KEEPER OF SEVEN KEYS PART 1 ALBUM
Successes go on quickly for Helloween. Fortified by the success of their first EP, they got down to a much more consequent album which also received excellent critics and which remains still today amongst the classics of the band. Yet, there must always be someone to spoil the mood: this person, frequently at the origin of troubles during the first years of Helloween, is Michael Weikath, due to his personality and his will. Indeed, the soloist had noticed over time that the vocal skills of Kai Hansen were degrading, to the point where one day he decides to replace him to focus only on the rhythmic guitar. It has not gone down well and the rest of the band persists to keep Hansen behind the mic. At some point during a tour across the Channel with Celtic Frost, the other members try to avoid him by choosing to sit at another table when Weikath meet them. However, the latter doesn't discourage and his efforts finally come to satisfaction: Hansen cracks, admitting eventually that he lacks the practice to handle both singing and guitar and accepts to leave his mic to someone else that would fully dedicate to it in order to increase the band's quality. Still remains the hard task to find whoever would assume this responsibility. Weikath suggests the then very young Michael Kiske, who was playing in the band IIIrd Prophecy and whose the Helloween guitarist had noticed his impressive skills for a singer of his age (he was eighteen). But Kiske refuses. Weikath, true to himself, doesn't throw in the sponge, persuaded that he had found the good person. At another point, someone suggests him a phone number lying around in a pocket, Ralf Scheepers' one, at this moment in Tyran's Pace - who would eventually join Hansen after his departure to form Gamma Ray. By dint of persuasions, Kiske finally accepts to join Helloween.
His dream team now in place, Weikath, with Hansen, starts working on this much-vaunted project of a double-album dealing with fantasy stories, the "Keeper of the Seven Keys". Sadly for them, another major impediment stands in their way: Noise refuses such a work, considered as way too ambitious and prem for the age of the band, being afraid that the album would sell very badly. The band resolves to split it into two parts and that's how this first opus saw the light of day on May, 23rd, 1987, an album that marks the real turning point of the band, coming from a heavy/speed metal sound with some melodies to what we would call later power metal.
Power metal wasn't inevitably born with this album, it is always difficult to tell when a genre is created, but this Keeper of the Seven Keys is often considered to be the album that gave prestige to this metal sub-genre, much more than Walls of Jericho in any cases. To explain that, several reasons, the first of them being the production. We come from a very heavy, distorted sound to something much lighter and softer, which distinguishes the album from the heavy metal scene. Then, the lyrical themes deal now clearly with high fantasy, as shown by the beautiful artwork that illustrates very well the transition between half fantastic half horrific that we found on the first EP and Walls of Jericho, though by this time, fantasy is support carrying philosophical and spiritual messages (like the endless combat between good and evil). Last thing to notice and not the less important of them, the songs give much more importance to melodic plays between both of the guitars, Hansen finally dedicating himself to the guitars, the whole being carried by the voice of the newly-recruited Kiske, much softer and more reassuring than the raw singing of his predecessor.
So many elements that end in one of the most remarkable albums of its year, which is also one of my favourite of the band. Helloween doesn't break with the mark of WoJ, as the opener "I'm Alive" shows it, bringing immediately melodic speed metal where everything goes fast with still a heavy metal rhythmic. The other song of this kind is "Twilight of the Gods", built in the same way, starting like a rocket with an epic melodic lead, a heavy riffing and an incredible pre-chorus that reminds of "I'm Alive". The band tempers with a new aspect that progressively appears within the band, namely the taste more and more pronounced for rock FM/pop influences. The two most striking examples are "A Little Time" and "Future World". The first having a pure traditional heavy riffing and a quite catchy pre-chorus, the second having a Pretty Maids-influenced riffing - whose album of the same name, Future World, was released less than a month before Keepers part I - with a chorus that sounds much like a "heavy hit that makes us raise the fist" and which totally works for me, by the bye...
The guitar melodies also take more place than ever in this album, another distinctive mark that future power metal bands would reappropriate later. The soli even take sometimes a disproportionate place compared to the length of the other instrumental parts, such as the one in "I'm Alive", made up in several parts showing several techniques, that reminds "Ride the Sky" from the previous album. In "A Little Time", the solo is more in the hard rock vein, which goes along with the musical aspect of the whole. At the opposite, in "Twilight of the Gods", we have an amazing, blasting solo, that goes very well with the super epic ambience of the song. Finally, the apex of melodies and virtuosity in composition when it comes to solo, something that never was matched by any other power metal bands to me, the masterful "Halloween". The solo isn't just beautiful, it is part of a unique atmosphere that I never found again in Helloween's discography, epic and mystic at the same time.
