Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II

This isn't the first Helloween album I heard, but I think I Want Out would probably be the first Helloween song I heard. This is usually regarded as the best Helloween release by metal critics, and it is an important moment in metal history, but for me Helloween would really start perfecting their craft in their later era.

THAT BEING SAID, this album has Eagle Fly Free which is the greatest power metal song ever, yeah the solos on All Over the Nations later in the bands career would be better, just the filial joy of this song puts it at the absolute top of the heap. A Pachelbel-inspired masterpiece that set the tone for every other great power metal anthem to follow. This album also has the aforementioned anthem I Want Out, the glorious epic title track which is a classic, March of Time which is an anthem for all time featuring high-soaring Kiske wails. March of Time isn't one they should include in the live set though, if you're a fan trying to sing along you'll just lose your voice. But the track itself is just that catchy. Dr. Stein is on the goofy spectrum but a catchy well-made song. Rise and Fall is similar and a notch lower with a bit too much goofiness to handle. Really dumb cartoon sound effects.

So what brings the rating down for such a monumental masterpiece? The solos still aren't there, Kai and Michael would get much better as their careers went along. While the production isn't as piss-poor as its predecessor, it still isn't great. It is muddy and under-produced. The keyboards, while nice, hide in the background. And while this album has less shitty sound effects than its predecessor, they still weasel their way in there.

The other problem is that with the intro and pre-Helloween Kiske track it is a rather short album by Helloween standards. You Always Walk Alone and We Got the Right are pure fillers. I want a few more Eagle Fly Free's tacked onto this release. Of the B-Sides/bonus tracks, Savage and Save Us as the main ones of note. Savage is a fast and wild, nonsensical speed metal tune. By no means the heaviest or fastest Helloween song but perhaps it won that trophy for this era of the band. Save Us lyrically is a great one, and a decent enough song if it wasn't for the tiresome sound effects. Might have been a Keepers Pt. 1 leftover...

And that is it. This is a watershed moment that was pivotal for the power metal genre, but it is by no means the band's finest hour. The album is worth it alone for Eagle Fly Free and theoretically could get a 100% based on that song. I understand many people would put this album #1, but after a few duds and against all odds the band would return in full force to bring genesis and revelation to the power metal magisterium. If you are only listening to the Kiske material and not the Deris era it is time for the dunce cap.

So, with the first "Keeper of the Seven Keys" record, Helloween essentially created power metal, despite that first record being a rather average and mostly unremarkable effort. Just a year later, they'd release the second half of the songs they intended to be part of a double "Keeper" album. What they left for the second half of their conceived double album is without a doubt the better effort, as I mentioned last time. It's not even close, either. This is the album that REALLY laid the ground work of what power metal would go on to become. The vast majority of the more well structured songs written for the "Keeper" albums are here. Most of the catchier songs are on this album, most of the better riffs are on this album...you name it, "Keeper, Pt. 2" does it better than part one.

I have to start with "March of Time," because it's one of the most defining power metal tracks in history. The intro just soars with uplifting piano behind a triumphant riff. Ingo's drum fills close a lot of gaps and keep variety and creativity in the intro. It's a perfect lead in to the body of the song. Kiske hits some really fantastic and appropriate notes to build the song up during the bridge section, and then the chorus that follows is electric. It is a chorus that establishes the multi-tracked and epic sound we've come to expect and love about power metal. It's catchy, it has SO much power, and it's a beautiful chorus on top of it. It's such an excellently written and delivered upon song. "I Want Out" is one of the most famous Helloween songs, and there's good reason for this. It starts with one of the band's all-time best riffs. The riff alone will get stuck in your head, let alone the amazing chorus that kicks in as the song progresses. Kiske's shrieks during the chorus have enough attitude to them to give the title the punch it needed to make it inspiring. "I Want Out" is a song that helped make a band, make a subgenre, and remains just as good years later, unlike a lot of the tracks on "Keeper, Pt. 1." Sadly, the band didn't realize at the time that this song was basically Kai Hansen writing out his intentions for after the release of this record.

The title track of this double album experience that appears on this release is another absolute Helloween epic. Now, the title track can't hold a candle to how absolutely AMAZING "Halloween" was on the first album, but don't for one second let you think that means the title track is bad. That is more of a statement on how awe-inspiringly amazing "Halloween" is rather than a statement against "Keeper of the Seven Keys." The intro is eerie enough to establish the story of the song, and makes an amazing base for Kiske to sing over. The verse riffs drive the song with the energy and feel of starting an epic fantasy journey, and Kiske's melodies match this mystical feel. The chorus feels more like a culmination of what came before than the one on "Halloween" did, and is also quite addicting. Where the chorus on "Halloween" was just pure power, this one serves a larger purpose. My only complaint is that the long guitar solo sections on the title track are less interesting and memorable than on "Halloween," so it drags JUST a little bit. Where "Halloween" didn't waste one second of its runtime, "Keeper of the Seven Keys" could have been trimmed to 10-11 minutes instead of 13 and been just fine. It's still a fantastic song, though. "Dr. Stein" is my favorite track on this particular record as well. Every single time I listen to the song, I like it more. Again, the song features an all-time best riff for Helloween. It's just a fun song through and through. Kiske is accenting notes amazingly, and his vocal story telling is at an all time high. Of course, the chorus is also just as fun, and very catchy on top of it. I adore the old horror movie sounding keyboard solo that builds the feeling of the track. The song isn't flashy, and doesn't try and do too much. It delivers excellently the whole time and ends after leaving you stunned. There's also a nice nod to The Beatles, as the song finishes with a sample of the final piano note of "A Day in the Life," which I feel doesn't get mentioned enough.

"Keeper, Pt. 2" only dips in quality a few times, and neither is a huge drop, either. "We Got the Right" starts with a really spooky and atmospheric intro that gives a false sense of what you can expect moving forward, but the rest of the song doesn't fit this intro at all. Now, I still don't think "We Got the Right" is a bad song, but it doesn't live up to the hype it tries to establish with the intro. Nothing sticks around long enough to get you super interested in it. The chorus is also an absolute failure that goes nowhere. It's a wet fart. Kiske tries to build it with high notes, but it doesn't deliver. It has the makings of a great song, but doesn't get there. "Rise and Fall" also just doesn't work for me. Again, I wouldn't call this a bad song, but this is almost something of a comedy track that doesn't add much depth to the album. I can definitely see why this song might have its fans, but the whole thing sounds like a parody to me. The ending with the various animal noises just makes me roll my eyes, too. "Rise and Fall" is still better than a lot of what "Keeper, Pt. 1" offered, but it's a song that definitely could have been left on the cutting room floor to make this one good single album.

When both records have said their piece, I personally think you can take two or three tracks from part one and six from here and make it one 8-9 song album worth all of the praise in the world. It didn't need to be two. As good as "Keeper, Pt. 2" is, the success of Helloween at this point in time wasn't meant to be. Kai Hansen was fed up with Kiske's attitude and left the band just in time to miss what is, to this point, the lowest point in Helloween's career. You see, Kiske decided that Helloween could be much more if they took their style in a more 'pop rock' direction. With Kiske at the helm, he'd go on to lead them to two albums that were so bad, it came VERY close to killing the band entirely. And that's very much an accomplishment of awfulness to take a band that established a genre and had a few years of massive success and then come very close to killing all of that just a few years later. There would be an eventual light at the end of Helloween's tunnel, but we need to travel through the darkest depths first to reach it.

Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II is the back book-end for a time in Helloween's career that was and will always remain unique, over just a couple albums and as many years. There's a shared, optimistic and appealing style to these, with just a hint of silliness that didn't really ever become too stupid or get in the way. This album was also the home for the Germans' biggest breakout hit, and some of the most melodic earworms they'd ever pen, but it also doesn't lack the sense of ambition you felt on the first half, which was a fairly enormous transition from Walls of Jericho. Not only the presence of Kiske on these albums, which has an entirely different effect than Kai's style, but just the way the tracks are written. The fiery, rough-edged power/speed metal of their early years might still INFORM some of the songwriting, but this is quite a different beast, and while we can toss out 'the next Iron Maiden' platitudes all we want, this band really only shares a few characteristics with the British legends: part of Kiske's timbre, sure, reminds one slightly of Bruce, and the way they use a lot of mellower parts where you can hear the bass, while guitars are focused entirely on melody rather than heavier chords...but otherwise, this was its own thing.

Now the first Keeper is my favorite Helloween album to this day, for me that was where the magic intersected with my metal nerdiness the most. If I get that one 100-CD binder to bring to the desert island, that one is going in first. But this is a superb set of tracks to follow that one up, let by the supreme melodic overtures "I Want Out", "Eagle Fly Free", "March of Time" and another track that isn't talked about so much, "You Always Walk Alone", nearly as worthy. These would imprint upon hordes of European power metal bands that would later build entire careers out of sounding like that or at least using that as their core. Glorious vocal choruses where he hits his upper range, but still loaded with dextrous and varied riffs that would be entertaining to listen to even if it was the guitars playing alone. Grosskopf is also quite amazing here, the guy has such a confident tone and even in the more neo-classical bits, which are woven legion into so many of these tunes, he's plugging away with a lot of prowess. Ingo's drums are powerful and he's incorporating a lot of that double-bass that, as I've mentioned, really helps define 'power metal' for me away from the NWOBHM where this wasn't the focus. As fluffy and flowery as this niche gets, that thunder down under assures it still gets taken seriously.

I even like the silly songs. "Dr. Stein" is really the only dive into the 'Halloween' territory but it's also a little self-referential and endearing, where "Rise and Fall" is also tongue in cheek but just insanely catchy with those Queen-like vocal harmonies that still don't sound like much else they've done since. Of the entire 50 minute track list, there isn't anything I dislike, but one of my faves is obviously the swollen follow-up to "Halloween", which would be the title track of the duology of albums. I'll be honest, I don't have a fucking clue what "Keeper of the Seven Keys" is really about beyond the rather stock fantasy good vs evil tropes and maybe applying them a little to all of mankind's existence, but this is the track that's grown on me the most, from its acoustics to the 'epic metal' moments that escalate into the faster parts, the pompous narrative parts, the nicely flowing and elaborate chorus with those choir-like keys in the background. I like all the little melodic callbacks to "Halloween" in there too. Excellent, ambitious track that you can get lost in...it might not match its predecessor for me but I really appreciate it.

In terms of the overall response and exposure created by this album, I'd definitely point to this one as 'Patient Zero' for the exhaustive European power metal movement first joined by bands like the spin-off Gamma Ray and then may more into the 21st century. No, they didn't create it per se, Priest and Maiden and Accept and a number of others had their stakes in that, and many of those even took on elements inspired by their own descendants later in their careers. But in terms of taking those parts and putting them together into a single entity, stitched from myriad influences' flesh, these guys were the first off the slab. Perhaps "Dr. Stein" itself was prophetic! Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II, just like the first half, is undeniable, its charms inescapable.

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http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

After four or five months of intense work, the band finally unleashes its ambitious "Keeper of the Seven Keys part II", that aimed to be more than the continuity of the first opus. The idea was to record at the same time another part, that would be featured in the same album, but the band needed at least four additional months to come up with new material. Some members even dream of a third part for this "Keeper" saga, a project that would be quickly suppressed by the lack of time and means, the members being forced to constantly compose more songs and Kai Hansen being on the verge of departure, recording at the same time vocals for IIIrd Prophecy demos - Ralph Scheepers' band. Helloween settles for a second - and last - part to this epic story without being fully satisfied by their producer's work, who gave the album a much more modern sound. And that is the first noticeable point of the album: the production is the biggest difference between part I and part II. Coming from a warm and soft sound on the first part, the kind of sound that would define today the term "old school", the second part distinguishes itself first of all by a much cleaner and smoother sound, modern in a way because even for the year 1988 it is hard to find such a clean sound especially at the heart of this thrash metal breaker that always works in a DIY mind. This sound, that can sound as modern even in 2020, was quickly condemned by Michael Weikath, who prefered the fat and warm sound of Tommy Hansen. Be that as it may, the album is, therefore, easier to understand, just as we hear quite easily the trumpets in the final chorus of "Eagle Fly Free" amongst all the other instruments. Maybe, in some way, this album prefigured too the modern power metal sound - the sound we have today -, the bands using always more polished and heavier, easy-to-get sound.

The epic, blaring, happy side of the band is brought to a fever pitch here with this colourful artwork in which the fantasy codes are applied with a diehard process. Like in the first part, the album switches frequently between two kinds of tracks, the mid-tempo or slow songs in which we find two big hits, namely "I Want Out" and "Dr Stein", and the songs that keep the Walls of Jericho heritage, such as "Eagle Fly Free", "March of Time" and "Save Us". It's also in this second kind of songs in which we find this will to fully exploit the epic and melodic aspect of the music, especially in "March of Time", full of melodies and spectacular moments delivered by every single instrument. On the other side, "Save Us" sounds way lighter, in a Judas Priest/Running Wild-worship way, much more spontaneous, that also brings excellent moments like the solo.

On one side, we have the speed metal songs, and on the other, we have the slower ones, sometimes serious and sometimes humoristic. And, may it be surprising, but these are the reasons why the note is so low for such an album, as I feel absolutely nothing towards them since I find the mid-tempo songs of the first album way more convincing. To be honest, I really never enjoyed the two big hits "Dr Stein" and "I Want Out". I even feel like they may appear as intruders, as we come from epic and blaring speed metal sweeties to something much more accessible and calm - though this is the kind of songs I would play on a party playlist. To contrast with this particularly negative approach, I find some truly great moments, like the break of "I Want Out" with its choirs that bring a slightly different atmosphere to the song. But, overall, I don't find many things to get my teeth into, the worst of all being the only song I really don't like, "Rise and Fall", in which the band pushes, even more, the humoristic, light side of their music - I never really liked this fun approach of metal. To bring another positive touch, "You Always Walk Alone" comes right after the melodic stampede of "Eagle Fly Free", thus soothing a bit by proposing a calmer, melodic heavy metal, having a main riff full of harmonies that I find really nice. We find in it these sweet touches that I particularly enjoy in the pre-chorus or even in the excellent chorus, not especially furious nor epic, but doing perfectly the job.

Finally, like Walls of Jericho or Keeper part I, we find in the disc a slight prog touch. More discreet, this time, it is shown by various additions not really conventional for melodic metal like this one, with for example all the samples put in "Rise and Fall": prog, in the sense of experimenting something new without really knowing where it would lead, not in the sense of "a super long and boring track that always change its tempo or its time signature", an aspect we also have in this album with the great apex-track that was supposed to close this fantasy saga, "Keeper of the Seven Keys"... in which I will also act as a killjoy because I find this song pretty much tasteless. Very well built, going even further than "Halloween", having a whole lot of changes in the tempo, the time signature, the riffing and everything else, it doesn't always keep high my interest, at the opposite of "Halloween", in which I hang on to every single note. All considerations apart, this song shows once again that Helloween might also be considered as an indirect influencer of the progressive power metal sub-genre.

