kai's vocals exacerbated this, with those screams that would become so much a part of his early repertoire. There was no time for rest, this was an album that pushed the boundaries and used all of the skills of the band. But it was Kai's voice in the live setting, along with playing guitar, that led to the band looking for a lead singer to come into the mix. Enter Michael Kiske, the man with The Voice, and with it and his own writing ideas there was an almost immediate maturing of the music, without losing the intensity and the intrinsic heaviness of the material. With it however was a barrier, at least in my mind. Kai's version of the earlier songs always sound better, Michael doesn't quite have the grind that is necessary for those songs. The songs here though had a less speed metal approach, instead moving forth into newer waters, into a genre of metal that perhaps this album and the follow up created, that of power metal.
The album opens with the instrumental stage-setting "Initiation", which segues straight into "I'm Alive", which bursts forth with enthusiasm and an immediate impact of Kiske's amazing vocal talent. Straight away it all sounded so easy to sing, and he had those higher notes flowing freely. The music is terrific. It has those harmony guitars, which from here begin to produce that Helloween patented "happy guitars" sound which became their trademark. Yes, the tempo has slowed from the frantic output of the previous album, and this is noticeable for the majority of this album. Into the second song "A Little Time", and we also have ticking clocks, alarms and other such elements being thrown into the songs. We also have the first real support vocals coming through, backing up the lead vocalist in support of the song. Even the brilliant "Twilight of the Gods" has its tempo reeled in. If this had been performed 18 months earlier, it would have been at twice the pace that this is played at. That's not to say that the tempo is slow here, but it is certainly modified from those songs that came before this album. But the harmony vocals here, along with the harmony guitars, just make this a pleasure to listen to and sing along to. The rhythm of Ingo's drums and Marcus' bass line are winners here again, especially underneath the solo sections of the song. Brilliant.
The one downside of this album is that the song "A Tale That Wasn't Right" could possibly be held accountable for creating the 'power metal ballad', that awful indictment upon the genre. True, the song is a love story, and has those connotations, and the style of the song is what was followed, the template of you will. The problem with this in the long run is that this song is just awesome in the way it is written and performed. Kiske's amazing vocals over the acoustically played guitar, the pitiful wailing electric guitar into the chorus and solo, and the mournful harmony vocals backing up the lead. Yes, that IS the problem, because the fact it is so good is why it was then copied - and everything that followed from it from every other power metal band just comes across as crap, because they can't match how wonderful this sounds. So damn you Michael Weikath and co, you created the bloody power metal ballad.
The second side of the album is opened up by the single and perennial set list classic "Future World", which now finds itself played by two bands everywhere in the world. Again, it is not as frantic as it may have been even those few short months earlier, but it has become folklore amongst the Helloween community, and a crowd favourite sing-along song at all Helloween concerts. This is followed by what is now popularly known as the first part of the Keepers Trilogy, the epic "Halloween", the 13 minutes plus monster that perhaps best spans the two early generations of Helloween, incorporating their longer and faster tracks that have blistering guitar solos and harmonies with the maturing aspect of willing to use the quieter set and lesser paced aspects while giving Kiske his chance to showcase that amazing vocal range and emoting ability. This song has it all, sewn together in perfect order and dropped onto the vinyl in a pristine condition to exhilarate fans everywhere. Each member of the band has their chance to shine here, and each does it with perfection.
The closing segue of "Follow the Sign" seems slightly out of place by the time you reach the end of the album. A quiet instrumental piece with a few spoken words that only runs for a little under two minutes, it seems a strange way to finish off an album. That is, until you are aware of the fact that this was originally supposed to be the first album of a double album, with Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II that second album. This, "Follow the Sign" should have paved the way to moved straight into "Invitation" and then "Eagle Fly Free" from that album. Of course, once both albums were released, you could actually do that anyway.

Perhaps if you were not growing up in this era, this album may not be as important or influential to you as it was to me. This was one of those defining moment in music for me. The music bounds from the speakers, and Michael's vocals pound your senses with immediate effect. It isn't as heavy as their previous work, but it is the forerunner to all that came after it in this genre. To me it still brings back amazing memories from that time of my life, and I still smile every time I put it on. You can't ask for anything more on an album than that.

Rating:  "Make your choice, it's hell or paradise".   5/5

954. Helloween / Walls of Jericho. 1985. 5/5

Back on episode 54 of this podcast, I went into detail about the formation of the band Helloween, leading up to their first studio release which was an EP of five tracks, and that EP was also titled “Helloween”. The coming together of Helloween’s quartet – Kai Hansen on lead vocals and guitar, Michael Weikath on guitars, Marcus Grosskopf on bass guitar and Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums – is described on that episode, and is an interesting tale if you have not already listened to it. I suggest that you do, but I would, wouldn’t I?
The ”Helloween" EP showcased a band of raw unimaginable talent, bringing together melodic and harmonic guitars with a blaze of speed perpetuated by the rhythm of bass and drums, all with a bright personality and creating their own little version of the heavy metal genre. Their gigs were increasingly drawing bigger numbers, and their popularity in Germany and surrounding European countries was on the rise even without a full blown debut album to promote. That was sorted out very quickly, as their record label moved to quickly have the band back in the studio to rectify that problem.
As debut albums go, there is a lot that you can tear down when it comes to reviewing this in retrospect. Take a listen to many of the great debut albums of all time in the heavy metal arena – from Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth – and you can hear the flaws when you listen. The same occurs here for Helloween. The production of the album is a bit haphazard, the vocals are not pristine, picture perfect renditions, the guitars and drums are at times at the mercy of the speed at which the band wants to play. Those who are not fans, or want to live in times where music is preened and cleaned and smoothed to within an inch its life in order to make it ‘sound good’, will find these flaws and accentuate them into something they are not. What does come across here are songs that are played and captured here in the way the band was and performed them on stage, that they sound ‘real’ and not manufactured. And perhaps I am just looking to attack these thoughts head on, because of my long term love and bias of this album. But it is also the truth. In terms of production and music and performance, perhaps this album has a slight imbalance about it. But having listened to this album almost non stop for 38 years, the sheer energy and speed and power that comes out of the speakers from this album dominates and obliterates all of those arguments. This is “Walls of Jericho”, and it is time to bring the walls down!

