Helloween

Crafting fast-paced power metal since their inception in the early '80s, Helloween has followed a very curious and unique path throughout their career. Releasing heady concept albums (the Keeper of the Seven Keys series) and complicated metal anthems while keeping their tongue firmly in cheek, the band managed to stay relevant in a stagnant genre by not being afraid to be different. This two-CD set showcases their career by mixing the tracks together from every point of their existence.

Helloween Alongside Switzerland's Celtic Frost and Sweden's Bathory, Germany's Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the '80s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal. The group hit their commercial peak in the late '80s with the release of the two-volume Keeper of the Seven Keys, which helped make them the benchmark by which most every power metal band is measured.

Helloween Alongside Switzerland's Celtic Frost and Sweden's Bathory, Germany's Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the '80s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal. The group hit their commercial peak in the late '80s with the release of the two-volume Keeper of the Seven Keys, which helped make them the benchmark by which most every power metal band is measured.

Alongside Switzerland's Celtic Frost and Sweden's Bathory, Germany's Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the '80s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal.

Helloween followed up their very popular self-titled mini-LP with 1986's even more accomplished Walls of Jericho, a disc that saw the quartet from Hamburg, Germany, outperforming expectations and quickly defining their sonic identity. The instrumental title track soon gives way to amazingly mature and complex compositions like "Ride the Sky," "Phantoms of Death," and the awesome "How Many Tears" (even more ambitious 13-minute epics would soon follow). And although these were heavily reliant on Iron Maiden for inspiration, it was Helloween's speed metal innovations that clearly helped make the songs so special and influential for future bands. Even the album's lyrically challenged, somewhat one-dimensional moments ("Warrior," "Metal Invaders") usually succeed, thanks to the group's uncontainable energy. On the downside, the album continued to expose Kai Hansen's limitations as a singer, but the band would soon remedy this disadvantage by bringing on teenage phenom Michael Kiske as lead vocalist.[The CD reissue of Walls of Jericho offers a complete recap of Helloween's first incarnation by combining it with their eponymous mini-LP and the Judas EP in chronological order.]

Helloween followed up their very popular self-titled mini-LP with 1986's even more accomplished Walls of Jericho, a disc that saw the quartet from Hamburg, Germany, outperforming expectations and quickly defining their sonic identity. The instrumental title track soon gives way to amazingly mature and complex compositions like "Ride the Sky," "Phantoms of Death," and the awesome "How Many Tears" (even more ambitious 13-minute epics would soon follow). And although these were heavily reliant on Iron Maiden for inspiration, it was Helloween's speed metal innovations that clearly helped make the songs so special and influential for future bands. Even the album's lyrically challenged, somewhat one-dimensional moments ("Warrior," "Metal Invaders") usually succeed, thanks to the group's uncontainable energy. On the downside, the album continued to expose Kai Hansen's limitations as a singer, but the band would soon remedy this disadvantage by bringing on teenage phenom Michael Kiske as lead vocalist.[The CD reissue of Walls of Jericho offers a complete recap of Helloween's first incarnation by combining it with their eponymous mini-LP and the Judas EP in chronological order.]

Alongside Switzerland's Celtic Frost and Sweden's Bathory, Germany's Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the '80s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal. The group hit their commercial peak in the late '80s with the release of the two-volume Keeper of the Seven Keys, which helped make them the benchmark by which most every power metal band is measured.

Alongside Switzerland's Celtic Frost and Sweden's Bathory, Germany's Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the '80s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal. The group hit their commercial peak in the late '80s with the release of the two-volume Keeper of the Seven Keys, which helped make them the benchmark by which most every power metal band is measured.

Alongside Switzerland's Celtic Frost and Sweden's Bathory, Germany's Helloween are possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the '80s. By taking the hard-riffing and minor-key melodies handed down from metal masters like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal. The group hit their commercial peak in the late '80s with the release of the two-volume Keeper of the Seven Keys, which helped make them the benchmark by which most every power metal band is measured.

'Better Than Raw' is the eighth studio album by German power metal band Helloween. The album spawned the singles 'I Can' and 'Hey Lord!'. Now as part of the 40th anniversary of the band, this classic including four bonus tracks has now been remastered and the original artwork restored.