In the end, no matter what Michael Weikath might have said about it, this second opus of the Keeper saga is indeed another success for the German pumpkins. It synthesises all of their previous experiences by mingling melodic speed metal with more traditional heavy metal coloured by high fantasy themes. The disc would be by the way the last grand gesture of the band before a painful descent into hell. The band is at its summit but the tensions between it and Noise Records are such that it would eventually lead to a trial that Helloween would loose, being forced to pay a very heavy fine that would absolutely ruin them. At the same time, tensions increase within the band, that would be the reason - amongst others - for Kai Hansen to call its quits. He starts another musical life under the Gamma Ray project, leaving his place to Roland Grapow.

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By 1987, Teutonic metal outfit Helloween were on the rise, the logical development ever since their tremendous debut LP was released in 1985, the speed metal benchmark entitled Walls of Jericho. The addition of vocalist Michael Kiske the following year only provided the band with greater potency, as mastermind and main composer Kai Hansen had a curious voice... half unique, half irritating. Thus came to be the first Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part I, another milestone in 80s metal, this time with a greater emphasis on melody and catchiness, without totally surrendering the energetic speed of the debut, and of course, featuring one of the most ambitious compositions attempted by a metal band this side of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Satan's Fall”; the iconic “Halloween”.

But in 1988, the combined talents of this five Germans, all 25 years old or younger, proved to easily surpass their debuting 1-2 LP killer punch with an even superior third masterpiece, the one that finished to carve their name in the holy obelisk of metal greatest deities: the Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part II. The natural evolution from album #1 to album #2 just carried on in magnificent fashion for album #3, and again, the melody and catchiness were dialed up to 11 without sacrificing all the intensity of previous works. Helloween's third album easily became the band's signature work, highlighting their combination of power, memorability, instrumental dexterity, quality singing and a quirky sense of humor. One of the crowning moments of the European version of power metal, that ironically came to be more of a stereotype for the whole genre than the previous, slower but equally epic USPM, perhaps due to the fact that this new breed was further removed from classic heavy metal thanks to its mixture of intensity and mellower traits.

After a pseudo-symphonic intro, one that would inspire countless of similar style (e.g. Rhapsody), the powerful “Eagle Fly Free” bursts into our eager ears, one of the most potent album openers in existence, famously including guitar, bass and drum solos. The rhythmic section in particular is noteworthy, especially the steady fast drumming of Ingo Schwichtenberg, one of many great metal soldiers lost too soon. After that overdose of euphoria, the album slows down a tiny notch with “You Always Walk Alone”, in which the mighty voice of Michael Kiske takes full control, with Hansen and Weikath's serpentine riffs and solos following close. “Rise and Fall” and the amusing classic “Dr. Stein” take the record into happier, lighter endeavors, despite the latter’s grim lyrical finale. But don't let the humorous approach fool you. Musically, all the compositions are masterful examples of fast melodic metal with a serious degree of complexity, especially during the soloing sections.

“We Got the Right” is one of the more serious tunes, with a slightly melancholic approach… though it's still Helloween. With that one and yet another massive classic in the fist-pumping, catchier-than-flu “I Want Out”, Helloween showed a degree of social comment, the importance of both the strength of collective masses and of the individual thought and will. For an album this funny, those are serious themes, and the combination of the unusual lyrics with its positively energetic musical form, make it all more interesting. Bonus track “Save Us” and fast paced number “March of Time” further explore spiritual and existentialist topics, respectively, but of course, the main and most flavorful plate is left for the end. “Keeper of the Seven Keys” is arguably the second greatest epic classic metal tune ever crafted, after Iron Maiden's well known “Rime”. It’s just as complex as “Halloween”, with better story-telling of the confrontation of good vs evil featuring the band's own created lore; the mythical Seven Keys and a chosen evil-vanquishing warrior, likening it in theme also to Iron Maiden's own ’88 epic, “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. Traversing through several seas of acoustic calm and metallic turmoil, the 13+ minute title-track warrants by itself alone the mandatory purchase of this album.

So, Lucifer's gold wasn't enough and he got his satanic ass kicked all the way back to Hell in a more efficient manner than the whole Stryper discography ever could. Helloween's influence after this release was tremendous, prompting the ascendancy of the European power metal scene, and making it felt still through the subsequent decades, the downside being that power metal hasn't really evolved nor branched out as much as other metal genres, with a loyal fanbase that seems content with newer bands just releasing their own Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 372. As for Helloween, the inevitable decline awaited, with major disputes and direction disagreements. They wouldn't fly as high or free again, but at least managed to salvage their career by mid-90s with a new frontman, amongst other new members. The death of talented skin-basher Ingo was another high price for reaching these glorious heights and then rebuffing them. But still 30 years later, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part II just reminds us that light can be as powerful as darkness, even in a metal record.

“And mankind, live up, you're free again
Yes the tyrant is dead, he is gone, overthrown
You have given our souls back to light.”

Whenever I look at lists for the best power metal albums, or even the best Helloween albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II always seems so sneak up to the tops of such lists. I've seen many say that this is the best power metal record of all time, surpassing all others. The reality is, while Part II is still a pretty great, good record, it is nowhere near the top caliber for its brand of metal. It has a few glaring issues which make it much less than perfect.

First, allow me to detail the first positive of this album: The individual performances on this record are spectacular; Everyone is playing to the best of their ability. From the technicality of all of the solos to just the rhythms of the songs themselves, nothing is done sloppily or incorrectly; It all sounds nice, for the most part. Grosskopf even does a nice bass solo on "Eagle Fly Free", which shows off his skill; I still think he's rather underrated among metal bassists. Weikath shows off his songwriting talents, which is great on this album, though somewhat inconsistent on future ones. The second main positive of Part II is that the majority of the songs are pretty great. Of course there's "Eagle Fly Free" and "Dr. Stein", but "Rise and Fall" and "March of Time" are also just as enjoyable to listen to. The epic title track is also quite the adventure, surpassing "Halloween" from Part I. These are the main reasons why I do believe this album is pretty good.

However, while its positives definitely outweigh its negatives, Part II just has issues, really. The most annoying thing about this album is its production. It's weak, thin, the guitars are barely audible most of the time, and just sounds really terrible. The two remixed bonus tracks are certainly much better, but those are bonus tracks, of course. I've heard worse production jobs, but this is Helloween's worst, in my opinion. My second problem with this record are the songs that aren't so great. "I Want Out" is just SO overrated, I can't believe it. At this point, I can't tell if I don't like it musically, or if I'm just tired of it being "the best Helloween song". Ugh. I'm also going to point out "We Got The Right" as being utterly forgettable, and "You Always Walk Alone", though it is better than the former 2 songs, fails to be memorable for the most part. Additionally, this is their only album with Kiske where his voice kind of annoys me. The constant high notes just kind of get old after a while.

Of the bonus tracks added, "Savage" is pretty great. The other two original songs don't fare as well. Again, the two remixed tracks make the originals much more of an enjoyable listening experience. Even still, I do like it when bands present albums with their original productions so we, the consumers, get to see what they were like at release, mostly unaltered. I can respect Helloween for not just redoing the album's mixing and production, as I know they were unhappy with how it was (it's detailed why in the booklet in an interview with Weikath).

Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II is still a very enjoyable record for me. Most of the songs are pretty great and epic, and it's good fun. However, anyone saying it's Helloween's greatest record or the best power metal album are completely wrong: Many of their albums with Deris are better than this, and Kiske's other 3 albums with the band are much better, as is Walls of Jericho.

Helloween's third release seems to be a step behind from its predecessors due to its excessively cheesy sound. Nonetheless, the concept established herein is still solid and it fits the standards of epicness and melody that made up the well-known European power metal sound. And to their credit, the German power metallers remained loyal to the concept of its predecessor, making altogether one of the most successful sagas in the history of heavy metal music. However, the band unfortunately started to run out of good compositions and they were victims of their own concept. Furthermore, it seems that they were pressured by the discography to write up more commercial stuff, and that is how their creative mind Kai Hansen felt sick of the direction that the band was meant to follow. This feeling was reflected in their album highlight "I Want Out".

