With just five songs on this EP, it doesn't fail to produce, and gives you everything you would expect from a young band trying to make its impact on the world. The album intro, of the alarm clock waking up its occupant with some radio station, and then changing channels while getting up and making breakfast, certainly makes 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. It speeds along at a monumental rate and at volume through your speakers. The twin guitars of Hansen and Weikath are a classic combination, 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 line of its own. 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 metal.
"Starlight", with its lyrics focused on drug use and dependence, starts off the EP with a bang, before moving 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, with that free flowing riff through the verses as 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, Ingo's double kick powering through the whole way, 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 transferral to the harmony and solo guitar pieces, each complementing the other. Awesome. This is followed by the aggressive and even faster "Victim of Fate" which rattles along at a blitzkrieging rate, and Kai giving those vocal chords of his a real testing at their higher altitudes. 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 brilliant. The final song "Cry For Freedom" begins and ends with a very Scorpions-like feel to it. It actually sounds like a UFO song, which I guess shouldn't be overly surprising given the heritage of both bands, but it is the only time there is a similarity in the music. Between the bookends however it returns to that same furiosity that exists throughout, keeping the senses tingling until the end.
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 heavy 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.
Rating: "Murderer, you're on the run, you'll have to kill, again!" 5/5
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