The opening intro and song of “Walls of Jericho” is as good as any other album I have ever heard. The opening instrumental beginnings of the title track "Walls of Jericho", as we hear the attackers blow their horns and crash their walls such that is related in the fabled story, crashes us literally into the blasting beginning of "Ride the Sky", courtesy of Kai Hansen's amazing high pitched scream. Then we are speeding through the song, driven by those brilliant guitars and the unique and masterful bass line from Marcus running up and down the fretboard throughout. Kai's vocals on this song reach heights that were hinted upon on their first release EP. The solo break again defines what would become a signature of a Helloween song, with each guitarist having their own solo, intertwined with the harmony guitar duelling between, and finished off by Kai's amazing rising cacophony. As an opening track on an album, this one ticks every box, leaving you exhilarated to the very end. It perhaps wouldn't surprise you to know that this is one of my favourite songs of all time. "Ride the Sky" has been so probably from the first moment I ever heard it, played on a tinny old portable cassette player at a party on the beach at the collection of rocky outages called the Boneyard in Kiama Downs on the NSW south coast. As I sat there that evening and listened to this album for the first time, I was transfixed, because up until that point in time in my life I had never heard anything like it.
“Send me a sign, wanna leave it all behind, I'll be leaving the hands of doom
Rearrange the master plan, take the future in my hands, to be free and not trapped anymore
Ride the sky, ride the sky, Give me wings to fly, ride the sky”
God I love that song.
"Reptile" snuggles its way in between the faster songs on the album, and does slow the momentum that was created by the opening track. Coming off the high that "Ride the Sky" has created, “Reptile” has to work hard to keep you engaged. The tempo is completely different, and Michael Weikath's monster obsession comes to the fore, as it would again. It is one of two songs on this album that perhaps misses a trick, just doesn't quite fit the raging madness around it, and that has as much to do with the positioning of the song on the track list. Still a good song, but out of place. Following though is a return to the manic speed that epitomised the opening track. Michael Weikath’s "Guardians" blazes along with speed, with Kai at high end of his vocal range for almost the whole length of the song, with no pause for breath for any of the group. And that bass riff from Marcus at the start of the song, but all the goddamn way through the track. He is a monster on this album, and I love how he is given the level in the mix that he deserves, because the bass lines make Helloween who they are. It's a beauty, but goddamn Kai makes it hard to sing along given the high register, especially the closing lines "PUPPETS ON A STRING! PUPPETS ON A STRING!". The solo playoff between Kai and Michael in the middle of the track again highlights their magnificence as well. Great stuff. And then, just because there hasn’t been enough brilliance yet, let’s have "Phantoms of Death", which has been another of my favourite tracks for almost 40 years. This is not only a great song lyrically about the destruction we bring upon ourselves, musically it is also another belter, blazing along at a great rate, and mixes a fantastic solo section where both Kai and Weiki trade licks at an alarming rate, before we come to the conclusion of the song and the grand reveal of the root of the song, "Who are they? Who are the Phantoms? Will they end our lives? It's you and me, you and me, open up your eyes!". Simply outstanding. What an incredible first side to the album.
So if you have had such a superb and energy driven first half of the album. How would you go about kicking off the second side of the album? Well, why not attack it with "Metal Invaders" which maintains the rage by mixing the metaphors of invaders from space in metal machines and the mental visions of heavy metal also within the song. Kai's voice again reaches for the ceiling while Marcus's bass line dominates throughout in the same brilliant way it has on the rest of the album. the harmony guitars through the middle of the track again, punctuated by the individual solo exploits, then crash back into the main riff again, charging along well over the speed limit and careering to the conclusion. The flame keeps burning here. This is followed by the groove of "Gorgar", a slower tempo song but with a great guitar riff throughout. It also incorporates the well known riff passage of Edvard Greig’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” that has been sampled in many heavy metal songs through history. The lyrics from this song surely must be written from experience, about spending all of their money on playing on this pinball machine, as Gorgar was the first talking pinball machine ever produced. It's another example of a great lyric coming from something so simple. The chanting chorus "Gorgar will eat you" plays over and over in your head. It's catchy as hell. The anthemic "Heavy Metal (Is the Law)" raises the stakes once again, enhanced by the fact that it has added faux live sounds added to the track. Kai’s chanting in the middle of the song is met by the pre-AI crowd singing along and chanting back at him. recorded as 'live' background chants to give it a live feel. It helps make the song as terrific as it is. And especially listen to Marcus's ridiculous bass guitar through the 'crowd chant' led by Kai. It is ludicrous and shows off his amazing talent. It’s another anthem, and a ripper.
The closing track is the epic of the album. Michael Weikath's "How Many Tears" began life as an orchestral and operatic piece that he wrote in high school and had a school friend singing on it. In itself it is a wonderful song, one that you can still find out there on the internet, but this transformed version is the forebearer of the incredible epic songs that Helloween would produce over the next 40 years - “Helloween”, “Keeper of the Seven Keys”, “King for 1000 Years” and others, they are have their germination in this song. It has been transformed into this full boar, no holds barred finale. Incredibly fast and furious, with lyrics that hold true today, it isn’t until the breakdown in the middle of the track, where the speed drops off, the melodic and harmonic guitar solos take place and the song shows a piece of its original form, that you begin to understand the depths of this track and this band. And then, Ingo hammers the song back into pace and fire as the guitars rejoin and we are off again. I still get goosebumps hearing Kai sing that chorus, his vocals soaring again throughout, to the heights of that closing note.
“How many tears flow away, to become a sea of fears
How many hearts are torn apart, till another torment starts
But before the world, turns into a sun
All cruelty and violence, on Earth will be dead and gone”
This is a masterpiece to finish the album; it's message still as relevant today as it was back in 1985. And the showcasing of this amazing band and its four amazing members could not be greater than what it provides.

