Helloween

In the world of heavy metal, 1988 may be best remembered as the year that prog metal was born, thanks to such popular and enduring releases as Metallica's …And Justice for All, Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime, and Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. But predating all of these aforementioned titles by a year was Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 1 by Germany's Helloween. Influenced equally by Maiden and Judas Priest, the group specialized in both anthemic metal (with operatic vocals) and tricky musical bits – as evidenced by the epic track "Halloween," which received quite a few spins on Headbangers Ball as an edited version…

After well over a dozen albums, Helloween still has an impressive knack for grafting memorably anthemic choruses over full-throttle power metal. What's more, their quieter, more melodic moments never dissolve into schmaltzy sentimentality (a mistake made too often by the band's many followers); the ballad "Don't Stop Being Crazy" has a certain pathos without being corny…

Celebrating Helloween’s greatest hits from three decades and offering a breakneck trip through time and the band’s entire repertoire, “United Alive” was recorded over the band’s 14-month Pumpkins United World that began in the Fall of 2017. Made up of the core past & current members Andi Deris, Michael Kiske, Michael Weikath, Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf, Sascha Gerstner, and Daniel Löble, Helloween delivered 69 shows, including 14 headlining spots at the biggest festivals, in front of over one million people in 32 countries and on three continents…

Founded in 1989 by Kai Hansen in Hamburg, Germany after leaving Helloween, Gamma Ray borrowed straight from the Helloween classics, and continued to pioneer Hansen’s style of power metal…

Kai Hansen formed Helloween in 1984, playing guitar and singing on the speed metal band's first four albums. He left in early 1989, however, and founded Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (formerly with Tyran Pace). The duo intended to record a one-off project that Hansen originated while in Helloween, so they recruited bassist Uwe Wessel, drummer Matthias Burchardt, and several other musicians…

Kai Hansen formed Helloween in 1984, playing guitar and singing on the speed metal band's first four albums. He left in early 1989, however, and founded Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (formerly with Tyran Pace). The duo intended to record a one-off project that Hansen originated while in Helloween, so they recruited bassist Uwe Wessel, drummer Matthias Burchardt, and several other musicians…

Kai Hansen formed Helloween in 1984, playing guitar and singing on the speed metal band's first four albums. He left in early 1989, however, and founded Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (formerly with Tyran Pace). The duo intended to record a one-off project that Hansen originated while in Helloween, so they recruited bassist Uwe Wessel, drummer Matthias Burchardt, and several other musicians…

There is a certain charm to an album like this from a historical standpoint, particularly for anybody who still wanted a more flashy and fun style of metal/rock that cut against the "Alternative" ideal of dumbed down songwriting and morose or mundane lyrics about how much the world sucks, because this is about as clear of a rejection of the decade it was born from that one could find. It embodies the same sort of fantastical escapism that would occupy the early days of lighter, fantasy-oriented bands like Freedom Call and Edguy while also being a bit more retro in character, perhaps most closely dovetailing with the somewhat later reformation and restyled incarnation of Domain…