Ok guess its time for the Helloween Discography. I wrote all this out a while ago so I can just cut and paste. This first entry is a little long but dont worry its the only one this long. I figured for people who aren't familiar with Helloween might learn something haha. Most of this I did from memory but I had to get a little help from time to time from various sites. So I hope I can do this band some justice. Im a horrible writer so we'll see what happens. Now on we go into the HELLOWEEN DISCOGRAPHY!!!

Helloween took what Iron Maiden perfected their sound with, dueling guitar solos and soaring vocals but they took it to another level and also added speed. Helloween started out as a Speed Metal band with some Punk influences weaved into their songs.

In 1978 before Helloween became their official name they were known as Gentry with Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck. They quickly changed the name once again to Second Hell and recruited Ingo Schwitchenberg as their drummer and Marcus Grosskopf on Bass Guitar. Piet Sielck left to become a record producer and later on he would front the band Iron Savior once again along with Kai Hansen and Thoman Stauch ex- Blind Guardian drummer. With this change the band once again changes their name to Iron Fist and recruits Michael Weiketh as second guitarist.

In 1984 a new independent label called Noise Records invites the band to be on a compilation called Death Metal with other bands such as Running Wild, Dark Avenger and Hellhammer. The band accepts and records 2 songs Metal Invaders and Oernst Of Life but before doing so the band yet again changes their name for one last time to Helloween.

1985 comes around and Helloween begins to record their first self titled 5 track EP. and then later releases their first full length album entitled Walls Of Jericho. During this time the band also came out with another EP entitled Judas that included the title song and also Ride the Sky and Guardians which were suppose to be live but you can clearly tell they are not and are just overdubbed with a live audience.

Since "Walls Of Jericho" has been released countless times in different versions, I think the more common one as of late is the expanded edition with the first 3 albums so we shall start with that.
When I first heard this album it was after I heard Keepers 1 and 2 and I was surprised at how much different this was. At first it was a little hard getting into but listen after listen it quickly began to grow on me and soon I was hooked. This would be the band for me that made music worth listening to. "Walls Of Jericho" is almost a perfect 10 album but because of the song "Reptile" I have to say its a 9 1/2. "Reptile" isnt a horrible song but compared to the others its one of the weaker and maybe awkward tracks. "How Many Tears" was a song originally recorded by Michael Weikaths first band but Helloween took it and gave it a much needed overhall from the original. Great Debut album, but there are changes to come...

Woot, I love me some Helloween, of course I love WALLS OF JERICHO. But PRD, ya should've at least put up a pic of their first EP cover, because it's so gloriously cheesy in all of its mid 80s badness:



"EXPLODING PUMPKIN WITH DEMONIC FACE INSIDE....ATTACK!"

I'm short on time right now so I'll come back later to babble about the EP and WALLS combo at greater length.

I will be keeping a close watch on this thread. I only own Dark Ride, Rabbit and the last one. I like them all, so it's with great interest that I watch this thread.

I have the combo debut also (Helloween,Walls of Jericho,and Judas) and love this thing . I'd give it a 10 out of 10 cause I love every song on it.Kai's voice fits the music well.The only slight annoyance I have is the intro to Starlight. That damn song from the movie Halloween III always annoyed me.

Walls of Jericho is my favorite album by the band and is one of the best (if not THE BEST) speed metal albums of all time. Coupled with the 2 EPs, it makes for one helluva CD. I recommend if any metal fan hasn't heard these 71+ minutes of heavy metal excellence that they really owe to themselves to at least seek it out to sample it. I'm constantly blown away by this CD. Unfortunately, they never again matched the intensity of this early material.

Walls Of Jericho was really the only Helloween album I was a fan of back in the 80's, the band sounds great doing their speed metal variation on Iron Maiden. Not overly thrilled with the vocals on this one but they're passable.

Ride The Sky was always my favorite track.

Walls of Jericho is my favorite of the Helloween catalog.