Back in 1987, in my final year of high school, our school hosted an exchange student from Norway called Hans Hoie. He was a personable funny guy, awkwardly tall, almost goofy in his conversational English, but was a much loved person amongst our student collective. Apart from all of his other friendly attributes, Hans had his own musical tastes, and he had fortunately brought cassettes with him of his favourite albums. Two of those albums were by a band that we had never heard of, called Helloween. The C90 cassette that he had brought with him had two albums on it, albums that were to change my life. The side B had an album that was something about a keeper of some description, something to do with seas and being part 1 of a series. The album that took up the first side of the cassette was titled “Walls of Jericho”.
The first time I heard this album, I was sitting on a grassed bank, looking over Cathedral Rocks and the Boneyard, a popular spot for teenagers to gather away from prying eyes to sit on the beach and indulge in a few underage alcoholic beverages and listen to music very loud. Hans had been with us for six months, but was heading home to Norway in a few days, and this particular gathering was acting as his farewell. And as such he got to choose the music we listened to. And he pulled this tape out and we began listening. And as the album progressed, I had to keep exclaiming to him ‘why have you kept this from me?’ Everything about it immediately found my sweet spot. It was one of those few true major moments in my life where I heard a song and immediately thought - ‘this is it, this is what I have been searching for’. In this case it was an album – two actually, but that story is for another day. To start with it was the fast and melodic music, but mostly, it was those vocals, the voice of Kai Hansen. I still remember this night, the night I first heard Kai Hansen sing. Because that has been with me every day since. One of the most important discoveries of my life, listening to Kai Hansen singing “Ride the Sky”, “Guardians”, “Phantoms of Death”, and “How Many Tears”. Hans left a few days later, and we stayed in touch for a while on his return to Norway, but the gift of these two albums and this band was something that has lived with me ever since.
I couldn’t tell you how many times I have listened to this album in the 38 years since I first heard it. A thousand times would be a fair bet, and probably more. Though I am sure you have already gathered what it is that draws me to this album, I was just completely blown away when I first heard this album. The combination of everything is like a perfect storm. The speed of the songs and music is incredible. The melodic and harmony guitars between Kai Hansen and Michael Weikath are just amazing, as is their songwriting. They share the credits on this album, three songs together, and the rest share individually between them. The bass guitar of Marcus Grosskopf is outstanding, not just on this album, but in particular on this album. And Ingo’s drumming is metronomic, a sometimes overlooked player on these early Helloween albums but just as important in the creation and production of these amazing songs. And everything on this album is superb. “Ride the Sky” as I mentioned is one of my favourite all time songs, and when I finally got the chance to see Kai playing and singing this live, with Gamma Ray in 2006, I could easily have moved on to the next plane after that moment, because it was all I needed in my life. The rest of the songs here have the same qualities.
And so, for the last three weeks, I have had “Walls of Jericho” back out on all music playing systems and saturating myself in it again. It is one of those albums that rarely spends too long away from getting another listen, so whether this anniversary was coming up or not I would probably be playing it again. Because on the day this episode is released, it is almost 38 years to the day that I first heard the album and last saw Hans. So it is at this time of year that it always comes out anyway, because it reminds me of that time of my life, where I had just finished my final school exams, and the future lay at my feet. And Helloween, as it turns out, was to be a massive part of that future.
Earlier in this episode I mentioned the debut albums of Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth, the production anomalies they have and that each of those bands was still finding their feet on those albums, and which despite all of that are masterful and terrific albums. The same is true of “Walls of Jericho”. For me, and this will be a controversial statement that will be seen to be ludicrous by most, this album is a far better debut album than either Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut, Metallica’s “Kill em All” and Megadeth’s “Killing is My Business, and Business is Good”. The songs, the musicianship and the skill performed on “Walls of Jericho” is still amazing to this day, though with the same restrictions that were mentioned at the top of the episode in all four cases. And those other three albums were heavy influences upon their own genre of heavy metal – Iron Maiden on NWoBHM, Metallica and Megadeth on thrash. “Walls of Jericho”, and the self titled EP released six months earlier, brought together speed metal with a new melodic influence that would be the basis of what became power metal, and influence the next generation of bands in that sphere. And yet it is more than that genre description is now seen to portray. There are no keys here, it is twin guitar melodic and harmony that Iron Maiden possess, it is speed like Megadeth, and it is heavy like Metallica. They were setting a brand new benchmark.
This album, and the one that follows, both became milestones for my music listening tastes. It opened up new doors, a real pathway to the burgeoning and building metal scene in Europe. It was my first step in the direction of the power metal wave, that for me has since become one of my main metal listening pleasures. The quartet that played on this album could not have wished for a better platform to thrust themselves into the world of heavy metal, and for me it still stands as a testament not only to their talent and ability as musicians and songwriters, but what can be achieved when the stars align in their magical way.