From a merely musical perspective, the band seems to keep on exploiting the Maiden and Judas Priest influences. For instance, "I Want Out" mixes the riffs of the Judas song "Rock Hard, Ride Free" with the concept that they depicted throughout the album. And these influences are also present in other songs like "You Always Walk Alone", whose riffs are pretty much a Maiden thing. On the other hand, the band never abandoned their speed metal music roots which gave them a name in the German metal scene. And that's how pieces, such "Eagle Fly Free" and "March of Time" provided to the album certain moments of outrageous speed which were softened by the keyboard sound, which is a feature that made those songs different from other frenetic numbers like "Ride the Sky". Especially, since the aforementioned couple of songs became more melodic due to the high-pitched vocals of Michael Kiske. These songs were indeed a blueprint on which flower metal bands wrote their music.

Then, the epic title-track closes the album in such a glorious way through the epic lines which mainly deal with the battle between the good and evil. However, Weikath's songwriting abilities displayed herein are quite far from Hansen's brilliant compositions. Whereas Hansen's composition "Halloween" from the previous album of the saga was full of good riffs and quite fast moments, said number is slower-paced and it seems to be a quite lenghty ballad with some heavier moments. That said, the rest of the album shows serious songwriting deficiencies, like if they felt sick of the project. It seems that the band embedded the album with filling stuff rather than with serious compositions.

Despite of the aforementioned deficiencies, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2 represented their last moments of brilliance. After the release of this album, Hansen left the band to form Gamma Ray. His departure was such a painful loss from which the band was not able to recover. Thereafter, they suffered a lot his absence and sadly, their compositions became worse and more uninspired than ever thought, even turning their songwriting into a self-parody game, and any single attempt on regaining respectability became such a failure.

During the late 80s, Helloween was getting pretty popular in Europe. Their new sound established with their 1987 sophomore effort, "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I" had taken the continent by storm. The following year, they returned to the studio to record this album. We all know that musicians grow over the years, so you can hear the band growing in that was as well. The result was an even more focused album with increased complexity and charisma. By many, this is considered to be the best album that Helloween has ever made. I will have to agree with that. I say that it is their catchiest and most proficiently executed album to date.

The intro of the album dives into "Eagle Fly Free", which is a fast and over-the-top, yet epic and melodic track that is not too bad of a representation of the album. Other fast tracks can be a little more aggressive, though, such as the humorous "Rise and Fall", but they are still melodic. Like their previous release, the mid-paced songs are the ones that are more abrasive. But even they are well-structured. Some of those include "You Always Walk Alone" and "Dr Stein". One song that I must mention is "I Want Out" because it is definitely the most technical mid-paced song here. The last song, "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" ties everything from this album and the last one together in 13 minutes, with fast and melodic sections, mid-paced and abrasive sections and slow, gloomy sections.

Most of the guitar work was written by Michael Weikath, unlike the last album, where is was mostly written by Kai Hansen. Michael has a more epic and technical writing style than Kai Hansen. This makes the album not quite as raw as the last one, but hey, that doesn't count against it. Michael shows some more classic rock and melody-influenced playing that makes the music more diverse and big. His solos are a bit more majestic and are put together a lot more professionally.

The bass shines more than the previous release. Rather than just doing a good job of keeping the music together, Markus gets to do more solos and hooks, which sound pretty good. He gets virtuoso solos (great musicianship is shown quite a bit on "Eagle Fly Free") and smooth, yet energetic riffs that can draw in anyone who plays the instrument. It's not quite as prominent and well-executed as it was on Walls Of Jericho, but it's closer to it than the previous release.

Now let's discuss the drums. Ingo Schwichtenberg is at his best on this album. He gets very impressive solos and sounds very energetic. His drumming is technical, but it still has some of that rawness that was there in the early to mid-80s. When you listen to him play, you can imagine the kind of drummer that starts making facial expressions at live shows that let you know that he's very "into it". I would say that this was the peak of his greatness in the studio.

As for the vocals, if you thought that Michael Kiske showed talent on the last album, you'll be blown away by him on this one. He shows an increased range, a greater ability to shift pitches and a richer tone. He puts more power into the notes and shows us time and time again how long he can hold a note. He's one of those vocalists who you can listen to and think "Damn, I wish I could do that". Sure, he sings high most of the time, but it doesn't get annoying. In fact, it fits the music perfectly.

This album is geared towards those who enjoy technicality, good musicianship, energy, and those who like music that makes them want to burst through a wall (out of joy). Four out of the five members are at their best and the rest of the world was starting to notice the talent they had. Thanks to this album, the band got some well-deserved fame. They were already popular in Europe, but that had been taken to an even higher level. They are probably somewhere around third place in most popular rock acts to come out of Europe (to Europe and The Scorpions) and this album definitely is the reason why they achieved that goal.

A band's classic period is a difficult thing to view fairly. On the one hand, you need to consider what makes such an album classic, including the skill of the players, the timing of the release, and the influence that it has had since its creation; on the other hand, you also need to judge the music on its actual merits and not just give in to popular opinion. After all, albums like Pantera's 'Vulgar Display of Power' and Machine Head's 'Burn My Eyes' are either essential or excrement depending on who you ask. More acute readers may perhaps have picked up the signs that I have my doubts about Helloween's classic era, and indeed I do, for a couple of reasons.

My personal preference for Helloween falls slightly in favour of their modern material (since 'The Time of the Oath'), because I enjoy the heavier guitars and broader writing palette, plus 'Better Than Raw' and 'Gambling With the Devil' are awesome albums in their own right, without having to rely on classic status. Another reason for this preference is quite simply Andi Deris's voice, or rather Michael Kiske's voice, which jars with me, horribly at times. There is much applause for Kiske's singing style on the Metal Archives, so perhaps I will be required to justify myself. On a song like 'March of Time', I agree that he has a great range and a soaring power metal style that Deris could never quite achieve, yet he isn't good to listen to for a sustained length of time: his voice sounds strained and he struggles to reach notes that he has no need to aim for, so that I can never purely enjoy his skill. However, on many of the other songs Kiske's voice is too weird and attention-grabbing, with awful phrasing and a tone that fights against the instrumentalists. This is worse in the verses, when he sings in a lower voice, though - to me - his vocals are all over the place and often sound not just out of time, but also out of tune. 'Rise and Fall' is especially awful, while the introduction of 'We Got the Right' sounds exactly like Bruce Dickinson. Additionally, the gang vocals on this album are not really my cup of tea either and seem overused.

Let me put in a good word for this album now, because I have another complaint to make in a minute. The other four musicians all perform superbly for the length of the album. Everyone provides memorable moments, especially the string players, although perhaps Ingo Schwichtenberg's contribution is upset a little by the production, which gives him less power and scope than his bandmates, not that he is poor. There are numerous highlights for Markus Grosskopf (I swear his surname translates as Bighead), including a little solo action on the first two songs and the last. His tone is always clear and strong, which helps the thin sound of the guitars. Both Kai Hansen and Michael Weikath are on fire for 90% of the album, with gorgeous melodies and stunning solos on every song, and plenty of riffs to boot. The range of styles that they manage to include in the power/speed/heavy metal template is impressive, particularly in their changes of pace and intensity, meaning that 'I Want Out' can stay slower and catchier without losing anything to the fury of the preceding 'March of Time'. The acoustic additions on the epic title track and the Spanish-sounding guitar in the background of 'March of Time' are well-judged and very interesting.

