futoshi92 34 Posted October 7, 2020 Let's talk about one of the biggest titans of melodic power metal - Helloween! Or as I like to call them in a joking manner: X-Germany! Or maybe X Japan is the Japanese Helloween? Who knows?! Rocking since 1984, he band has went through a lot of changes from raw and agressive Walls of Jericho, to speedy and humorous iconic Keeper of the Seven Keys duo with Kiske on vocals, ending at modern sounding albums with Andi Deris, that is in the band to this day. My personal favourite albums aside Keepers, are Master of the Rings, Dark Ride and Straight out of Hell. I think their current Pumpkins United era with Deris, Kiske and Hansen performing together is an absolute win! I've often heard Helloween plans to make an album with all three vocalists. Although this has been promised since the late 2017, hope it eventually gonna happen 😄 Any other Pumpkinheads here on MH? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jigsaw9 6783 Posted October 7, 2020 (edited) Top-notch band! I've only come around to listening to more of them very recently, but haven't heard much I didn't like. During these newer listens Better Than Raw stood out to me the most, but my all-time favorite has to be The Dark Ride... but that goes back to my teenage years when I was just discovering metal and this album was what one of my friends had and lent me. What a powerful and catchy record! Edited October 7, 2020 by Jigsaw9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Demivee 103 Posted October 8, 2020 Legendary band for sure! I'm more a fan of Gamma Ray but since Hansen's collab with Helloween the band is nearly dead. Helloween's roots are laying in my Hometown Hamburg, Germany so they are a big deal here. A few years ago I spent my New Years Eve celebaration at a party at Kai Hansens house because a friend of mine knows him in person. It was a nice party and Kai even gave me some CDs from his collection. :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
futoshi92 34 Posted October 8, 2020 17 hours ago, IGM_Oficial said: 👌🏻 Forgot to mention Better then Raw being my another favourite albums. One of their most straightforward ones. Thanks for the reminder 😄 3 hours ago, Demivee said: Legendary band for sure! I'm more a fan of Gamma Ray but since Hansen's collab with Helloween the band is nearly dead. Helloween's roots are laying in my Hometown Hamburg, Germany so they are a big deal here. A few years ago I spent my New Years Eve celebaration at a party at Kai Hansens house because a friend of mine knows him in person. It was a nice party and Kai even gave me some CDs from his collection. I went to Pumpking United live in Warsaw back in 2017, and Kai Hansen rocked the crowd with "Ride the Sky" and "Heavy Metal is the Law". I still agree it's kinda sad nothing has been going in with Gamma Ray. How long it's been since Empire on The Undead? New Years Eve with Kai Hansen? Oh, man, that's awesome! 🤩 I am a CD collector myself and I own most of Helloween albums with Deris and I even have a Keeper Part 1 copy on a casette tape. Also kinda off-top, but did you know Kai's son, Tim, is playing in a band called Induction? Kai Hansen even sang in one of the songs in the last year's debut album Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 11, 2020 I think their Death Metal Demo, Helloween EP, Walls of Jericho and Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I & II are absolutely brilliant, but nothing after Keeper Part II have managed to grab my attention. I do prefer their Death Metal Demo, Helloween EP and Walls of Jericho to Keeper Part I & II tho. More speed than power metal, and both rougher and rawer. But both Keeper albums are superb as well. 1 futoshi92 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
futoshi92 34 Posted October 11, 2020 10 hours ago, Bear said: I think their Death Metal Demo, Helloween EP, Walls of Jericho and Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I & II are absolutely brilliant, but nothing after Keeper Part II have managed to grab my attention. I do prefer their Death Metal Demo, Helloween EP and Walls of Jericho to Keeper Part I & II tho. More speed than power metal, and both rougher and rawer. But both Keeper albums are superb as well. Recently I've been having a lot of appreciation for Walls of Jericho I admit I'm more fan of cleaner and more melodic sound, but there is so much charm in fierce and raw era with Kai Hansen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Demivee 103 Posted October 13, 2020 On 10/8/2020 at 5:36 PM, futoshi92 said: I went to Pumpking United live in Warsaw back in 2017, and Kai Hansen rocked the crowd with "Ride the Sky" and "Heavy Metal is the Law". I still agree it's kinda sad nothing has been going in with Gamma Ray. How long it's been since Empire on The Undead? New Years Eve with Kai Hansen? Oh, man, that's awesome! 🤩 I am a CD collector myself and I own most of Helloween albums with Deris and I even have a Keeper Part 1 copy on a casette tape. Also kinda off-top, but did you know Kai's son, Tim, is playing in a band called Induction? Kai Hansen even sang in one of the songs in the last year's debut album That's cool! I would have loved to see the Pumpkin United Show but I missed them when they played in Wacken.. It's 6 years since Empire of the Undead was released. Kinda shocking how fast time flies.. Haha yes it was a nice party and he really is a nice guy. No wonder he is such a god in Japan. I heard from his band yes but I don't know him in person. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hopefully_benign 56 Posted November 13, 2020 One of those bands who have a lot to answer for, but I like on their own terms. There's probably not one good band who took heavy influence from them (besides, funny enough, maybe X Japan?) But at the time, their brand of sickeningly sweet happy-metal seemed like the natural end result of a bunch of German kids playing post-Iron Maiden metal in the late 80s. It just shouldn't have become a movement like it did. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spolochon 6 Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) Ok. So Avantasia/Edguy, Angra, Stratovarius, Rhapsody and all those bands are very crappy bands. Thanks for the information, they're actually part of my favorite bands. Or Nightwish and aliked, even if I don't love them so much. (Though I prefer Gamma Ray to Helloween, by far... so, yes, what's happening to Gamma Ray, or not-happening, is sad. But understandable, bills are surely a lot easier to pay with Helloween.) @Demivee Yay, Kai is a lovely person! I met him a few times after concerts, the usual fan-stuff, he's always been very kind and... "opened"? Well, such. Edited November 15, 2020 by spolochon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