OK, let's get me up to speed:

Unlike most American folks, the Helloween EP was my first intro to the band. There was a guy in my high school who we called "Slobbo," (a play on his last name, LaBianca, and the fact that he was indeed a slob), he was a year or so ahead of me and he was kinda like my school's Underground Metal Guru. Those of you who went to high school in the early/mid 80s probably all had a guy like him in your school (or maybe you WERE the guy like him, haha), you know what I mean, the one guy who was hip to Metallica, Slayer, Anvil, Raven, etc. way before anybody else, the guy who had all those weird photocopied 'zines in his locker full of bands you never heard of, the guy who would bring in all his weird records to show off but would NEVER tell you where he was getting them all from, etc., etc. He turned a lot of kids in my school onto a lot of then-new bands.

Anyway, in '85 Slobbo started raving to everybody about this new band from Germany he'd heard about called Helloween. He told us they had an EP coming out very soon and he was going to make sure he got it so he could tape it for the rest of us. So for a couple of weeks we heard "Ten days till the Helloween EP! Nine days till the Helloween EP!" whenever Slobbo passed us in the halls. (To this day I am not sure if his daily counting down led up to the EP's actual release date, or if he was merely counting down to the day when he was going to go to whatever store he went to to pick up all his records. He never DID reveal his record store source, by the way. All I know is you couldn't find any of this sh*t in my home town at the time!)

So anyway, the Big Day arrived, Slobbo announced "I GOT THE HELLOWEEN EP!... but in true underground metal dude fashion, he had to add the caveat, "ehhhh, but it isn't as good as their demo." Haha. We didn't care, I gave him a blank tape and had him make me a copy anyway, and I LOVED that frickin EP. Being a "Halloween" movie fan I appreciated the little nod to "Halloween III" at the beginning of "Starlight," and the Iron-Maiden-on-Speed style of music was right up my alley.

My brother picked up WALLS OF JERICHO on cassette about a year later and I loved it just as much as I loved the EP. Fave tracks include "Gorgar," "Phantoms of Death," and "How Many Tears."

A "real" copy of that first EP remained elusive for me until 1987, when I went on a high school student exchange trip to Germany for a month. The first full day I was there, I found a record store and a copy of that EP was my first souvenir of the trip. I remember calling home and telling my brother "Dude, I FINALLY got the Helloween EP!"... his reply was, "Tell me the truth. You went to Germany just so you could get that album, didn't you?"

...I was my school's "Slobbo"...I was the guy with the ripped jeans, Motorhead t-shirt, jean jacket with patches and upside down cross earring who walked around with copies of Kerrang and Circus in my back pack (along with other items not allowed in school). The dude that would tell people they HAD to have a copy of Psalm 9, Heavy Metal Breakdown, etc.

I charged $1 per tape copy and managed to make enough money almost every week to buy another album.

Scott, if you do pick up Walls Of Jericho expect big differences then what you have. Much more about the speed and the vocals are different then Keepers and those are different then the Deris ones you have. I like Walls but I started with Master Of The Rings and I love Deris voice. Sometimes criticized for being too happy Helloween has to be one of the most consistent bands of all time and with their turnover of players that's impressive.

Haha great story FF! I dont think I had anyone in my school that was one of these people. If I did I never saw him or probably didnt like him haha. Actually I think im that guy now its just that my friends could care less. I got into Helloween through a friend who had a brother that listened to all this stuff. I never met his brother but my friend would bring in stuff for me all the time to listen to. His brother must've had a huge collection of stuff though.

I can't say I'm a Helloween fan anymore but I do still like Walls of Jericho (despite the vocals). And I always got a kick out of how the band did a deadpan comedy song about a pinball machine

Despite the vocals?

Kai Hansen rules on this album. Those shrieks of mayhem are awesome.

And all the songs are brilliant, too. I can appreciate good production, but here the 'crap' sound works well for the band. It's dirty and mean and Hansen sounds insane (comical at times) and both compliment the highly melodic speed/power metal they play.