There are only a couple of songs that I could definitely call classic here. One is the fantastic 'Keeper of the Seven Keys', which the band throw everything at and don't make it seem overblown, overwrought, or over long. That song contains every element that made early Helloween great and remains a thrilling listen for its entire duration. I also enjoy 'You Always Walk Alone', 'March of Time', and 'Dr Stein', this last song being the strongest of the less serious numbers. 'I Want Out' and 'Rise and Fall' also have jokey themes, the former Hansen's resignation from the band (really, only Helloween would release that as a single) and the latter about all fucking sorts, including erectile dysfunction. I don't mind the humour that the band liked to throw into their music around this time, but when the song is turned into a joke by sound effects and so on (this is 'Rise and Fall', by the way), it is at the cost of the music and doesn't do the band's skills any favours. 'Dr Stein' works because it's a great song already and would probably work even as an instrumental. There is a good mixture of styles and paces on offer, though some of the songs fall a little flat despite their good individual parts.

What Helloween were trying to do with the 'Keeper of the Seven Keys' albums was admirable, but in the end the size of the concept defeated the band, because I don't end up feeling that these two albums are nearly as connected or focused on story as their nomenclature suggests. The band might have done better to think smaller, concentrate on their great individual talents, encourage Kiske to tone it down a little, and come up with a more cohesive set of songs that all took themselves as seriously as each other. I like some of the music on offer here, and I don't deny that this album is very important, though I also think that its quality has been exaggerated and its faults ignored in order to turn it into a pinnacle of early power metal. It's amazing in places, but it won't sweep you off your feet.

And considering 1988 was a breakthrough year for thrash (each of the big 4 would put out a classic this year), black and death metal, that's a massive accomplishment when you're sticking to basics.

I’m a sucker for when a band’s discography is a slow rising journey in quality until it culminates with a masterpiece for the ages. This is that very concept.

Now I’m sure to most Helloween fans their top two Helloween songs are Halloween and Viction of Fate or Ride The Sky fighting out at #2, but 3-10 could very well be the tracklisting for this entire album. My expectations were very high for this album due to hype, etc. and this album passed every single one of those expectations, every one. Everyone is on their A-game here, from both a musician and songwriting standpoint. While Keeper 1 managed to carry the weight of quality through seven tracks (I ignore the intros, so should you), this manages to carry a higher level of quality through nine songs. Yes, nine, I include Save Us. I usually scoff at and ignore bonus tracks, but Save Us is a fantastic song that I wouldn’t even be opposed to appearing the top 10 of Helloween songs!

The lyrics are also worth mentioning to, as they display a sense of social conscious (From our lives' beginning on, We are pushed in little forms, No one asks us how we like to be), cynicism with humanity (in the sky a mighty eagle doesn’t care about what’s illegal), and surprisingly, humor, both intentional (his assistant’s hips were nice, so he cloned her once or twice, now his hips are aching) and unintentional (an earthquake, squirting fire).

It’s of course worth mentioning that not only is this a blast to listen to, but it’s highly innovative as well. If Seventh Son of A Seventh Son didn’t do a complete job of laying down the ground rules of power metal, than this album certainly did.

If you’ve ignored this album, because of the power metal tag or the sounds too much like Maiden tag, I urge you to reconsider and pick it up. You are missing out on too much joy (and metal) for you to afford otherwise.

Recommended songs:
Eagle Fly Free
March of Time
Keeper of the Seven Keys

Both of the original Keeper of the Seven Keys albums are usually considered by Helloween fans and power metal fans in general to be among the best releases the genre has to offer. After all, these 2 albums pretty much created the staple for melodic power metal and they are still the most well-known Helloween albums. They’re also the only 2 albums made by the “classic” Helloween line-up with both Kai Hansen’s guitar and Micahel Kiske’s vocals.

The question that comes to mind: which one of the Keeper albums is the best? That depends on personal opinion, and I like part 2 a little more than part 1. Why? Mostly because part 1 is a little too short in my opinion (it’s only 6 songs not counting the intro and outro, which I think are pretty useless), and also because some of my all-time favorite Helloween songs happen to be on part 2.

Also, part 1 was written mostly by Kai Hansen while part 2 is mainly the brainchild of Michael Weikath, and after looking at the songwriting credits on the whole Helloween discography, I realized Weiki wrote most (if not all) of my favorite Helloween songs. I’m a sucker for good melodies and I believe Weiki to be the better songwriter in the history of the band. He has a unique gift for melody and it shows because this album (the only one written mainly by Weiki) has some of the best melodies in the Helloween discography.

The opener, “Invitation”, is actually a lot better than the intro for part 1, and it really sets the mood for the whole album. It feels epic, grandiose, and uplifting. Then the first real song begins, Weiki’s “Eagle Fly Free,” and I consider this one to be the archetypical Helloween song. It’s fast-paced with a very good and catchy melody, some incredible solos, and really gives you an uplifting sensation of power as power metal should. It’s one of my all-time favorite Helloween songs. Next comes Kiske’s “You Always Walk Alone”, which is a little slower than the previous song but still really good, the chorus is very catchy, and it’s hard not to sing along.

Weiki’s “Rise and Fall” comes next and we’re introduced to the funnier and more comical side of Helloween in both lyrics and music. This song has a very playful feel to it with all the sound effects and funny lyrics, and this feeling continues with the next track, “Dr. Stein” (also by Weiki). Both songs have the typical Helloween melodies in the chorus and the main riff from Dr. Stein is incredibly catchy. The little Beatles tribute at the end of Dr. Stein adds a nice touch.

The following 2 songs are the weakest on the album. Kiske’s “We Got The Right” is the slowest track and it can get a little boring, although it’s saved by some pretty good melodic guitar parts near the end of the song. The next one is Kai Hansen’s “March of Time”, featuring some great guitar playing and the whole song feels very fast-paced and powerful, but it lacks a little bit of melody.

“I Want Out” was the main single from the album and probably one of the most successful power metal songs in the mainstream in history (getting airplay on MTV and the such). It’s a simple, good, and catchy song, but I really don’t think it’s one of Helloween’s best (I get the same feeling with Dream Theater’s “Pull Me Under”). I can see its commercial appeal, but I think "Eagle Fly Free" should have been the main single.

And then we get the big finale. “Keeper Of The Seven Keys” is a 13 minute long epic climax (courtesy of Weiki). The concept is pretty similar to “Halloween” on the previous album, but I actually like this one a little more. It starts with a nice acoustic guitar intro that gets you into the mood for the song, then Kiske starts singing the lyrics in a slow and dramatic way. It’s the story about a warrior who’s on a quest to defeat evil. During the verse and bridge of the song, the singer warns the warrior about the perils of his journey (lords of darkness, etc…), but encourages him to carry on. The bridge has an especially uplifting melody that I enjoy a lot (“Our only hope's your victory!, Killing that Satan who won't let us be!”). The chorus is slow yet very melodic and epic. Here the singer refers to the warrior as the “Keeper of the Seven Keys”, who is destined to destroy evil forever as predicted by the “Seer of Visions”. The same formula is then repeated once again.

After that, the singer tells the warrior to destroy each of the seven keys (to the gates of hell?) one by one, by throwing them into the seven seas (of hate, fear, ignorance, etc…), and this is the climax of the album: Kiske gives his best vocal performance yet, and after he mentions each of the keys we get some awesome guitar solos. Finally, the last key is destroyed and the dark lord is banished forever, then all the tension is released by one last repetition of the chorus with some triumphant lyrics (“there ain’t no more demons and no more disease!”, “you have given our souls back to light!"), followed by the same acoustic guitar that we heard in the beginning, which gives a good closure to the album.

