Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy
SPV/Steamhammer - SPV 80000922 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Now, I know that the name of the album alone is going to get a lot of crusty old power metal fans pretty excited. 1987's Keeper Of The Seven Keys was a pretty damned important record for a lot of people. Hell, I was only three years old when it came out, and even I've got fond memories of the likes of 'Future World' and 'Twilight Of The Gods'. The sequel did pretty well for itself, too. Before every die-hard Helloween fan runs out to buy this, however, I'd like to remind them of a couple of things. Chameleon and Rabbit Don't Come Easy. Sitting back down now? Good, then maybe we can talk about whether this album is fit to carry the title it does, or whether this double-disc release sees Helloween still stumbling around in search of the old magic.
Well - the answer would have to be a fairly disappointed 'close, but no cigar', really. Each of the two disc opens with an epic-length track. Disc one's 'The King For A 1000 Years' is chock-full of tempo changes, strong riffing, Andi Deras' confident and powerful vocal performance, and for much of it's 13-minute-plus running time, genuinely seems to possess that upbeat, energetic charge that made Helloween the band they were nearly twenty years ago. Disc two's 'Occasion Avenue' opener is somewhat darker and heavier, with a more epic if less bombastic feel to it. If one were to go on the evidence of these tracks alone, you may conclude that Helloween have indeed bottled lightning once again. But, of course, there are more tracks.
'Mrs. God', the first single, is a risible sub-three-minute pop-metal track with a ridiculously annoying introduction, a self-consciously anthemic chorus and a flow-scuppering bass break (followed by a frankly bewildering sample of a sheep baaing) near the end of the track. 'Born On Judgment Day' starts off sounding like fairly cookie-cutter, clockwork drummer power metal - and pretty much stays that way. 'Light The Universe' (featuring the guest vocals of Candice Knight) is an horribly cringeworthy ballad making mention of a character called 'Lazer-Boy'. In fact, when it comes down to it, only the two opening tracks, the urgently insistent 'Pleasure Drone', and the together-as-one balls-out rocker 'Do You Know What You're Fighting For' really stand out as Helloween tracks of comparable quality to the original Keeper Of The Seven Keys. And even then, I think I'd rather listen to that album.
There are good points about this album, don't get me wrong - the technical ability displayed by the musicians throughout is nothing short of spectacular, with the Weikath/Gerstner guitar team cranking out some impressively catchy riffs and typically energetic solos while Dani Loeble pulls speedy fills and dextrous beats out of his bag of tricks with admirable frequency. It's definitely a vast improvement over Rabbit Don't Come Easy. It's just that, as the return-to-form album that most Helloween fans were waiting for, ..The Legacy frankly fails to live up to expectations.
5/10
Official Helloween Website
Official SPV USA Website
SPV/Steamhammer - SPV 80000922 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Now, I know that the name of the album alone is going to get a lot of crusty old power metal fans pretty excited. 1987's Keeper Of The Seven Keys was a pretty damned important record for a lot of people. Hell, I was only three years old when it came out, and even I've got fond memories of the likes of 'Future World' and 'Twilight Of The Gods'. The sequel did pretty well for itself, too. Before every die-hard Helloween fan runs out to buy this, however, I'd like to remind them of a couple of things. Chameleon and Rabbit Don't Come Easy. Sitting back down now? Good, then maybe we can talk about whether this album is fit to carry the title it does, or whether this double-disc release sees Helloween still stumbling around in search of the old magic.
Well - the answer would have to be a fairly disappointed 'close, but no cigar', really. Each of the two disc opens with an epic-length track. Disc one's 'The King For A 1000 Years' is chock-full of tempo changes, strong riffing, Andi Deras' confident and powerful vocal performance, and for much of it's 13-minute-plus running time, genuinely seems to possess that upbeat, energetic charge that made Helloween the band they were nearly twenty years ago. Disc two's 'Occasion Avenue' opener is somewhat darker and heavier, with a more epic if less bombastic feel to it. If one were to go on the evidence of these tracks alone, you may conclude that Helloween have indeed bottled lightning once again. But, of course, there are more tracks.
'Mrs. God', the first single, is a risible sub-three-minute pop-metal track with a ridiculously annoying introduction, a self-consciously anthemic chorus and a flow-scuppering bass break (followed by a frankly bewildering sample of a sheep baaing) near the end of the track. 'Born On Judgment Day' starts off sounding like fairly cookie-cutter, clockwork drummer power metal - and pretty much stays that way. 'Light The Universe' (featuring the guest vocals of Candice Knight) is an horribly cringeworthy ballad making mention of a character called 'Lazer-Boy'. In fact, when it comes down to it, only the two opening tracks, the urgently insistent 'Pleasure Drone', and the together-as-one balls-out rocker 'Do You Know What You're Fighting For' really stand out as Helloween tracks of comparable quality to the original Keeper Of The Seven Keys. And even then, I think I'd rather listen to that album.
There are good points about this album, don't get me wrong - the technical ability displayed by the musicians throughout is nothing short of spectacular, with the Weikath/Gerstner guitar team cranking out some impressively catchy riffs and typically energetic solos while Dani Loeble pulls speedy fills and dextrous beats out of his bag of tricks with admirable frequency. It's definitely a vast improvement over Rabbit Don't Come Easy. It's just that, as the return-to-form album that most Helloween fans were waiting for, ..The Legacy frankly fails to live up to expectations.
5/10
Official Helloween Website
Official SPV USA Website
, and I guess most of the songs they'll play will be from this cd. Pity...hopefully they'll play a lot of oldies also.
