Treasure Chest

Treasure Chest is a massive 'fan package' sort of collection which aims to at least give the band's core fanbase something they haven't heard before, in the form of some remixes or alternate vocal takes on familiar tracks. The value of this one is somewhat debatable though; if you're picking up the 3CD version, there's a bit more to recommend, but even if you just grab the 2CD, at the very least you are getting all the tracks as remastered, and then some of those are ADDITIONALLY remixed. I am no fan of the long form 'greatest hits' sort of compilation, as is well documented, so I had to approach this one with some hesitation, but the promise of a few rarities put me in a moth/flame situation. I just hoped I wasn't going to get shocked too badly...

The remasters actually sound quite decent, smoothing over some of the production edges folks might have had with albums like Master of the Rings, Time of the Oath and The Dark Ride, but for the newer stuff this obviously comes with only minor adjustments. "Mr. Torture" never sounded brighter, but what I get a little confused by is that the levels and power of the tunes from different records don't really balance out here all that much, so if you're blasting through this on a good stereo it's just a smidgeon jarring. More interesting are how the older tracks like "Future World" or "Halloween" are approached, and they sound fine, but I think it'd be easier to judge them all on fully remastered original albums; the really early choices with Kai singing still sound the roughest and don't really benefit from being surrounded by the more contemporary material. As for the remixed stuff, you're getting a lot larger difference, especially on something like "Starlight" because this version is done with Kiske's vocals instead of Hansen's. I prefer the original because it just had the craziness and atmosphere, but this one's also a treat, whereas the remix of "Ride the Sky" actually also sounds pretty decent and loses little of that earlier aggression.

So it's a case by case basis, and I don't really want spend over 2nd a half hours on that, but most of the tunes are not at all unpleasant to listen to in these incarnations. Probably my favorite of the remasters was "Kings Will Be Kings", it just seems a little more powerful and atmospheric. Of more interest (initially) was the 3rd disc in the Limited Edition which is full of B-sides and rarities...some aren't really that rare when they were included on bonus discs on pretty common versions of the albums, like the stuff from the Master of the Rings bonus disc, and there are other tracks here like "Shit and Lobster, a bonus track from Pink Bubbles Go Ape which kind of sucks, and sucks even more to lead this off. The vocals sound way off, too loud, and while it's definitely metalized it seems like its got dull hard rock roots to it. The same could be said for "I Don't Care You Don't Care" and "Ain't Got Nothin' Better", the former of which is fucking terrible. The cover of "Electric Eye" is good, and "A Game We Shouldn't Play", a bonus track for Better Than Raw, is awesome, with those little symphonic and synth swells, great guitars and vocals, but these are at the end of the third disc and it's just too little too late.

I'm rather indecisive over all on this one...clearly it's the best 'greatest hits' OR 'rarities' package the band had released since The Best * The Rest * The Rare, but by no means is it necessarily worth tracking down unless you really wanna hear a few of those B-sides, and in every case I'd say get a version of the CD that already includes them. But I'm not going to trash it, because when you include all the work that went into the remastering and remixing, its clear that this as a product had some love put into it, just a lack of consistency when you take all three discs into account.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustretuned.com

I don't have the slightest idea why this compilation was randomly put out twenty-four years after Helloween's predecessor Gentry saw the light of day, nineteen years after the band's foundation and seventeen years after its first full length record. The band could have waited just one more year to underline its twentieth anniversary. It doesn't matter in the end. What matters is that this release is the perfect choice for new fans, occasional listeners and faithful collectors alike. This triple-disc set comes in a beautiful boxed set with a cool poster and covers the band's career from its first record to its most recent release back then.

Helloween has left its mark on the power metal scene like few other bands in this world and a look at the first two disc confirms that the German band has released influential tunes in all phases of its career. Early power metal epics like ''Ride the Sky'' or the version of ''Starlight'' with an extraordinary Michael Kiske on vocals have aged particularly well and aren't only remembered fondly by power metal fans nowadays but also by the detractors of said genre. The songs from Walls of Jericho have kept their pure, liberating and energetic spirit that make them sound fresh, majestic and timeless.

The era that is commonly known as the band's golden years around the first Keeper of the Seven Keys record is richly represented on this compilation. The dynamic yet gloomy epic ''Halloween'' is still played on said day all around the world nowadays while ''Keeper of the Seven Keys'' proved that lyrics with religious background and uplifting melodic heavy metal could harmonize particularly well.

Helloween even included tracks from its more controversial releases in the early nineties that nearly saw the group fall apart. The uplifting and melodic ''The Chance'' is an overlooked gem with great bass guitar play and technically stunning drum techniques. Even the much criticized ballad ''Windmill'' with atmospheric sound samples, piano sounds and acoustic guitars stands out for its courage to experiment and broaden the band's horizons.

The new era of the band is also represented fairly well with songs like the sinister hard rocking ''The Time of the Oath'' and the powerful ''Mr. Torture'' that combines fierce riffs and raw vocals with unforgettable melodies and a chorus that is among the best the band has ever written.

The third disc featuring rarities is particularly interesting. Even though they are included on the remastered versions of the band's records, it's a great idea to have a solid selection of them on such a separate disc on this unique output. It offers the occasion to discover some forgotten gems even though most tracks aren't as strong as the band's regular cuts. The blues-infused ''Ain't Got Nothin' Better'' shows a completely unknown side of the band while ''Can't Fight Your Desire'' combines the band's atmospheric and energetic sides so perfectly that one has to wonder why this particular song didn't make the cut for a regular album.