Now, that’s got to be one of the most awesome and epic ways to close an album ever (only rivaled by Genesis’ “Supper’s Ready”, if you’re into prog rock you’ll know what I mean)! The last song is a masterpiece. The concept and lyrics are great, the vocals are incredible, the melodies are beautiful, the solos are awesome, and the whole structure of the song gives this album the fantastic climax it deserves. That’s why this is my absolute favorite song by Helloween: a work of genius by the great Michael Weikath.

Some versions of the album add an extra track, Hansen’s “Save Us”, which is a very good speed metal song from the earlier days of the band, but I consider it blasphemy to add anything after the magnificent ending this album already has, so adding another song after “Keeper” just takes away from the “epicness”. It’s ok if they put the extra song earlier in the track list, though.

All in all, this is my favorite album by Helloween and one of my all-time favorite power metal albums. It’s a definitive classic, was hugely influential, and I just think it’s a really awesome album. I think it’s a shame that most people credit only Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske for the greatness of the Keepers-era Helloween while Mr. Weikath played an enormous role in it as well. This album and its predecessor are so good because they mix the powerful compositions of Hansen with the incredible melodies from Weiki, and Kiske’s unique voice suits the songs perfectly. Many people criticize this album for being “cheesy”, and it certainly is… but I really don’t care because it doesn’t take away from the musical quality and it’s still a very entertaining listen. The first Keeper album is also great and it’d have been awesome if the 2 albums were released together as originally intended. That would have been the definitive power metal album.

After a very strong first part of the legendary "Keeper of the seven keys" trilogy, this second part even improves in the first one. There are about fifteen minutes more content than on the first disc, the album is more diversified and the quality of the lyrics and the musical skills has also improved in only one year. There are still two or three average songs on the record and a couple of lengths, but the album is more surprising and enjoyable to listen to than the already very good previous one.

After a nice introduction, "Eagle fly free" kicks the album off in a similar style to "I'm alive" with the difference that the chorus is even catchier here while the music is as fast and heavy. Melody, passion and speed are united in this melodic monster. "You always walk alone" shows already that the band tried something new on this album and didn't entirely copy the concept of the first part. This song surprises with an interesting slow opening before it goes over to a standard power metal song with some nice bits of good hooks and melodies from time to time. Nevertheless, though this song sounds different and fresh, it is in my opinion the weakest track on the records and that tells a lot about the quality of the songs. "Rise and fall" is even more diversified, surprising and a truly well hidden gem to discover and somewhat one of my favourite songs in here even if it takes some time to grow. "Doctor Stein" heads in the same direction as "Future world" minus the embarrassingly cheesy lyrics. This is a funny party song to listen to with a few friends in the house and some beers in the hand, but the song is not entirely ridiculous and finally a quite good match between musical aspirations a lyrical humour with a commercial approach. "We got the right" is one of the weaker songs, but Michael Kiske's brilliant vocal performance saves this song as well as some slight progressive influences here and there similar to "Rise and fall". "March of time" is another rather ordinary power metal tune a part of the strong chorus and the divine voice of Michael Kiske that saves this mediocre track as well. "I want out" is then the prototype of a perfect commercial power metal song. The riff is catchy and memorable, the lyrics authentic, the vocal performance powerful, the rhythm section very tight and the chorus an absolute amazing text to sing along with. Then comes the overlong epic title track "Keeper of the seven keys" that is more diversified and elaborated as "Halloween" was. The band shows its musical talent, proves once again its catchiness and combines strong hook lines with rather atmospheric passages. The only little negative point I discover is that the track is a little bit too long and ambitious and three minutes less would have contributed to a more dynamical and intense performance. The final "Save us" from the remastered edition is not just an instrumental song, but a highly interesting and well elaborated track with an unusual introduction, a strong and atmospheric vibe with progressive sound effects and the typical genre trademarks combined to a truly epic chorus. This final masterpiece is a strong grande finale and an essential addition to the original album while the other bonus tracks of the remastered editions are rather ordinary and don't quite rate up the album.

This album is a musical and lyrical improvement on the previous one and a milestone in the history of power metal. The band has matured but kept the fresh formula of the straighter first part alive. For many years, the band would never be that creative and no more that inspiring again. The energy and passion of the young musicians created a feeling of inspiring freedom that is entirely listenable on the album before arguments and line-up changes led this band down until the departure of the gifted singer Michael Kiske and the suicide of the drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. On this album, the band still sounds motivated and liberated and that's what makes this album so sympathetic. I highly recommend this record to anyone that enjoys melodic or power metal.

Many times, some albums of certain bands are genre defining and for the same reasons are claimed to as legendary. True that genre defining albums are great, but does that also imply that they are legendary? Not necessary. Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II is one of the most fundamental examples of the kind. Helloween jumped to the forefront of the metal scene with their speed metal debut Walls Of Jericho and the equally gripping follow up in the form of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I. Hence it was quite a natural thing that this album would be successful.

Among the individual performances, the guitar duo of Kai Hansen and Michael Weikath shine. AS on the last two Helloween albums, the guitar work on this album is just superb. This includes both the riff work and lead work as well. The riff work is a bit more melodic from the last two albums, where it was mostly thrash inspired. Markus Grosskopf also sounds great and his basslines are creative rivalling the likes of Steve Harris and Geezer Butler. The drumming is so-so. It sounds great, but there were even better drummers during that period, and so it doesn't quite sound unique. The vocals are the main problem of the album. No, don't get me wrong, Michael Kiske is a superb singer with a great range, but on this album he sounds very weak and powerless. Also he lacks imagination in his vocal delivery. Many times he goes into high pitch, without any necessity and it sounds annoying. He has a great range and a great voice, but an inability to use it perfectly.

Among the individual performances, the opener Eagle Fly Free is the essential highlight. It has great pace, chorus and a superb vocal performance by Kiske. Dr.Stein is another highlight. it features superb guitar work. It would have sounded much better if Kiske was replaced by a rough singer. Kiske sounds powerless in this song. but it doesn't make too much of a diffrence to it. Save Us and March Of Time are also great tracks, both highlights. The title track has it's moments and it works well when it gets going. But it is overlong and many of it's sections seem out of place. It would have sounded much better if it was reduced to it's half. I Want Out is pure crap ( comparing to the highlights ). It sounds like a random Bon Jovi song with a more guitar oriented approach. We Got the Right, Rise And Fall and You Always Walk Alone are the worst songs from the album. I don't even remember listening to them as I always have used the skip button.

Finally this album breaks down due to consistency. Had it been more consistent it would have been great. But from an influential point of view, this album established the whole new genre of power metal, especially the european power metal. The standard guitar work, siongstructures, vocal melodies were established by this album. If you want some lesson in power metal songwriting listen to this album. The rest looking for enjoyment, please look somewhere else.

Although this isn't my favorite power metal album, it has about four of my favorite power metal songs of all time. Without question, this album has Helloween's best lineup - things were pretty good before Kiske, and the band hasn't been great since Kai Hansen left, but the first two Keeper albums are Helloween's two best albums. We all know about the influence of Keeper Pt. 1, but end to end, this album is better, and really solidified Helloween's status as a classic power metal band. There aren't many flaws with this album, but the middle of the album - that "You Always Walk Alone" to "We Got the Right" chunk - isn't spectacular, although "Rise and Fall" and "Dr. Stein" do have catchy choruses.

With that out of the way, I am now free to trumpet this album's virtues. Production is awesome. Kiske is spectacular on this album. He's been compared to Bruce Dickinson, and although they are both operatic, powerful singers, Kiske destroys Bruce in the range category. He's got nearly four octaves, and he makes sure to use them - this guy has some serious talent. He really shines on tracks like "Dr. Stein" and the title track.

