Helloween-Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt 1

 So now I am in the car on a 7 hour car ride, what better time to do a metal review?

So now I will review some Helloween baby! I am doing their second album Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 which thoroughly rocks. It has a lot of amazing sounds and it is one of the albums that helped to shape power metal. The songs on this album are great, from the hard rocking I'm Alive to their classic Halloween this album has a lot going for it. The guitar sound is loud and awesome, it makes the music seem a lot more full and beautiful. The bass has a couple good fills but mostly accompanies the drums on finding the groove. The drums are very well done. The vocals are good and have a good feel, the lyrics are great, as it is always with Helloween.

The guitar sound is phenomenal, it features a lot of really great riffs. For some reason these riffs remind me very much of AC/DC type intro riffs. Underneath the verse the guitar usually plays long open chords or keeps a staccato thrash type rhythm. The solos are very melodic and thus excellent, the majority of them are pretty insane sounding. In addition the two guitars combine nicely to create a really good and full sounding album. The bass is decent, asides from a few fills it does not get a lot of time to show off. However the bass keeps the music going and adds a bit of a thrash feel to the music. The drums are very good, there are some excellent fills on this album. All in all the musicianship is awesome.

The vocals are amazing, they have great sound. The vocalist has an alto voice but it is extremely powerful and he can harness it to create a wall of sound. His voice has a force in it that puts him up among the rock gods. It seems to me that if you want to be a vocalist god you need to have a voice with A LOT of power, and then you become something great. This singer has the necessary power and so he becomes elevated to a rank as one of the greatest vocalists. The lyrics are usually fantasy based and have a high powered feel. They are sometimes sad and other times angry. All in all though they are absolutely awesome.

All in all this is a great power metal album that features one of the greatest power metal artists ever. Helloween helps to show how awesome power metal can be on this album. From the soaring guitar solos to the explosive riffs the guitars sound awesome on this album. The bass is powerful and keeps the groove on in an amazing way. The drums are wonderful, creating a good sound that helps to drive the music along. However the thing that makes this album for me, is the vocals. The more I listen to the high powered singing the more I am enamored with it. The lyrics really compliment this concept as well and offer a good range of ideas. Overall this is a classic album, with an amazing band creating a great album.

OVERALL 9.5/10