Speaking of "Halloween", my favourite song of the Germans' discography, it shows a progressive influence I already wrote about in my Walls of Jericho review. Of course, this influence is felt more than ever in this song with its thirteen minutes of melodic speed/power metal. Taking a closer look at the song, looking at the tabs, we can notice several changes of tempo and rhythmic signatures. Globally, the riffs go one after another, none of them lacks inspiration and the song propose a rather classic but okay chorus. However, what makes this song so powerful to me is the effort given in the construction and the progression of both the instrumental parts and the lyrics. Musically speaking, first of all, it starts like a quite classic power metal song but, as the song continues, the atmosphere changes several times, passing through something more mystical and darker. The music changes are then accompanied by the lyrics. I don't talk often about the lyrical content in the discs I review because I rarely see interest in doing so but here, I find them really well constructed: the song starts by telling us the excitement of a city filled with the spirit of Halloween, an atmosphere rather warm and reassuring, before switching to something much more horrific in a horror movie style, to conclude by a moral speech on the evil, temptation and the good.
Some other, more discreet, notions illustrate this prog aspect, such as the intro "Initiation", epic and melodic, and the outro "Follow the Signs" that concludes the previous song "Halloween", in which we find once again this duality good/evil in the lyrics narrated in a musical background quite mysterious.
Keeper of the Seven Keys part I is the outcome of several years long and hard studied projects that are the echo of a will to emancipate from the original heavy metal scene. With a much softer and more accessible production, its neverending guitar solos, its very high-pitched singer - softer than its predecessor, once again -, this album operates a new transition in the band's career that finds a striking echo in Europe and Japan in the following decades through the new genre of power metal. Yet, this first part remains a draft of the genre, that would really find its identity in the second part of these "Keeper", released one year later.
Daftar lagu
1. Initiation 01:21 instrumental
2. I'm Alive 03:23
You, you say, you have lost the way
Got no aim, just living for today
Look up to the sky above
And see the morning sun again
You got so much power inside
So cry it out my friend
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
There's no use in hanging all around
You're a king, can't you see your crown
Look into my eyes
So many things are waiting to be done
You just need a friend
Together we will sing along
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
Look into my eyes
So many things are waiting to be done
You just need a friend
Together we will sing along
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
I'm alive
3. A Little Time 03:59
Higher
It's what I expect from my Life
It's like a wire
That holds me back down to the ground
Oh, I hear you say
"That is the way of the world"
No, hear what I say
"I wanna do so much in my way"
Higher
I've set my limits and bounds
There's a fire
It's burning so hot in my head
Oh, I hear you say
"That is the way of the world"
No, hear what I say
"I wanna do so much in my way"
We got a little time to build up your lives
A little time to make up our minds
A little time to fill up our dreams
A little time, time
Time...
