Halloween is the band behind German power metal

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Helloween (derived from the words "hell" - hell and Halloween) are an innovative musical group from Germany, whose specific views on high-speed power metal allowed them to become one of the key metal bands of the 80s.

Speed Meet

You need to get acquainted with a group, especially a metal one, directly, and not from retellings of a biography.

The band's key album, according to many critics, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 1. These are classic metal guitars in the style of Rob Halford and Iron Maiden and fantasy-oriented lyrics. Acquaintance with Helloween should begin with this album. In addition, you should also listen to such songs as If I Could Fly, Lost in America and Battle's Won.

The origin of the group and its path to success

Helloween is a band whose biography is a long and winding road. It begins in 1979, when guitarists Kai Hansen and Pete Silk decided to create a project called Gentry (the name symbolizes a kind of mockery of people of the "noble class"). It happened in Hamburg.

The official date of birth of Helloween is considered to be 1983, when Gentrysome members of the Iron Fist and Powerfool bands joined. As a result, Michael Weikath (guitar), Markus Grosskopf (bass) and Ingo Schwichtenberg (percussion) joined the duo above.

Group debut

In 1988, Helloween's first full-length album, Walls of Jericho, was released. He made the group almost the flagship of the German metal scene, although it was received rather coolly in the world - the album was noted only in the Japanese chart, and then at 75th place. The album was not well received by critics either.

But the Teutonic metal fans were delighted. The compositions "How Many Tears", "Reptile" and "Judas" became the group's calling cards. By the way, Walls of Jericho is considered speed metal because of the increased speed of its performance.

Critical point of group success

It's about creative success, not commercial success. In the world of music, these two concepts are rarely allied.

Halloween is a group with a variable line-up that changes to this day. In 1986, a new vocalist, Michael Kiske, joined the band. He had a very bright and recognizable voice, which had a very positive effect on the sound of the group.

In 1987 an album called Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 1, followed a year later by Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2. These two albums have become power/speed metal classics. The hearts of thousands of fans shuddered to the beat of Helloween's melodies. It's sad, but Helloween is a group whose reviews are much more positive than their level.popularity. Any classic is doomed to this. Halloween is the band that literally single-handedly created the German metal scene.

After that, the group completely plunged into the tour. Almost all of Europe and the West saw them… And after that, the central member of Helloween, Kai Hansen, left. He explained this by monstrous fatigue from touring and conflicts with the group. After that, a new era began in the life of Helloween. It took the band some time to convince record labels that they could do a lot without a lead guitarist and songwriter.

Kiske era

Helloween have continued to collaborate with their traditional label NOISE. The albums of the group were bought en masse by inertia from the old successes of the collective. By the way, Kai was replaced by Roland Grapov.

Pink Bubbles Go Ape - is the band's first album without Kai Hansen. It could be compared to an unhewn boulder. The album was very hard in sound and not very melodic. Critics believe that this is almost the most disastrous disc recorded by Helloween. If not for the old merits of the team, Pink Bubbles Go Ape would hardly have become so popular.

After that, the band released a number of live and studio albums, which are still comparable to all sorts of unhewn boulders, and only in 1998 they have something qualitatively new - Better Than Raw. This album is special in that each member of the group participated in the songwriting. This speaks of the harmony within the group and the high professionalism of the musicians.

Overall Better Than Rawnotable for lingering melodic choruses and bright, contrasting guitar riffs. With this album, Helloween proved that they don't want to stand still. Magazine "Kerrang!" dubbed Better Than Raw the band's best album since Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2.

Departure from the roots and another radical turn

Halloween is a band with a constantly changing line-up. Of course, with such a way of being, it is very difficult to stay in the same canons, and Helloween began to constantly move away from their roots, changing the color of their sound.

In 1994, a crisis began in the group. Drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg was fired from Helloween for a variety of reasons, including schizophrenia, alcoholism, drug addiction. After that, he threw himself under the train. Poor Ingo was replaced by a drummer from GAMMA RAY (Kai Hansen's band) named Uli Kusch.

Radical turn of the group occurred after the departure of the next "central player" from Helloween - Michael Kiske. Andy Derris replaced him.

And then complete harmony began in the life of the group. Andy's era has begun. The ego battle feud is over and Helloween is back to carnival.

Halloween is a group that can be reborn again and again like a phoenix. The next such revival was the albums The Dark Ride and Rabbit Don't Come Easy. The compositions "If I Could Fly" and "Mr. Torture" became hits that can be safely added to the "golden fund" of the group.

Helloween these days

Helloween is a band whose discography is constantly growing. And although the strife inThe team is reborn from year to year, the guys manage to maintain the integrity of the group and continue to delight fans with new albums. The latter, by the way, was released quite recently - May 29, 2015.