All the songs are good, and it's Helloween, so they can get away with stupid lyrics, and it actually adds to the charm.

Favourites: Ride the Sky, How Many Tears and if you count the EP: Starlight, Victim of Fate

EDIT: Can't forget Judas! That song is among their best. And Hansen's performance on it among the most ridiculous ever.

I have (had) all the Helloween album except the ones between Keepers II and Time Of The Oath so I will be in this thread for a while but I will disappear for a short time. I had a hard time getting into Walls Of Jericho due to my first intro being Keepers II (and later the first) but it did grow on me. Unfortunatly my copy had a scratch when I first got it (lost my receipt so I wasn't able to exchange it) and I could only listen to the first half. I later got the extended one w/ both EPs and while Kai's voice took some time getting used to (I think he's much better since he took over vocal duties for Gamma Ray) I still enjoy it from time to time but I don't listen to it as much as my other Helloween albums. Favorite songs are Starlight, Victim Of Fate (second favorite song), Reptile, Guardians (my favorite song), Metal Invaders, Heavy Metal [Is The Law], and Judas.

I really didn't see what the big deal was when this first came out. The music is of course outstanding, but I never liked Kai Hansen's high pitched screaming. As with so many other classic albums, I've learned to appreciate this one too over time. In fact, I love Kai in Gamma Ray! "Walls of Jerisch", along with the first 2 EP's, are the heaviest/fastest stuff Helloween have ever recorded. German speed metal was never to be the same.

Killer tracks: Starlight, Ride The Sky, How Many Tears, Judas

During the touring for Walls Of Jericho Kai Hansen was finding it difficult to sing and play guitar at the same time so the search began for a new vocalist. They quickly found a new vocalist in Michael Kiske who was in a band called Ill Prophecy at the time. Around this time they began recording a new album which was planned on being a double album but their record company advised against it so they began what was the first part to a two part concept album. Along with new vocalist Michael Kiske the band drastically changed their sound, to what they would be known for today called European Power Metal. It would also influences hundreds of European bands over the years to follow the same path.

The Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1 would be the name of their second full length album and it put the band on the map. It brought the band to America for the first time on tour with Grim Reaper and Armored Saint. This also saw the band release their first video for the song Halloween, but instead of it being the full 13 minute song that was on the album it was shortened to 5 minutes.

This is how I got into Helloween first I was more familiar with this style than with the previous album since I was already into Iron Maiden at the time. The thing that always bothered me about this album is how short it is. Its only 37 minutes long and the last track is an outro that really left you wanting part 2. Every song off this album is great. A Little Time was a song left over from Kiske's previous band which fit in perfectly with this album. I dont count follow the sign as a song so this album would be a pefect 10 for me. Even though its a short album theres a little bit of everything and it shows what they would be capable of doing in their next release.

Ah, Keeper Part 1...an exquisite album that set the standard for power metal to come. I agree with PRD in that every song is great, specifically "Future World" and "Halloween". I remember describing it to a friend as "Iron Maiden on meth!":metal:

The Helloween guys had been listening to Queensryche and were impressed by Geoff Tate's ability. So once Hansen stepped back to only play the guitar, they wanted a vocalist who could sing like Tate does. And Kiske just happened to be a super talent. Both Keepers albums ended up being landmarks in heavy metal.

I know a lot of people love it, but I personally find "Halloween" a bit too drawn out for what it is. Everything else on this album is impecable though. Easily one of the best Helloween albums.

Favourite tracks: I'm Alive, A Tale that Wasn't Right, Future World

This was the second album after Walls of Jericho that I bought back in the days. I also saw them live on that tour. For me it is still their best album. Pt. II is also excellent, but I like Pt. I a little bit better.

The song 'Halloween' was my first exposure to the band, and I was surprised when several years later I heard the full length 13 minute version.