953. Helloween / Helloween [EP]. 1985. 5/5

The coming together of the band that would become Helloween is a similar tale to most of the bands that you know and love. It was the coming together of likeminded teenagers who had been out there gigging away in the hope of making it big and finding that circumstances kept getting in their way. In the end it was a coming together of several bands to form the one that got the original foursome together. Kai Hansen had been in a band with his childhood friend Piet Sielck called Gentry, which would eventually morph into Iron Fist, where he had met drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. This band worked around for a while before Sielck decided to leave to pursue a career as a technician and then producer, and thus the group disbanded. Hansen then played in a band called Second Hell for a time, now coming across a bass guitarist by the name of Marcus Grosskopf. This wasn’t working out as he would have hoped and having struck up a friendship with the band Powerfool, and in particular with their guitarist Michael Weikath, he was of the opinion that he should join that band instead. At the same time, Weikath was thinking that he’d like to team up with Hansen, but not in the band he was currently in. So instead of Hansen going one way, it was Weikath who went the other, and two decided to form a new band based around the two of them. Joining them came Grosskopf from Second Hell, and also Schwichtenberg from the ashes of Iron Fist. In 1983, with the quartet complete, now all that remained was to come up with a name for the band. According to the band, it was Ingo who came up with the idea of calling themselves Helloween, mainly because Ingo liked the word hell. Go figure.
In 1984, the band recorded two songs for the metal sampler for Noise Records called “Death Metal” where four bands – Running Wild, Hellhammer (who eventually became Celtic Frost), Dark Avenger and Helloween, all contributed two songs to the compilation album. Helloween’s two songs, which ended up being the two final songs on side B of the album, were Michael Weikath’s “Oernst of Life” and Kai Hansen’s “Metal Invaders”. The popularity raised by this first recorded effort by the band led Noise to offer Helloween a contract to record a debut studio EP, for which they went into the studio to record in January of 1985. The final result was the eponymously named EP, released at the end of April that year, and which marked the beginning of the band that changed the way heavy metal was heading throughout Europe into the future.

Despite the fact that there are just five songs on this EP, the energy and speed and blistering brilliance of this first instalment for Helloween delivers on every level imaginable. The album begins with the unexpected intro of the alarm clock waking up its occupant on the morning radio station, and then changing channels while getting up and making breakfast. It does make you wonder what the hell you have walked into the first time you hear it. From here though, Kai's ear splitting scream as the intro to "Starlight" brings your senses to attention. There's no doubting what the band are sending towards you from the start of this song. The cacophony of drums and guitars to open up might sound haphazard yet is anything but. It speeds along at a monumental rate and at volume through your speakers. The twin guitars of Hansen and Weikath make their mark as a classic combination from the outset, each willing to take on a role by themselves, but also magnificent in tandem harmony. Marcus Grosskopf's bass runs overtime, his fingers running up and down the fretboard like an over excited mouse. It's a unique sound too, not looking to copy anyone, but it gives the Helloween sound a beautiful bass groove of its own that is a uniqueness that dominates for the foreseeable future. Topping this off are the free flowing drums of Ingo Schwichtenberg who fires away on all cylinders, helping to drive the music to new levels. This amazing quartet, full of youth and fire, gives up everything they have in the name of speed metal.
"Starlight", with its lyrics focused on drug use and dependence, stating “You’re hanging around and got nothing to do, you wanna get out some pills in front of you, you fly on invisible wings, be careful my friend for too many can kill, you say that the meaning of life’s in those pills, you forget all earthly things”. starts off the EP with a bang.
Then we bounce into the second track "Murderer", which kicks off with each instrument joining the fray one bar at a time, before exploding into the song proper. It is a superb song. It is almost joyous in its format despite the lyrics from the song telling an otherwise brutal story. Kai sings: “You didn’t want it but now he is dead, and you’re on the run from the law, Murderer, in every town, Murderer, to the whole world, Murderer, you’re on the run, Murderer, you’ll have to kill again” - with a free flowing riff through the verses while Kai smoothly blends his vocals over the top, both guttural through the verse and then into the high pitched screams later in the chorus, a range that is truly amazing to hear for the first time. He really moves between the gears on this track. Ingo's double kick powers through the whole song without pause, before those harmony guitars and Marcus' rumbling bass underneath take us through the solo break. Such an easy song to bang your head along to and play air guitar at the same time. Superb. It sounds so simple, and yet it is technically perfect.
The gunfire and warfare set up the start of "Warrior", before the staccato riff and drums blaze into the song with pace and fury. Again it is the brilliant drum beat from Ingo that drives your love of this song, it just has the perfect combination of toms and double kick to give it a faster feel than a normal 4/4 time. This is followed by yet another brilliant transfer to the harmony and solo guitar pieces, each complementing the other. The lyrics hark on the desolation of war, by declaring: “Blackened sky a final flash, death is in the air, warriors without a face, destruction everywhere, silent falls the hammer, no one hears the cries, no escaping from this hell, your prayers won’t be heard – so die!” It is another triumph, and so far on this EP we are 3 from 3.
This is followed by the aggressive and even faster "Victim of Fate" with the open thunderclap of lightning and the opening exhilarating guitar riff which rattles along at a blitzkrieging rate, and Kai giving those vocal cords a true test at their higher altitudes. He sings: “I had to kill people to save my own life, I don’t wanna go to hell, I started at the bottom, I’m heading for the top, I’ll never return I’ll never go back to that goddamn part of town, headhunters won’t get me cos I’m not stupid, but this ain’t the life I dreamed of”, almost following on from the themes of both “Murderer” and “Warrior”. This is all mixed in with the eye of the storm in the middle of the track, where the pace disappears, all becomes quiet with Kai almost spoken-wording his way through the bridge, before the song climbs back into mayhem to conclude. Just another brilliant song. These three songs in the middle of the EP are all Kai’s solo compositions and it probably shows. The bookends are composed by Kai and Michael, and the slight differences in those tracks can be countered by Weikath’s influence.
The final song "Cry for Freedom" begins and ends with a very Scorpions-like feel to it. It also has a riff that mirrors the one from the UFO song “Doctor Doctor” which ties it to the influence those two bands had on the writers of this song. While the song continues at mostly the same cracking speed as the other tracks there is a more melodic sound about the track with those influences being incorporated and concludes this EP on a high note.

