Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II (1988)^{Release ID: 797}

Helloween, the pioneers of power metal, made the genre possible from their early days.  Their self-titled extended play was already showing early stages of metal brilliance, but that speed metal album was only the beginning.  They had perfected themselves more and more with their albums Walls of Jericho and Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. I.  And Pt. II cemented their footprints in the everlasting heavy metal hall of fame.  Pt. II is everything a metal fan can ask for.  While the structures of most of these songs are very poppy, making the album seriously accessible, the metal energy is still very strong.  Maybe it doesn't reach the thrashing heights of Walls of Jericho, but the anthemic energy makes up for that.  Anthems to freedom like "Eagle Fly Free" and "Rise and Fall" make a full grown man wanna jump on the bed when he's just chilling in the bedroom.  But there's also a weird side to it, bringing out Helloween's jovial childishness.  Songs like "Dr. Stein" and "Keeper of the Seven Keys" bring out the sci-fi and fantasy that so many power metal bands sought to imitate and build their images off of, but they hardly feel cheesy because Helloween weren't TRYING to do anything, they just did it.  And with Michael Kiske's vocal range rising beyond the stratosphere and scratching Heaven, there's no way to resist the band's raw force.

Keeper of the Seven Keys is considered to be Helloween at its most iconic.  And while I'm not sure I'd call it their peak, it's certainly something that needs to be heard.  This was the first power metal album I ever heard, and because of that I got an early start on looking through dozens of power metal acts.  But very few of them could replicate the energy and independence that Helloween stood for during the Kiske era.  Purely incredible, and definitely essential.

Power Metal has always been a very divisive subgenre with the metal community. This division has been a persistent issue since the genre's formation and boom during the late 1980s and into the 1990s. And Helloween are this genre tags most well known and respected band. Their debut E.P. as well as the three subsequent full length albums that followed, are considered high art by those who enjoy it.

Now, forgive me for being naive, but I've never cared for Helloween. I have always believed that when matched side by side with the artists that they were trying to invoke, Helloween always felt a step down. Their biggest love is clearly Iron Maiden, and that is a high bar to live up to for sure, so I don't blame them too much for that.

What I will say is that in comparison to the power metal bands that followed into the 1990s, Helloween did not age very well at all. And Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II  is no exception. The production and compositions on this album falls very flat very quickly. For starters, the guitars are not mixed all that well. Sure they sound fine, but many of the rhythmic passages feel undercooked and lacking a significant low end to really drive them forward. The melodic passages are much more enjoyable because the bass does sound pretty good throughout the entire project thanks to Markus using the fretless variety. Percussion is pretty standard by definition in Power Metal. And Michael Kiske does a very solid Bruce Dickinson impersonation here, but loses his individual identity pretty quickly.

As for the compositions, I found far too many times that the tempo changes and development of ideas felt forced. The tempo changes just show up out of nowhere with nothing to prepare them and the development tries overlaying some melodic counterpoint in the lead guitar or vocals, but doesn't introduce these ideas initially to make the combining of the two hit harder. And of course, the hooks. For as nice of a sound that Helloween may have, I cannot recall at least half of this album. I mean, the album starts off very well with "Eagle Fly Free" and I have a blast with "March of Time", but tunes such as "Rise and Fall", "Mr. Stein" and "We Got the Right" are just in one ear and out the other. 

For comparison sake, I decided to listen to Queensrÿche's album of the same year, Operation: Mindcrime. And what I ended up finding was an album that was able to grip me and carry me along for the ride with greater consistency. As for Helloween, I won't deny that they do have a mostly enjoyable sound and I am not going to shun anyone for enjoying them. But Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II offers a lot less today than it did back in 1988 and Blind Guardian easily surpassed them entering the 1990s. 

Although the name is misleading, this album and part 1 are not two-part concept albums, and actually seem to be completely unrelated in terms of themes. This album, in my opinion, is superior and much better represents the genre of Power Metal.

While Part 1 abandoned the band’s Speed Metal energy and aggression in favor of complete melody, this album brings back the intense speed of the debut while retaining extremely melodic and uplifting songwriting, resulting in a concrete example of fully formed Power Metal. This album, like Part 1, is incredibly diverse, both in terms of themes and songwriting, with incredibly poppy numbers sitting between hyper speedy power assaults. Thankfully this album is much more consistent quality-wise, apart from the silly Dr. Stein every song is very strong.

Another note – they really went off the wall stylistically here. The lyrics are insane as are some of the sounds they throw in. It’s kind of off putting at times, but on the other hand it’s one of the most fun-sounding records I’ve ever heard. Definitely one of the first and best examples of metal not being dark in any sense.