HELLOWEEN

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KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS PART I (1987)

(reviewed by Robert Grazer)

Yet another 80s power metal band dismissed as generic and dated, and I can understand it more with Helloween than Iron Maiden. Not that I completely agree though, of course. This was the first of two Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums, both with young vocalist Michael Kiske. Kiske is the Bruce Dickinson type screamer (although not as good), and the Iron Maiden influence is seen all throughout this album. I mean, the thirteen minute epic "Halloween" is obviously inspired by "Rime if the Ancient Mariner," and that is only one example of many. Still all in all the music is pretty good. The opening "Initiation" (which is a heck of a lot better than "Invitation" from the next album) leads into "I'm Alive," a great fast solid entry into this album. Other highlights include the Kiske-penned "A Little Time" and "A Tale that Wasn't Right."

And the epic. Now in most ways this album loses to Part II, but "Halloween" is actually a better song than "Keeper of the Seven Keys." I don't really know why. They're both really great and there isn't anything in particular to make me choose this one, but I do. It deserves it length, and is easily the best song on the album. Overall I guress it should be said that this, while very enjoyable, is most definitely NOT nearly as good as the top work from the band's big influence. Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I is good for a power metal fan, but honestly speaking this must be bought after the next album so that you can see all of the little improvement. In fact Keeper II is this album's biggest flaw since it shows what the band had the potential to do and for some reason couldn't on this release. Still, this is a great album.

OVERALL RATING: 8

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KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS PART II (1988)

(Robert Grazer's review)

Well you should know that there will be many comparisons back to Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I as I review this album. Why? The same reason people talk about Ride The Lightning while reviewing Master Of Puppets, or Beggars Banquet while writing about Let It Bleed. It's that in both of the cases I've just mentioned most will say that the "sequel" is the better album, and I'd disagree with them. But this this time in many ways Helloween did improve over their first album, but a few new flaws are shown as well. Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II generally has stronger melodies than the first part. Kiske is also singing with even more power than before, showing what a great vocalist he is.

The bad news is that this album also ends up sounding overblown, generic, and dated to the point where even I, a power metal fan, can no longer ignore it. I mean, despite great vocal performances and other such nice things, "I Want Out," and especially "We Got The Right" are almost on the Judas Priest level of dated and cheezy. As far as changes in the style of lyrics go, it's gotten a bit different, covering some funnier situations, which are sometimes sorely lacking in decent humor. Most notably "Rise And Fall." Musically it's one of the best on the album, but lyrically it always makes me laugh and not for the reasons the band wanted me to. "Dr. Stein" is also a lyrical failure, with a chorus that begins with "Doctor Stein grows funny creatures." Ick.

The rest, for the most, part is excellent. The only other big complaint I can think of right now is that "Invitation" is nothing compared to the "Initiation." Maybe it's because the song has to live up to the title. Whereas "Initiation" had more of a powerful and, well, initiating feel to if, "Invitation" has a happier and more inviting tone, as the title suggests. It might work elsewhere, but is certainly not a fitting opener for a song like "Eagles Fly Free." And the epic, "Keeper Of The Seven Keys," isn't quite enough. Not bad though, but failing to truly amaze like "Halloween" from Keeper I did. "Halloween" was admittedly bit overblown, but still not to the degree of this one. Other than that the song is fantastic. Oh wait, wasn't that two more complaints? Oh, well. The rest of the album, like "You Always Walk Alone" or "Save Us," is great though, better than most songs off of the first part. That's the advantage here; Helloween shows the stuff that they couldn't do on the first Keeper album, and despite the flaws it turns out to be somewhat better than the original, just not by too much.

OVERALL RATING: 8

(Nick Karn's review)

The second edition of the Keeper Of The Seven Keys series is, like probably most of their career, undoubtedly sounds a bit cheezy and dated in the ridiculously overblown arrangements and often childish, dungeons and dragons lyrics, and vocalist Michael Kiske continues dangerously close to earlier Bruce Dickinson-Geoff Tate territory, but the fact is, the guitar riffs and solos and instrumentation in general very much smokes most of the time. "Eagles Fly Free" is a triumphant opener that is a perfect showcase of the band's strengths, "Save Us" and "I Want Out" are very much soaring, classic metal anthems in a similar vein, and "You Always Walk Alone" and "March Of Time" are other forceful songs managing to avoid serious pretentiousness.

It's the other half of the album I'm not so sure about.  The lyrics of "Rise And Fall" are so laughable and ridiculous the song is completely ruined, with actual poetic genius like "the king of Los Angeles bought himself a teddy bear / and the queen became shameless, she did it with a chair" throughout the song. "Dr. Stein" has cool musicianship but is built around an incredibly dumb concept of rock star cloning, and "We Got The Right" is little more than generic filler. The album ends with the astounding, but way too over-the-top, 13 minute title cut, which is a gripping epic musically and is helped by a lot of time changes, but the arrangement is a bit confusing and the lyrics are, again, somewhat cartoonish.  It depends on what perspective you take whether or not this is a truly great album.  As for me, it equally leaves me both satisfied and shaking my head going, "Why?" 

OVERALL RATING: 7

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