HELLOWEEN — Helloween (review)

HELLOWEEN — Helloween album cover EP · 1985 · Speed Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
HELLOWEEN debuted with this five track EP the same year as their first full album “Walls Of Jericho” and immediately made an impact on the metal world following in the footsteps of the NWOBHM. While they are indisputably the progenitors of the power metal sub genre, on their first two releases of 1985 they were very much a veritable blend of traditional metal with speedy early thrash leanings. Their sound that would fully take form on the “Seven Keys” albums is actually very close to these two early albums despite the obvious Iron Maiden gallops, Halford type high pitched vocal style and lack of bells and whistles. The band has also stated that it was their intent to keep melodic metal up to speed with the ever changing metal landscape that was seeing early developments of extreme and darkened bands that were slowly losing melodic developments in exchange for atmospheric developments and hypnotic brutality.

The eponymous EP and “Walls Of Jericho” fall into the first phase of HELLOWEEN’s lengthy career of several lineup changes and the only ones to feature Kai Hansen as not only guitarist but also as the vocalist. The only constant member Michael Weikath brings down the house with his most proficient neoclassical shredding skills which brought the band into the new higher energy metal that was developing around this time by taking it a bit further than what the NWOBHM had been dishing out. Markus Grosskopf (bass) and Ingo Schwichtneberg (drums) deliver the instantly addictive rhythm sections that results in a distinct type of rhythmic pattern that gave HELLOWEEN a distinguished drum and bass exchange. The lyrics are perhaps the darkest of the band’s career at this point as they were taking cues from the morbid visions of early Iron Maiden before heading off to the pastures of the unicorn to glean the graces of the fantastical.

While this EP isn’t as recognized as their full studio albums, the tracks on here as of equal caliber to their excellent “Walls Of Jericho” album. There are no repeated tracks as all is original and i simply couldn’t ask for a better way to start a career. All the musicians had developed an original sound and the chemistry between the members is truly stunning. While Kai Hansen may not have proved to be the best of three vocalists that the band had to offer, he certainly more than does the job and offers that rough-and-tumble air to the traditional / thrash metal hybrid that this EP exudes. While this EP may be difficult to find on its own, there is not need to worry because the later expanded version of “Walls Of Jericho” begins with the full EP and even includes “Surprise Track” on the bonus disc which originally only appeared on the picture-LP. Unfortunately it took me a while to realize that the first five tracks actually WERE the EP because they are not marked as such!
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siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Thanks. Not my favorite but these two are close seconds
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great review and great EP. 'Walls of Jericho' has always been my favorite Helloween album, and this is a great companion EP.

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