Top 10 Helloween Albums

[Jesse]

Don't know why I'm doing Top 10 lists again, but I'm inspired I guess.


10) Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy. Two really good songs ("Mrs. God" and "Light The Universe") and a few good moments spread out throughout two Cds does not a great album make by any stretch. However, the two good songs stand out moreso than anything on the more consistently acceptable "Gambling With The Devil", so this sneaks in at #10.

9) Better Than Raw. Again, two really good songs (Hey Lord" and "Handful Of Pain") one really awesome intro ("Deliberately Limited Preliminary Prelude in Z") and a bunch of fair to middling, forgettable filler. Only 1 Cd's worth though, so I can confidently put this one ahead of "...Legacy"

8) Walls Of Jericho. First album was great, but it hardly sounds like the Helloween that was to come. Better overall than #s 9 & 10, but other than "Ride The Sky", I don't really listen to this one anymore.

7) Pink Bubbles Go Ape. The worst of the Michael Kiske albums and large drop in quality from the preceding "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" albums, but I didn't find this nearly as godawful as many of my friends and fellow Helloween fans did. Certainly some very good moments here and a few songs that have made every one of my Helloween mix-tapes and Cds.

6) The Dark Ride. I liked this a lot better when it came out than I do now. A darker album overall from anything Helloween has done before or since, but had much better songwriting than "Better Than Raw" before it and "Rabbit Don't Come Easy" after it. Actually, this is the last Helloween album that I can enjoy listening to all the way through.


More to come

[Jesse]

5) Chameleon. I sorta "get" the hate for this one. There are 4 songs on here that flat out suck and are completely unlistenable IMO. Also, beyond "Giants", this not only doesn't sound like Helloween, it's NOT Metal in the least. However, I stand by my placing this album at #5, because there are some really strong tunes here despite not being Metal whether you want to accept them as Helloween songs or not. "Step Out Of Hell" and "When The Sinner" bring in a lot of Pop elements, but I love 'em! Very catchy tunes. "Windmill" is a nice ballad that segues well into "Invitation/Eagle Fly Free" on my mixtapes. "In The Night" is a moving, hooky song. "Crazy Cat" is almost Southern Rock (And you know how I feel about Southern Rock ). "Music" is a cool excuse for some great guitar licks. "I Don't Want To Cry No More" is a majestic, sorta power ballad. Bottom line: 4 horrible, horrible songs, but 8 that are very good. 3 ("Giants", "Windmill" and "When The Sinner") have made every one of my Helloween "Best of" mixtapes!

[Jesse]

I keep going back and forth on albums 3 and 4. For the sake of completing this I go with this order:

4) The Time Of The Oath. Just and outstanding album from start to finish. Deris is in good vocal form, he's never going to be Kiske, but he comes into his own here. Some great hooky riffs and catchy choruses, twin leads. This is the album that solidified my acceptance of Helloween without Hansen and Kiske.

3) Master Of The Rings. "Time Of The Oath" is probably the better album overall, but I give this extra points as it was the first Helloween album with Andy Deris as vocalist and HAD to be great to win me over. Certainly helped that, after the meandering "Chameleon", they burst out of the gate with the killer metal riffing of "Sole Survivor". Most of the same qualities as "Time Of The Oath", in some spots better, is some spots not. Less consistent than "Time Of The Oath", but, again, for personal reasons, I'm putting this at #3.

[Jesse]

2) Keeper Of The Seven Keys (part I)
1) Keeper Of The Seven Keys (part II)

A very fine line between these two. I know many people prefer the first "Keeper..." album to the second, but I think that's only because they heard it first. Then again, the second one was the first I'd heard of Helloween, so maybe I'm the one whose taste is skewered by a personal soft spot. Strong songwriting and excellent performances on both of these. Kiske's vocals are out of this world. In a lot of ways Both of these album are Iron Maiden to the next level! For me, what separates "...(part II)" from "...(part I)" is more songs and no down time. as great as the song "Halloween" is off of the first one, it does drag a little bit in a few spots, whereas, the epic "Keeper OF The Seven Keys" song, at 14 minutes (one minute longer than "Halloween") doesn't drag in the least. Every time I listen to it, I feel a ripple in the space/time continuum and can't believe that 14+ minutes passed. Also, "Follow The Sing" from the first is just fluff and there's none of that on the second one. Two great albums though, both helped usher me into the world of Heavy Metal from essentially Country and some Southern Rock that I was listening to mostly at the time. If anyone's list has these two flipflopped, you'll be hard-pressed to get much more of an argument from me beyond what I've posted here.


Somebody (not a spammer) please respond!

[duojett71]

I don't think I have a top ten because I only like the Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske eras....but here are my favorites in order:

1. Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2
2. Keeper of The Seven Keys Part 1
3 Walls Of Jericho
4. Live In The U.K./I Want Out Live
5. Pink Bubbles Go Ape
6. Chameleon

The 'Judas' EP is really cool to but I believe it was only 5 songs three of which are live versions of songs from 'Walls Of Jericho'.

I remember being addicted to 'Keeper Part 1' when it came out.....I loved that record and sonically it is superior to Part 2 but in all I think Part 2 has better songs and shows better songwriting from Weikath, Hansen and Kiske. '...Jericho' is just a great German Thrash album. Pink Bubbles has some really good songs and I never heard all of 'Chameleon' until last year....and while I think that album gets away from what Helloween was supposed to be....it does show great songwriting and the band branching out.....I actually think that is a very good album.