My journey with Helloween began at the end of our school days in 1987. For the second half of that school year we had had an exchange student from Norway in our year, Hans Hoie, and he had brought his own music with him. One of those cassettes was a C90 that had Helloween’s “Walls of Jericho” on one side and “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1” on the other. This was my introduction to this amazing band, and I still have the memories of listening to that tape over and over at different parties during that period. Hans went back to Norway, and asked many of us to stay in touch, and so a few months later I wrote him a letter, basically asking how he was going, and what was happening back in Kiama. A few weeks later I received a letter back from him, thankful for hearing from me, and also with a surprise. I have mentioned how much I loved those two Helloween albums (having taped them off him before he left for home), and with this letter had come another cassette tape, which contained not only the band new album from the band (“Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2”) and some singles and B-sides, but also the band’s debut EP simply titled “Helloween”. Thanks to Hans, this is how I got to experience those first four – and still the best four – Helloween albums. And without him, who knows how long it may have been before I got to.
I loved this EP from the very beginning. As marvellous as Michael Kiske’s voice is on the two Keeper albums and beyond, there has always been something about Kai Hansen’s vocals that I love. And the energy emitted from the five tracks on this EP is astounding. They throw everything at this EP. The speed of the tracks for me is awesome, I just love it. The twin guitars play off each other perfectly, and Marcus Grosskopf’s bass guitaring is next level, not sitting on one string and strumming the rhythm, he moves along that fretboard with fingers that must never stay still. And Ingo’s drumming... just superb.
And what wouldn't I do to go back in time and see these guys performing at this stage of their career. It must have been absolute mayhem of the greatest kind. This is raw and uninhibited speed metal that not only gives a snapshot of how this brilliant band took their first steps on the world stage, but also of the talent that was brimming over, and the promise within that lay ahead for not just one band, but in the longer term for two bands.
I put this back on the turntable a few days ago, thinking as I did that it wasn’t that long ago since I last listened to it. Because when it comes to Helloween’s first four albums, it is never very long between listens. The band itself is such a foundation member of The Creation of Me that I never want to be away from them for too long. And this EP is very much a part of that. I still remember the first time I put that cassette that Hans sent me in mid-1988 on my parents' stereo and heard the opening scene of “Starlight”, before Kai’s scream shatters the scene and cranks up the party. And every time I have listened to this album again over the past few days, I get those same feelings of joy rushing back in.
Can you rank this EP along with the rest of the Helloween discography? In the long run you can do whatever you want! There are 16 Helloween studio albums, not including this one. Pretty simply, the first three albums and this EP rank in an order of 1-4, and the rest sort themselves out, and that will never change.
This was the beginning of something very special. The band’s debut album would be released a few months later, and then a new recruit lead vocalist would join them for two of the best albums ever recorded. The period from 1985 to 1988 was like a supernova of brilliance that did unfortunately have to fade. In amongst that, “Helloween” the EP shines as brightly now as it did on release 40 years ago.

952. W.A.S.P. / K.F.D. 1997. 3.5/5

To say this is a different style of album from W.A.S.P. is an understatement. On the first three albums we had plenty of crazy fun, tongue-in-cheek metal played loud and hard with lyrics that ranged from the tended sexual innuendo to political and worldly rights and wrongs. They were great. The follow up was a mature sounding evolution that still combined topics in the lyrical department but with a heavy and progressive sound that hinted at a band that knew where it was going. Following some line-up turmoil came the great rock opera, one that was hailed for its conception and presentation. More band turmoil followed, and the predecessor to this album was lost in direction as much as the writer and performer appeared lost in his own life and career.

My main problem with K.F.D. is not necessarily the change in the musical direction, but that it sounds like there is just a wall of noise coming out at you for the majority of the time. Yes, it has been brought to my attention that this is pretty much an industrial metal album, which is a completely different direction from what previous W.A.S.P. albums have offered us in the past. As a result, most of the songs sound like variations of each other, thus depriving them of their individuality. Sure, it sounds heavy and comes across that way, with guitars turned up to eleven and just raged upon, while Blackie screams over the top, or at least through the middle somewhere. Don't be fooled though, some of these songs are great without that technique having to be used.
There could be a fair case made that Blackie and Chris had anger issues when they were writing this album. There's no holding back here, and their pointed rage is spewed out through the songs all the way through. The opening track and title track "Kill Fuck Die" leaves you in no doubt from the beginning that it is coming at you. This is followed by "Take the Addiction" that continues in that framed, with distorted guitar and Blackie's vocals at your throat. "My Tortured Eyes" sounds like a beefed up version of "The Gypsy and the Boy" from the rock opera, a bit more electric than that of course.
"Killahead" however is a ripper, one from the top shelf of W.A.S.P. songs with its full on pace and rage, but especially in this case because the instruments can be picked out from one another, rather that just becoming one huge ball of crazy. Lyrically it's not one of the most deep and meaningful. It is the one you put on at a party when the alcohol has taken effect and you need to start slamming. "Kill Your Pretty Face" starts off like a couple of numbers here, with the quiet clear guitar and Blackie's high voiced sighing, before building into that wall of noise and screaming coming through that wall. The technique is effective, but I must admit that it's a momentum killer for me, just because the album itself had been building, and then it gets stopped by this track in a couple of ways. It finishes up okay, but not enough to withdraw my annoyance at it.
The short trappings of "Fetus" moves into "Little Death" where a little more rage comes into the mix. Certainly Stet Howland's drumming is a non-stop cacophony throughout this song. Is there any point where he comes to a rest? "U" wanders between the reflective and the anger management course that is built upon by almost every song here. Strangely enough though, "Wicked Love" is almost the most conventional W.A.S.P. song on the album, and yet comes across as perhaps one of the weakest. No, I don't know how that happened either. The final track "The Horror" builds from the quiet to the distraught, but in the end comes across as a slightly manic and disturbed version of the closing track from the rock opera, "The Great Misconceptions of Me". From it's quiet and almost deathly silent beginning, the build up of distortion continues until we have the final conclusion up near the stratosphere.

When this was released I had pretty much given up on W.A.S.P. as a band. After the previous album (that really should have been labelled as a solo release for Blackie) I felt the end had come. In a way I guess it had. The direction and style of this album was completely different from what had come before, and it would not be repeated in the future. Though there are some good songs here, and the album as a whole can be enjoyed when placed in the CD player, it grows tired quickly on repeat hearings unless you an appreciate the style it is recorded in.