A little time to build up your lives
A little time to make up our minds
A little time to fill up our dreams
A little time, time
[Repeat to end]
4. Twilight of the Gods 04:29
Insania 20 14
We've thrown away our former gods
Controlling our day
We have created better ones
So we control the way
We are the ones with the power to hold down the enemy
Our gods are perfection and they are protecting our lives
We still need some more of them to be safe from the other side
As long as we're stronger, nothing will happen to us
Fireflash in the night
Just an evil dream
Holy war in the sky
Never
Insania 20 16
Error in store 103
We watch the sun at night
The pretty gods we've built ourselves
Now terminate our lives
Silicon brain powered voices are crying "attack" tonight
Our gods are now fighting in anger, burning our world
Doomsday has come and there is no place to hide away
The future is over and there is no turning back
Fireflash in the night
Now reality
Holy war in the sky
Twilight of the gods
Insania's dead and gone
Another world was born
But the twilight soon will come
Fireflash in the night
Now reality
Holy war in the sky
Twilight of the gods
Insania's dead and gone
Another world was born
But the twilight soon will come
5. A Tale That Wasn't Right 05:15
Here I stand all alone
Have my mind turned to stone
Have my heart filled up with ice
To avoid it's breaking twice
Thanx to you, my dear old friend
But you can't help, this is the end
Of a tale that wasn't right
I won't have no sleep tonight
In my heart, in my soul
I really hate to pay this toll
Should be strong, young and bold
But the only thing I feel is pain
It's alright, we'll stay friends
Trusting in my confidence
And let's say it's just alright
You won't sleep alone tonight
In my heart, in my soul
I really hate to pay this toll
Should be strong, young and bold
But the only thing I feel is pain
With my heart, with my soul
Some guys cry you bought and sold
They've been strong, young and bold
And they say, play this song again
In my heart, in my soul
I really hate to pay this toll
Should be strong, young and bold
But the only thing I feel is pain
6. Future World 04:02
If you're out there all alone
And you don't know where to go to
Come and take a trip with me to Future World
And if you're running through your life
And you don't know what the sense is
Come and look how it could be, in Future World
We all live in happiness our life is full of joy
We say the word "tomorrow" without fear
The feeling of togetherness is always at our side
We love our life and we know we will stay
Cause we all live in Future World
A world that's full of love
Our future life will be glorious
Come with me, Future World
You say you'd like to stay
But this is not your time
Go back, find your own way to Future World
Life can be for living
Just try and never give in
Tell everyone the way of Future World
One day you'll live in happiness with a heart that's full of joy
You'll say the word "tomorrow" without fear
The feeling of togetherness will be at your side
You'll say you love your life and you'll know why
Cause we all live in Future World
A world that's full of love
Our future life will be glorious
Come with me, Future World
Scream it out
Cause we all live in Future World
A world that's full of love
Our future life will be glorious
Come with me, come with me
Come with me Future World, Future World
Future World, Future World
7. Halloween 13:18
Masquerade, masquerade
Grab your mask and don't be late
Get out get out well disguised
Heat and fever in the air tonight
Meet the others at the store
Knock on other people's door
Trick or treat they have the choice
Little ghosts are making lotsa noise
But watch out... beware
Listen... take care
In the streets on Halloween there's something going on
No way to escape the power unknown
In the streets on Halloween the spirits will arise
Make your choice, it's hell or paradise
Ah! It's Halloween
Ah! It's Halloween... tonight!
Someone's sitting in a field
Never giving yield
Sitting there with gleaming eyes
Waiting for big pumpkin to arise
Bad luck if you get a stone
Like the good old Charlie Brown
You think Linus could be right
The kids will say it's just a stupid lie
But watch out... beware
Listen... take care
In the streets on Halloween there's something going on
No way to escape the power unknown
In the streets on Halloween the spirits will arise
Make your choice, it's hell or paradise
Ah! It's Halloween
Ah! It's Halloween... oh... tonight!
Listen now, we are calling you...
Listen now, we are calling you...
Listen now, we are calling you...
Listen tonight, we are calling you...
Yeah and there is magic in the air
Magic in the air, magic in the air
Magic in the air... on, on Halloween
Black is the night full of fright
You'll be missing the day
What will be here very soon
Changing your way
A knock at your door
Is it real or is it a dream
On trembling legs you open the door
And you scream... on Halloween, on Halloween
Darkness
Where am I now
Is there anybody out there
What has happened
Am I in heaven or is it hell
I can see a light coming
It's coming nearer
It's shining, it's shining so bright
It's shining on me yeah
I am the one
Doom's in my hands
Now make your choice
Redeemed or enslaved
I'll show you passion and glory
He is the snake
I'll give you power and abundance
He's the corrupter of man
Save me from the evil one
Give me strength to carry on
I will fight for all mankind's
Deliverance and peace of mind
But watch out... beware
Listen... take care
In the streets on Halloween there's something going on
No way to escape the power unknown
In the streets on Halloween the spirits will arise
Make your choice, it's hell or paradise
Ah! It's Halloween
Ah! It's Halloween
Ah! It's Halloween
Ah! It's Halloween
Oh yeah, it's Halloween
Yeah, it's Halloween
Yeah, it's Halloween
Yeah, it's Halloween... tonight
8. Follow the Sign 01:46
Now that you've made your choice, follow the sign
Did you make your choice?
You're the keeper of the seven keys
Our only hope's your victory
So follow the sign
***Disclaimer***
I do not own any copyright
for any of this material!
Copyright belongs to Helloween
and Noise Recordings!
Purchase your remastered copy today!
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