This album is fun to listen to, and it definitely seems like they had fun making it. Tracks like "Rise and Fall" are fun to listen to, especially with the slides / effects at the end. Same goes for "Eagle Fly Free" - people have called this the greatest power metal song of all time, and if it's not, it's certainly not far off. It has a nice introduction track, but my favorite thing about this song is the way they make sure no one gets left out. Guitar solo for both guitarists? Check. Bass solo? Check. Drum solo? Check.

Speaking of drums, I love Ingo's drum lines. But Markus Grosskopf, the bassist... man, that guy can play. He's easily my favorite bassist of all time, for three main reasons. The first is that he's pretty prominent in the recording; I do like the bass mixed pretty loudly. Second, his basslines are creative; they really add to the music. Third and finally, he's damn good. How many times do you think, "Wow, that bassist is good!" when listening to an album? I only get that feeling for a few bassists (although maybe if I played bass it'd be different). Grosskopf is the most talented member of Helloween, and he's the main reason I sometimes listen to Helloween's later stuff. As for the guitarists, you get the expected twin guitar attack and a whole lot more. They're both extremely skilled, and they can both shred. No need to say more about their talent. But they also come up with awesome tones, too.

Standout tracks are the aforementioned "Eagle Fly Free," "I Want Out," and "March of Time." "I Want Out" is a classic track. "March of Time" is just an overall amazing song, with awesome guitar work. But the best track on the album is the title track, "Keeper of the Seven Keys." Although it's nearly fourteen minutes, it's dynamic and interesting, end to end. This is easily one of my favorite songs of all time. I've listened to this song so many time, I can practically hear the whole thing in my head. Okay, it has cheesy lyrics, but this song was written masterfully and played to perfection.

So overall, I give this album an 88, docking points mainly because of "You Always Wake Alone" and "We Got the Right." Still, this album has a fantastic opener and just about the best ending 4 songs that any album can possibly have.

I almost didn't get into power metal. Because people were screaming that bands like Blind Guardian were the absolute best the power metal scene had to offer, I listened to "Somewhere Far Beyond". I stayed away from power metal for a long time after that, thinking that all of it must sound like Blind Guardian (whom I still dislike). However, I received "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II" for my birthday from a friend whom I told I liked thrash metal which he interpreted as any metal from the 80s. So I took, at the time, the damnable thing and played it, and played it, and played it. It took awhile, but I got back into power metal because of this album.

The album is no masterpiece, however; this album is peppered with excellence and shit like I have found most Helloween albums to be like. It starts out with the intro Invitation which sets the power metal mood for this album. Then comes the gem, Eagle Fly Free, the best song on the album without a doubt. Kiske puts out a great vocal performance, Ingo's drumming is fast and spot-on as usual, and Kai's guitarwork is superb. You Always Walk Alone is a good song, but not nearly as fast or powerful as the song before it. Rise and Fall is where the humor begins; it lets the listener take a humorous look at a multitude of things like Romeo and Juliet and politicians.

Most of the songs continue in the vein of cool with speed/power metal fusion I Want Out or just songs with humorous tones to them like Dr. Stein. The songs We Got the Right and March of Time, however are mediocre at best but the title track is the worst song on the album. Keeper plods on for 13 minutes which is maybe 10 minutes too long. The song has its moments where some killer riffs are riffed or Kiske pulls off an amazing vocal section. However, it's almost like sitting through minutes of the same Pantera riff just to hear Dimebag bust out one of his famous solos and then listening to more minutes of mindless groove metal riffs. It's just not worth listening to after the first time.

Keeper Part II is probably the best Kiske-era Helloween album, but it's not the masterpiece that fans claim it to be. Sure, there's gems scattered throughout the album, but there's the lame tracks and the really shitty title track. If you like power metal and don't have this album yet, get it and you'll be a happy camper. If you're just getting into power metal from the harder stuff like thrash metal (as I did), try Walls of Jericho first before you move onto the albums that helped define power metal.

After Keeper part 1 the world had gotten accustomed to a different Helloween. Just as powerful at times but more varied, melodic and certainly more original. Part two is longer than its predecessor and the writing balance has levelled. Weikath and Kiske wrote more songs this time. This results in part 2 being slightly more varied than part 1 already was.

The Hansen songs are briliant as usual (although he would make some mistakes later on during the first few Gamma Ray albums of course). Following the success of Future World we have “I Want Out ” this time which is just as good, features some good riffs and melodies and a very catchy chorus. And just like Twilight of the Gods on part 1 there’s a raging song here as well called “March of Time”. Again a beautiful blend between early fast Helloween and the divinity called Michael Kiske.

Weikath has woken up and delivers 4 tracks instead of 1 this time. With “Dr Stein” he presents a funny and catchy little sing-a-long that does well in a live setting. His highlight however is the mightly “Eagle Fly Free” which easily is the best song on the album. Once again we’;re dealing with a very fast old school Helloween song on which Kiske can excel. “Rise and Fall” is simply good. It has a great neoclassical verse and the bridge has a certain Queen feeling. The chorus is catchy and uptempo. A great composition. Lastly we have the title track. Though not even close to the earlier epic “Halloween” this song also holds some great ideas. The bridge however is slightly too slow and the chorus not that strong. The rest of the song fortunately makes up for it.

Also this time Kiske has written some more. We’re talking 2 instead of 1 song by the way. “We Got The Right” is majestic. Starts of sounding like a ballad but quickly progresses into an epic pounding waltz with strong riffing and obviously briliant vocals. The builp-up of this song a marvellous and here were can really hear Kiske at his peak. Unfortunately his other song, “You Always Walk Alone”, is the weakest one on the album. Not saying it also is a bad song because it would easily crush everything on Chameleon for instance, but on this album it lacks the geniality of the rest of the songs. Kiske vocals however turn this average song into a worthy one. Just to give you an indication of how important his vocals actually are!

Before I forget. When I finally also bought the CD version next to my LP I got my hands on the bonustrack “Save Us” which I believe is a Hansen composition? It sure as hell sounds like one. Fast, furious and a more than beautiful middle section (check out Kiske singing “Far from down below one comes prepared to take us all waiting for his future and the final call” and you’ll know what I mean) before plunging into great harmonies and classic leads.

Like I said in my review of part 1: No use writing an epistle. Just go get this album right away. (together with part 1 obviously)

Originally meant to be a double CD concept album, the Keepers of the Seven Keys albums were released back to back in 1987 and 1988. The first was a shorter 8 track introduction to the concept, mostly contained within the closing track "Follow the Sign". Where this one differs is the more advanced sense of musicianship, combined with a greater emphasis on the satirical side of Helloween's lyrics.

Like it's predecessor, this album contains a good portion of up tempo tracks, technical flair, and a 13 minute plus epic. But song writing duties have evolved a bit, and this is where the music is a bit different. Michael Weikath has written the long epic to this album, and the results are a song that is equal in scope, but with a greater emphasis on melody, both in the vocals and the guitars. The lyrics on this track are also not quite as comical, which is a bit uncharacteristic as much of Weikath's work with Helloween is full of satire.

Faster tunes include the melodic and quite catchy "Eagle Fly Free", a song that would become a symbolic tool for the Judas Priest influenced band Primal Fear (whose vocalist was originally tapped to sing for Helloween), as well as the subject matter of several Kai Hansen compositions with Gamma Ray. "March of Time" is a lesser appreciated track from this album, though I consider it one of Kai Hansen's finest song writing moments, particularly for the piano work at the beginning. "Save Us", which on my version of this album was track 8, is a bit heavier and features both the bottom and top of Michael Kiske's amazing range. (for Gamma Ray fans, this song is a bit similar to "Solid" off of No World Order)

"We got the right" is an anthem like rocker offered up by Kiske that features a rather gloomy bass intro. "You always walk alone" is another Kiske offering that is quite insightful lyrically, although musically it reminds me more of earlier NWOBHM material. "Rise and Fall" introduces us to the more ridiculously satirical and quasi-punk rock side of Helloween, obviously influenced a bit by the Thrash bands of the time lyrically.