Rating:   "I'm the horror on the edge".  3.5/5

951. Heaven & Hell / The Devil You Know. 2009. 4/5

Following on from The Dio Years release, and the tour of the reunited Black Sabbath from the Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules and Dehumanizer era under the reinvented band name of Heaven & Hell, the four members had such a good time that they decided to go ahead and record and release a new album. This was a decision that was met with almost universal acclaim. Imagine another album from these guys! How good could it be? Sure, they might be a little older, and neither Tony or Geezer had written much in the previous few years, but this had to be a winner from the outset.
Hopefully.

Of the three songs that Ronnie and Tony had written for The Dio Years compilation, my favourite had been "Ear in the Wall", because it contained the best parts of the band - a fast song with Dio emoting and Tony and Geezer flailing along. If I could have had an album of songs in that vein I would have been the happiest fanboy around. From the outset though, it is the slower, heavier riffs that dominate the album, keeping the tempo of the album back in the comfort zone that especially Dio has enjoyed for some years. To be fair, there is a mixture throughout, but it is the slower side which dominates, which deep down is still a disappointment to me.
"Atom and Evil" starts off at this pace, with Vinny Appice barely getting out of first gear in guiding the pace along at a snail's sludge. Dio croons marvellously over the funereal opening, which while I do not mind the song as such, is a strange one to open the album with. This is followed by "Fear" which opens up the tempo a little without producing anything over special.
"Bible Black" was the single released before the album came out, and was the kind of song everyone was hoping for. The quietish opening allowed Dio's clear vocals to lull you in, before crashing into Tony and Geezer's guitars and Vinny's pounding drum work and driving along. No doubt most people, like me, thought that the album would be more of the same, and the resulting excitement was hard to contain. "Double the Pain" kept up with a similar tempo, but was again somewhat devoid of anything outstandingly individual from the three member on instruments. It's a bit one riff for three minutes, another for thirty seconds, then back into the main riff.
I'm just not sure about "Rock and Roll Angel" at all. It seems like it is completely devoid of any of that masterful guitar sound that Tony and Geezer have perpetuated over the years, and lyrically it seems like a mishmash of the things that Dio has done before, bit like the darker days of his Dio band. This is probably the weakest song on the album and it feels quite out of place. "The Turn of the Screw" is an improvement, but still feels as though it is mired in the quicksand of sludgey tempo.
"Eating the Cannibals" is the one true fast song on the opus, and when it starts it lights up the album immediately. Dio's vocals soar while Tony's solo rips along in the tradition of his best solos, while Geezer and Vinny's rhythm runs up and down underneath it all, providing the framework of a great track. THIS is what I wanted more of, something with a bit of energy and fire, which would really grab you by the throat. It was these types of songs that brought about the difference between the Ozzy Sabbath and the Dio Sabbath back in the day.
This is followed by the hard grinding "Follow the Tears", which retains the modus operandi of the tuned down riff of Tony and Geezer, and Dio's vocals emoting through the mire. You can feel the awesomeness of Ronnie's lung work coming through the speakers at you, his amazing voice just pulling you in. I like the song, despite its simplistic and similarity chords throughout. "Neverwhere" lifts the tempo again, though if both this and "Eating the Cannibals" followed each other you would be more likely to notice how similar the riffs are within, and certainly the opening to each song. It's probably a little too close for comfort. One wonders if the band and their producers noticed this when putting the album together. "Breaking Into Heaven" closes out the album on a sombre grinding note, one that draws itself out as one of the longer tracks on the album.
The best part of this album is the professionalism and amazing talent of the members involved. Tony's guitaring invokes the best parts of his repertoire, and when he allows himself to break out in solo's along the way you get transported back in time to those younger days. Geezer is still the king of the bass in this environment. It is still amazing how he and Tony can produce such a full, rounded sound with just the bass and guitar. Listening to Geezer run up and down that fretboard is still an amazing experience. Vinny is as professional as ever, so much so that he is often not noticed at all. He doesn't flash out too often, and plays what he is asked to by his bandmates, but his kit and playing still sounds amazing. Dio's voice is still giant killing here. In one of his final recorded efforts, he still has the pipes to send tingles down the spine as you listen to him sing. There are others in this genre - and all genres - who can and do sing brilliantly, but no one betters the great Ronnie James Dio. His performance here is again sensational.

We'll never know if further albums from this quartet were forthcoming. One suspects that there may have been another follow up after the tour for this album was completed, such was the excitement and enjoyment of this band being back together again. Dio's sad demise from cancer put paid to that occurring, and instead led to a reformation of the original Black Sabbath. And while I still enjoy this album when I put it on, there is always that feeling that it could have been much more. But perhaps that is just wishing for the past and not accepting the present. In the long run, fans will get more than enough out of this to enjoy one last time.