Obviously, one might discuss the absence of certain tracks like the powerful anthem ''Kids of the Century'', the experimental, inspiring and mature ''When the Sinner'' or the gothic metal hit song ''If I Could Fly'' that represented yet another reinvention of the versatile band.

Still, this compilation represents all phases this band went through quite accurately, features famous hit singles as well as overlooked gems and even offers a whole disc of rarities. All this music comes with a carefully designed boxed set with detailed booklets and a beautiful poster. Instead of purchasing specific records of the band that had some ups and downs, you are guaranteed to discover much more killers than fillers on this excellent package. It has been almost seventeen years since this compilation has been released and one would love to see another compilation like this covering all the records from Rabbit Don't Come Easy to My God-Given Right.

If you are looking for an even more complete compilation with three discs filled with tracks in chronological order plus a massive DVD featuring the band's twenty-one video clips, go grab Japanese compilation Sweet Seductions released a little bit more than one year ago. You might pay an elevated import price for it but this compilation truly offers value for money.

This double disc compilation by the German power metal pioneers is a great starting point for any new or casual fans but also die hards. "Treasure Chest" showcases the bands high points in the Keepers series and the low points found in "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" and "Chameleon". Also, the most popular songs are here with a few hidden gems.

Helloween's "Treasure Chest" ranks up there with some of the greates compilations ever like Judas Priest's "Metal Works '73-'93" and Iron Maiden's "Best of the Beast". This compilation is simply the best and most career spanding effort. This 15 year retrospective spands from their debut album, Walls Of Jericho to their latest entitled "The Dark Ride". This 29 song Best Of also has 5 of Helloween's best songs remixed.

This compilation has all Helloween's best songs. Some of these found on the first disc include the Keepers era classics like "I Want Out", "Future World", "Dr.Stein", "A Little Time" and "Eagle Fly Free". Found on "Treasure Chest" are the 13 minute epics "Halloween" and a remixed version of "Keeper Of The Seven Keys". There are also the very early and thrashy songs like "Starlight" and "Metal Invaders". As for second disc is concerned, more great songs are found like "Mr. Ego (Take Me Down)", "Kings Will Be Kings", "Mirror, Mirror", Perfect Gentleman" and "Immortal".

This compilation displays perfectly the great musicianship which created the power metal scene. It also gives the listener the opportunity to hear some great thrashy metal in a song like "Murderer" or a great ballad found in "Windmill". This double disc collection captures Helloween's best moments from every different era.

Also available is the special edition that comes with a third disc. Ths disc is mandatory to any die hard fan. It contains kick ass B sides including the great insrumentals "Oriental Journey" and a live preformance of "Moshi Moshi - Shiki No Uta". There is also a very good cover of the Judas Priest classic "The Hellion / Electric Eye".

In conclusion, it's been established over the course of this review that "Treasure Chest" is one of the greatest compilations, especially with the added third disc. The only potential problem with this retrospective is that some might not like the remixes but they are a different way of listening to classics. This treasure is great for long time fans and new comers to the German metal gods.

To those unfamiliar with Helloween's history - they are a German band responsible for the birth of European power metal, as it is known today. The bands carrier officially started back in 1986 with their debut album "Walls of Jericho" that made the band easily known to the public. Combining thrash-speed metal with classical and melodic elements the band achieved a very good beginning. The bands career reached it's highest point in 1987-1989 with the relishes of the "Keeper Of The seven Keys Part I&II" albums and the addition of the charismatic and nowadays most copied metal vocalist Michael Kiske! The band disappeared for a few years, due to record-label problems, released a couple of unsuccessful but nevertheless good records (91-93) and resurfaced in 1994 with a new line up ( new vocalist) releasing some overall great records.

This double Best Of CD is a wonderful collection of the greatest songs ever relished by Helloween. The songs included are the best known and most epic material of the bands 15 year career (old songs-remastered).

The best songs included here are the classic-powerful-heavy metal tunes: "I Want Out", "Future World", "Dr.Stein" and "The Chance", the fast-paced trade mark Helloween style ones: "Eagle Fly Free", "Ride The Sky", "How Many Tears", "Starlight" and "When The Rain Grows". Along with the over 13 minute epics: "Halloween" and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys", were the talent of the band members in both technicality and songwriting skills shines, as they achieve to deliver 2 masterpieces filled with earth shattering vocals, outstanding melodic twin guitar reefs and solos and mainly fast double base drumming!
Considering the songs mentioned along with the wonderful and emotional ballad "A Tale That Wasn't Right" these alone are worth the price of the album, not even mentioning the rest...
If you can't spend money on buying each album separately this is the best deal you get to buy the best songs relished by this outstanding band which will surely amaze you even if you are not a metal fan.

A drawback to this compilation is that some of the remasters take away the feeling that some songs had in the past and could have been done better. Also some of the best songs especially from the first 4 albums are missed, but compilations never please everyone.

This CD covers all Helloween 11 albums, thus including more thrasy, or melodic or operatic or heavy moments, which are all characterized by both outstanding high pitched and hard vocals, fantasy and sociologically based lyrics, perfect guitar orchestration and mainly fast drumming.

Don't think about it, just buy it!!