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Helloween was founded in the early eighties by members of the Hamburg
bands, Iron Fist and Powerfool. The original line-up consisting of
Michael Weikath (Guitars), Markus Grosskopf (Bass), Kai Hansen
(Guitars) and Ingo Schwichtenberg (Drums) showed a great measure of
independence and an upcoming determination to develop musically. Two
years after their foundation, the band released three songs on a
forward-looking heavy metal sampler, subsequently signed a contract
with Noise records and released their first EP. Their debut album,
WALLS OF JERICHO and particularly the subsequent offerings KEEPER OF
THE SEVEN KEYS PART I and PART II, which sold over 250,000 units in
Germany alone, catapulted the band directly among the crème de la
crème of hard rock acts. The history of Helloween is marked by
countless hits and classics, particularly from those early days. Every
Helloween supporter knows and loves highlights such a s “Halloween”,
“Ride the sky”, “Future World”, “Dr.Stein”, “Keeper of
the seven keys” or “Eagle fly free” etc. Equally significant are
the unforgettable “Murderer” of the 1985 Helloween EP, the
compelling “A little time” and the impressive “A tale that wasn’t
right”, which both show Helloween from a different angle.
Helloween went on to celebrate success after success, not only in
their native Germany, but also across Europe, Japan and the United
States and continued to do so , even after a line-up change, when Kai
Hansen left the band in 1988 in order to realise his own ideas with
his new band Gamma Ray. As
a replacement Helloween enlisted the services of Roland Grapow. The
group’s first live recording “LIVE IN THE UK” followed by “PINK
BUBBLES GO APE”, which was recorded in Denmark by Chris Tsangaredes,
were impressive documents of the high musical standard that the band
had already achieved by then. Particularly the song “Chance”, a
dowry of sorts that the new songwriter Roland Grapow had brought along
and which is now an essential part of Helloween’s musical history.
But there were also the dark years, moments in which the metal
flagship from Northern Germany threatened to capsize, thrown off
course by an icy wind of business aberrations. Legal difficulties with
their record label Noise put Helloween on ice for many months and
proved a major obstacle at the beginning of the Nineties. Yet “CHAMELEON”,
released in 1993, considered a non typical Helloween album by the
fans, mirrored an exceptional musical quality, as Weikath’s
contribution “Windmill” proves, exploring the metal genre to its
extremes. After the experimental, none the less convincing “CHAMELEON”,
vocalist Michael Kiske left towards the end of 1993 to devote himself
to a solo career. Worse still, drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg suffered
from mental problems, having difficulties coping with personal and
career-related demands and asked for time off for an unspecified
period. We know now that Ingo never returned to the Helloween fold:
after a series of private tragedies, he felt unable to cope with life
and committed suicide in March 1995. His legendary drum kit, on which
he recorded countless Helloween classics, was bought by Roland Grapow
in memory of him.
True
greatness always comes out when times get rough. Helloween did not
dwell on their difficulties, but sought and found a way out, enlisting
former Gamma Ray member Uli Kusch as their new drummer. Main man,
guitarist Michael Weikath succeeded in signing up his mate , Pink
Cream 69 vocalist Andi Deris as their new frontman. The line-up
consisting of Deris, Weikath, Grapow, Grosskopf and Kusch got together
in 1994 – making practically a new beginning and released the
seventh (and in this case by no means unfortunate) Helloween album,
“MASTER OF THE RINGS”, which took up where the groups success
story had left off. “MASTER OF THE RINGS” was more than a new
beginning< it was the triumphant document of a band that rose like
a phoenix from the ashes and one of the best albums of their career.
Songs like “Mr.Ego”, “Sole survivor”, “Perfect Gentleman”
(supported by an amazing Video clip) and the wonderful “Where the
rain grows” proved that Deris and Kusch had breathed new life into
the band, Helloween mania broke out all over again, but nowhere more
than Japan and South America.
Fans
and media could be forgiven to wondering whether the group would be
able to uphold their high standard, but the five-some from Hamburg
continued their triumphal march around the world with the “TIME OF
THE OATH” in 1996. Helloween toured over 10 European countries as
well as Japan and South America, adding to their long list of classics
with “In the middle of a heartbeat”, “Forever and one”, “Power”,
“Kings will be kings” and “The time of the oath”.
The
subsequent world tour and their second live release “HIGH LIVE”
crowned an era that had brought the musicians world wide success. “HIGH
LIVE” also documented that the new line-up, particularly vocalist
Andi Deris was set to continue the demanding heritage of his
predecessors, delivering new interpretations of more than ten years
worth of classics as well as the current material. Helloween live have
always been and will remain a
pleasure of the more extravagant variety.
Their
eighth studio album “BETTER THAN RAW” (1998) continued the
triumphant march of the previous years, while at the same time
reflecting a stylistic development and the musicians’ well-founded
confidence to risk taking experimental song structures and to realise
them in an uncompromising fashion. “BETTER THAN RAW” offered such
highlights as “I can” (accompanied by a memorable Video that had
been shot on the sunny island Tenerife, Spain) plus “Midnight sun”
featuring the band’s typical trademark.
Looking
back at the roughly 15 million albums that Helloween have sold
globally, they have definitely earned their place among the best,
particularly with the creation of their own, unmistakable style. Their
mix of catchy melodies, heavy guitar riffs and speedy rhythms has set
new standards and was in fact instrumental in the birth of speed metal
genre. Often imitated, but never equalled – Helloween are the
original – would-be emulators have always had to make up with
comments such as “sounds like….” or “reminds me of…”.
Considering these factors, the band could be forgiven for surprising
their fans with a totally unexpected and at first sight very unusual
recording. Their “METAL JUKEBOX” (2000) showed the musicians from
an unusual but equally fascinating side. The album presented Helloween’s
interpretations of a number of rock and pop classics from over fifty
years of music history, in other words, an album made by fans for
fans.
2001
saw the arrival of the “DARK RIDE”, a contemporary and impressive
metal statement of the highest quality. Again Helloween had pulled out
all stops and had, with the support of the two world class producers
Roy Z and Charlie Bauerfeind, come up with an album which impressed
particularly with “Mr.Torture”, “Mirror, mirror…” and
“Immortal”. The subsequent world tour again turned into a
triumphant march, causing a stir from Scandinavia to South America,
from Japan to southern Europe. The split between Helloween, Roland
Grapow and Uli Kusch leaving the band right after the tour had nothing
to do with the brilliant impression the band had left, but reflected
yet another departure to new musical horizons! Mark Cross was brought
in from Metalium and will fit in the shoes of Kusch.
All this and much more can be
found on the best of CD TREASURE CHEST. The album is also unusual in
that it echoes – irrespective of the record companies or line-ups
involved – all the different phases that the band has gone through,
something that has rarely happened before and another reason why
TREASURE CHEST is such an essential release. Most importantly, five
tracks, namely “Keeper of the seven keys”, “Dr.Stein”, “Murderer”,
“Starlight and “Ride the sky” have been remixed by the band with
the help of producer Charlie Bauerfeind. Additionally the majority of
tracks on this album have been completely remastered. After all
Helloween have always stood for sterling quality. In this sense and in
the hope that we will continue to have a lot of fun with this band,
may the pumpkin continue to glow forever!
Matthias Mineur, February 2002
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