Rating:  "Let him go, he can't come back"  4/5

950. Blaze / Silicon Messiah. 2000. 4.5/5

There was probably no one in the world of music, not even the man himself in a deep and unrequited part of his mind, that believed that Iron Maiden would be a long term proposition with lead singer Blaze Bayley at the helm of the band. They had had too much history, all of it majorly successful both in album quality and concert ticket sales, to believe that they could continue down the same path with a new lead singer who was not Bruce Dickinson. Yes, Blaze had come in with enthusiasm, he had contributed to the writing process, and he had sung the new songs well. The problem that arose very quickly was that the songs were vastly different from the band’s most successful era, something the fan base had great trouble getting behind. The other problem that came about was that the band were unwilling to make any rearrangements of the songs that they chose to play in the live environment, no doubt feeling as though it would be a hit to their credibility to do so. What it ended up achieving was making it very difficult for their lead singer to sing the older songs in the style that the band and fans had come to expect them. Anyone who saw the band live during this period, or has heard bootleg live albums of the period (as no official live album exists from this era of Iron Maiden) would have heard Blaze Bayley performing excellently on the songs from the two albums that he performed on, and also on some selected songs from the previous era (“Afraid to Shoot Strangers” for instance is one song that he did very well in the live environment), but with some of the Dickinson classics, such as “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “The Trooper” and “The Evil That Men Do”, he clearly struggled. This caused more problems for the band when on the world tour to promote the “Virtual XI” album, they were forced to reschedule and even cancel some shows due to issues that Blaze had with his voice and throat as a result of this constant pressure. Janick Gers was one who came out after this and suggested that these problems were caused by forcing him sings songs that were pitched well outside his natural range.
Blaze and Iron maiden had already begun planning for the follow up to “Virtual XI”, with songs such as “The Nomad”, “Dream of Mirrors” and “The Mercenary”, with Blaze having composed some lyrics for “Dream of Mirrors” and also working on some of his own contributions. All of this came to a head in January 1999, when Blaze was asked to forgo his position in Iron Maiden, who in his place brought in the only man who was capable of saving their reputation, Bruce Dickinson. It was an inauspicious and frankly disappointing way for Blaze’s tenure in the band to come to its conclusion.
On the back of this, after a short spell to come to terms with what had occurred, Bayley put into place the steps to start a solo career. However, it was still to be a band project of a similar build that he had just come from, rather than just he going out on his own, and that band and project would eventually be called BLAZE. He recruited two guitarists in Steve Wray and John Slater, bass guitarist Rob Naylor and drummer Jeff Singer. The question that must have been in his mind would have been 'will anyone be following what I'm doing' given the huge smothering of publicity Iron Maiden's returning superstars were garnering for their new release “Brave New World”. The answer to that question at the time was 'I am, Blaze'.

As mentioned in the first part of this episode, from all reports Blaze had been working on material that he was hoping to have become a part of the follow up to “Virtual XI” when he was informed of the decision to move on without him. This material formed the basis of the beginnings of this album. It was always going to be an interesting direction as to what the material would sound like. Much of his two albums with Iron Maiden had been ponderous and somewhat sluggish, even while faster songs like "Futureal" seemed to suit Blaze's style better. As it turns out, the styles here are mixed in a similar way, and the similarly themed songs build together in a conceptual way to add to the progression of the album.
The album kicks off with the excellent "Ghost in the Machine", a heavy crunching track that combines a great heavy riff opening drum beat that drags you into the opening vocal. This is immediately a heavier opening than expected, and also it should be mentioned immediately the music suits Blaze’s vocals from the outset. The grumbling bassline gives the twin guitars the chance to riff over the top and the thumping drum beat emphasises Blaze’s superb vocal through the song. This is the first track that Blaze Bayley offers you post-Maiden, and you can't help but be impressed by it. I know that I was when I first heard it, and I still love it now. A great chorus and built-in crowd participation piece late in the song makes it a beauty. The way he changes from low to high vocal range through the song showcases the change up he is capable of producing. "Evolution" follows up with a more progressive output and a slower heavier undertone throughout, nicely transferring with tempo changes throughout. Blaze’s vocals are energetic and forthright during the song, driving the powered clash with the guitar solos in the middle of the track which retain the structured style of the track. This segues straight into title track
"Silicon Messiah", which combines the quiet, the heavy and the anthemic chorus all within the mainframe of the song. “Silicon Messiah” slightly channels the structure of those Maiden sings he had played on with the quiet guitar opening, but in a far shorter and stronger format. Once again the tempo changes within the song act as the boardwalks between verse and chorus as Blaze provides his anthemic finish to each chorus in his inimitable way. These opening three songs all carry a familiar style within, both thematically and structurally, and they offer a great atmospheric opening to the album.
"Born As a Stranger" is a slightly faster tempo and bounding with more energy, combined with great solos and soaring vocals from Blaze. It acts as a real kickstart to the middle of the album. The song is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel Stranger in a Strange Land and was originally intended for Iron Maiden. Blaze began writing the track for the follow up to "Virtual XI”, but when he was given his release papers he instead repurposed the song for “Silicon Messiah”. This song especially showcases his vocals and HIS range, and remains one of his best songs in his career. This is followed by "The Hunger", which falls back into a mid tempo heavier riffing, though mixed with clear guitar along the way, allowing Blaze to change the mood of the song where necessary. His vocals dominate this song, once again in a way that showcases its strengths rather than having to contort them to how others want him to sing. The soloing of Wray and Slater in the middle of the track is emphatic and mood setting, blasting through the base tempo of the track to increase the energy, which the return of Blaze’s vocal also highlights.
In this light, "The Brave" is the fastest track on the album, moving along with triplet riffing and matching drumming, and is a pleasure because of it. It gets the album moving again in a faster and upbeat tempo, which Blaze matches by reaching the higher part of his register voice-wise, drawing on the anthemic qualities of his vocals to lead the song, and fortified by the great guitar solos through the middle of the song.
"Identity" could have done with a faster tempo, but still comes across as a winner because of Blaze's vocals. The song is inspired by the short story by Philip K. Dick called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” which in turn inspired the movie “Blade Runner”. The heavy guitar riff is backed up beautifully along the way by the bassline underneath throughout which is a highlight of the song, it really gives the song its mood and injects it with its vitality. The band mixes up the structure once again here which provides the uniqueness that this album is harbouring as its own. Following on from this, "Reach for the Horizon" builds throughout from the moody to the meaningful, looking for the place in the song to drive to the next level. It is another solid song here, which perhaps is slightly let down by the struggle to find a real methodology in the song structure, missing several points along the way where it could have taken off but missed a trick instead. "The Launch" is the short sharp kick in the pants that is needed after "Reach for the Horizon", a speedy number laden with the flailing guitar riffs and a ripping bassline and drum beat, along with punchy vocals that make it a mood lifter. In the main, Blaze’s best songs are highlighted by a fast tempo with a uplifting vibe that allow him to riff along at pace, in his higher fun vocal range and taking the lead of the song. “The Launch” is that kind of track. Both songs have lyrics based on the movie “Gattaca”, continuing Blaze’s science fiction theme on this album.
The album concludes with "Stare at the Sun", which more or less defies everything I just mentioned about where Blaze sounds at their best. Because this track falls back into the quiet almost acoustic to start the song, before building to the rolling drum beat and guitar riff that takes the song back into the next level, and explodes into a ripping guitar riff backed superbly by the bassline again, and Blaze’s vocals take over to soar with power into the chorus. And my word, his vocals on this song are just superb – spine tingling in places. This is not just a truly amazing closing epic, it is an epic song period. When you want a song that is going to not only finish off the album on a high, but then encourage the listener to listen to the album all over again, that is a very difficult thing to do. Blaze and his band have hit a home run here on “Silicon Messiah”. Not only does the opening track drag you in, but the closing track also makes you want to start all over again. This is a ripping song full of emotive vocals from Blaze, amazing guitars and bass and drums from the band, and ends the album on a positive note.

Few of my friend group thought much of “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI” when they were released. Indeed, many didn’t even listen to them. Some still haven’t. I still bought those albums on their release dates, and while neither album is perfect, and both albums have their glaring deficiencies, many blamed Blaze for those rather than the main songwriter. Still, Blaze’s vocals didn’t work for a lot of people who only wanted the previous singer, and the band eventually came around to that thinking as well.
Now, as excited as I was for the release of “Brave New World”, as exposed in the episode I did for that album just a month or so ago on this podcast, I was also looking forward to seeing what Blaze Bayley would do next. The fact that he didn’t return to Wolfsbane – at least, not at that time – I took as good news. I was interested to know what direction Blaze was going to take his own music, now that he had had the experience of five years in a major band and being exposed to their songwriting processes, and with the chance to show his own version of heavy metal rather than being constrained within the Maiden methodology.
I did not hear this album until some months after its release, well after I had indulged and overindulged in “Brave New World”. I hadn’t even been aware that it had been released until the time I finally found it, which was probably a good thing as I had listened to little in that time except “Brave New World”. And so I got the album, and I put it on... and I had to check twice to make sure this was the album I thought it was. Because from that opening riff of “Ghost in the Machine”, this was already more than I could have hoped for. There have been half a dozen times in my life that I have heard the first 30 seconds of the opening track on an album, and thought I must have put on the wrong album. This was one of those times. Beyond that opening track, it took a few more listens to the album as a whole to take in everything that has been offered up here. What is impressive is that the album is a collaborative effort (at least on paper when it comes to song credits), and the result is an album that fits together well in every respect. The music really is quite excellent. The drumming of Jeff Singer, alongside the wonderful moody basslines of Rob Naylor, is just superb, the base of each track held together by the rhythm section on this album. Both John Slater and Steve Wray on guitars combine beautifully together, adapting to the changes of mood and character throughout. And most importantly all four help to create exactly what Blaze Bayley required with this album, a partnership that not only benefits the band itself, but gives Blaze the opportunity to shine in his own right, and not having to conform to the legacy that might be expected from another bands fans. Which is why this is such a terrific album.
I have had my CD out and playing in the Metal Cavern again this week, and I have loved every second of it. It has been great having this on at work, but at home is where I can truly enjoy the album as it is meant to be.
While it may be inevitable that people will discuss this album with Iron Maiden's “Brave New World”, given that both albums were released so close together, and that there would be a lot of talk about the relative good and bad of the decisions of the previous 18 months - no one is going to be crazy enough to compare this album in regards to quality and brilliance as Iron Maiden’s “Brave New World” ... or are they? I mean, comparatively, what are we looking at here? As much as I enjoy major portions of Blaze’s two efforts with Iron Maiden, this album buries both when it comes to quality and enjoyability. And whilst Maiden's album has some great songs on it, it also has two or three that are only average. Here we have a similar situation. Songs such as "Ghost in the Machine", "Silicon Messiah", “Born as a Stranger”, "The Brave", "Identity" and "Stare at the Sun" are excellent tracks and are comparable to the Maiden album. And even though I will always rate an Iron Maiden release more harshly than other albums because the expectation of greatness is always there, I really think Blaze and his band has done a wonderful job here, and produced an album that is not only excellent in its own right, but also sets up the band for greater success down the track as its own entity.

949. Heaven & Hell / Live From Radio City Music Hall. 2007. 5/5

There are some defining moments that come along in life, events that become a part of you and that you carry with you for the rest of your life. The Heaven And Hell gig at Wollongong in August was one of those moments for me.
But this is not to review that night. This is to review the live CD/DVD that has been released.

Recorded early in the tour, this album carries what most of us never expected to hear again - Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio at the helm, playing the material they recorded from their three albums together. And to be quite honest, it is just sensational. The sound from the musicians is quite awesome. Geezer's bass sound and Tony's guitar sound are a stark reminder of just who is responsible for the style of music we like to call 'heavy metal'. Geezer's bass is almost gutteral, Tony's playing is flawless. Vinny Appice on drums again does a sterling job. He mightn't be flashy like a lot of drummers these days, but he doesn't miss a beat and has always complemented this band when he has been a part of it.
And the master, the greatest of them all, Ronnie James Dio, provides the face and the vocals of the band, and continues to be at the top of his game.

Favourites for me here are "After All (The Dead)", "I", "Computer God", "Falling Off The Edge Of The World", "Die Young", "Heaven And Hell" and "Neon Knights". Actually, I just should have listed the tracklist, because it is all just fantastic.

The rumours abound for what the future holds for Black Sabbath in the future - a 40 year anniversary recording with Ozzy for instance. If that happened, I guess it will be great. But this album - and the tour they have been on - to me just proves that a fully fledged new album with Dio at the helm would make for a much better option.

Rating:  "Oh no, here it comes again"   5/5.

(Note - I originally wrote this and posted it on my Rate Your Music page on September 2, 2007, just a month after seeing them live at Wollongong. I must have missed posting it to this blog, which is why it might seem out of place in the way I have written it. BP.)