The most successful and well-known songs off this album, however, are highly noteworthy as they lack the over-simplistic feel of most radio friendly singles. "Dr. Stein" is another satirical song, telling the story of a mad scientist who fools with nature a bit too much and meets an unfortunate end. This one is loaded with fast solos, and a rather cliche yet fun pipe organ solo to accent the cheesy horror movie feel of the song. "I want out" is a more simple, yet quite exciting anthem of angst that reminds me a tiny bit of Twisted Sister, although with a more intellectual lyric approach.

As far as I'm concerned, this is Helloween's finest hour, although sadly it would be the last time that Kai Hansen would be in the band. As observed with how his music has evolved with Gamma Ray, it is clear that he was going in a different direction than the others in the band. This is a piece of power metal history that no current fan of the genre should be without.

This album is (dare I say…?) perfect. And I mean it. I’m very picky about my music, and I always find at least one tiny thing I don’t like. There’s always one filler. Perhaps bad production. Or maybe bad vocals? Guitars? There’s not enough song diversity? Something always bothers me. But no, not on here. Helloween’s second ‘Keeper’ is musical perfection.

Of course, this album is considered a landmark in metal history. And rightly song. How can you go wrong with Kai Hansen on guitars and Michael Kiske on vocals? You can’t. And that’s not even mentioning Kai Hansen’s amazing songwriting. I mean, every single song on this album is a power metal masterpiece, and I cannot find any song on here that could be considered filler in the smallest bit.

Obviously, Helloween were highly experimental here (as well as on the first Keeper) since they were treading previously unexplored territory and creating new genres of metal with each new album, it seemed. It is clear that this album contains even more power metal elements than the first of the Keepers, but it still has that hint of traditional metal and NWOBHM, as well as speed metal elements. Taking the best parts from each genre created a legendary sound that will NEVER be copied, no matter how many times it may be attempted. (Basically every single power metal band is DIRECTLY, and in a lot of cases SOLELY influenced by Helloween… and none of them manage to sound as great as the originals.)

So enough of the history lesson and let me start of with the vocals. Fuck, I can’t think of a single word good enough to describe them. Michael Kiske’s voice is godly. I don’t know of any vocalist that can sing better than him. There’s Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Dio… all amazing vocalists, and they do come close, but I do believe, at least in ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part 2,’ Michael Kiske outsings them all.

Kiske has an incredible amount of singing ranges. He can be heard singing high, singing low… speeds vary as well. We hear him singly slow and operatically, and singing fast. It adds a lot of variety and song diversity to the album, which is yet another plus. Kiske’s voice is also incredibly catchy. When you hear vocalists like, say, Timo Tolkki from Stratovarius, Tolkki’s voice is incredibly forgetful. Kiske’s is quite the opposite.

The guitars on this release are perfect as well. Ranging from slower songs like ‘We Got The Right,’ to faster songs like ‘Eagle Fly Free,’ we always get riffs and solos that match perfectly the mood of the song. Kai Hansen seems to be able to influence the listener’s mood at will, which is something that not enough musicians can do.

The song structures here are flawless as well. The opening of each song is a masterpiece. ‘I Want Out’ for example starts out with a short and repetitive guitar solo that is catchy as hell. Right after we hear Kiske singing, slowly but steadily building up to the chorus, and at 55 seconds into the song we hear a second of drumming, and the chorus erupts with one of the catchiest choruses in metal history… “I want OUT! OUT! OUT!” At four minutes and ten seconds the song begins to close, and we hear one more “I WANT OUT!” as two more riffs and rums sound out, and the song closes. It’s perfect.

The song diversity on here is amazing. But it is not so diverse as to be annoying. There is a perfect amount of speed and style changes throughout the album to keep the listener entertained all album long. Each song is something completely new and original, with no repetitions of any kind, and no fillers whatsoever. The themes of the songs range greatly as well. For example, we have the anthemic ‘I Want Out,’ and then we have the legendary epic, ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys,’ going at over thirteen and a half minutes. Then we have ‘Eagle Fly Free,’ which is a speed metal masterpiece with power metal vocals from Kiske, and then we have songs along the likes of ‘Dr. Stein’ and ‘Rise And Fall.’ Both are less serious, and are simply… goofy. Take a look at this excerpt from ‘Rise And Fall’ for example:

“A spaceman flies the rocket
that takes him to the stars
thinks his wife is in his pocket
but she's strolling 'round in bars”

Absolutely ridiculous lyrics. Sang in a ridiculous way. But you know what? It WORKS. Helloween are not afraid to have fun while they play, and don’t worry about taking everything so damn seriously. They didn’t earn the nickname “Happy Happy Helloween” for nothing :-)

I love Helloween. I love Helloween. I love Helloween. And ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part 2’ is the biggest reason for that. Throughout their whole history they released legendary albums like, of course, both ‘Keepers,’ ‘Time Of The Oath,’ ‘Master Of The Rings….’ And countless others. But this album right here is what etched their name in heavy metal history forever. If you don’t have it yet… GET IT. It’s as simple as that. You cannot be regarded with the least amount of respect if you don’t own this masterpiece.

-Marcin C.

Here, I'll admit freely: I certainly was not into metal when this album came out; in fact, I was barely even talking. Alas, I am therefore not even remotely qualified to talk about the impact this had on metal, or the fact that Helloween created a genre which has basically remained unchanged since 'Keepers... Part 1'. All I can do is to talk about the basic musical fabric of this legendary album, and to be perfectly honest it does not impress me.

The major problem with this release can be whittled down to one element: Michael Weikath. This collection of songs gives us all the evidence we need to conclude that this man is indeed a relentless buffoon, from his utterly unfunny attempts at humour (calling it 'satire' would be giving him unneccesary intimations of grandeur) to his cringe-worthy 'let's all be happy happy happy!' songwriting. Perhaps this is a little unfair; after all, 'Eagle Fly Free' is an unoffensive stab at a glorious power metal tune (even if it is utterly unremarkable) and 'Dr Stein' is quite fun, with a rather tasty organ countermelody at the end being the highlight.

But then... but then... we have a song like the execrable 'Rise and Fall'. Everything about this is just piss-poor. It's trying to be funny, but the lyrics are utterly fucking abysmal, and it's so happy-clappy ridiculous - living almost entirely as it does in the major modes - that it sounds just embarrassing. Weikath isn't entirely content with this affront to metal either; for then we get the interminable 'Keeper of the Seven Keys'. Frankly, it is just fundamentally pointless, a weak attempt at remaking the undoubtedly superb 'Halloween' from 'Part 1'. It just goes on and on and on, apparently convinced that having lots of different (boring) parts stuck together is a sign of musical genius. WRONG!

But let's ignore Weikath for a moment. What about the rest of the album? Well... I must conclude that it is simply unimpressive. 'March of Time', for example, could be the archetype for power metal, and thus has been relegated to 'utterly predictable'; every cack-handed power-metal wannabe has been ripping this tune off for nigh-on twenty years, and that whole sound is now stale as could be. Unfortunate, but true. The other songs are also unnoffensive, but they just seem bland; the vocal melodies don't grab me, the riffs aren't very exciting, and it all just smacks of pointlessness - not on the side of the band, who after all were genuine innovators in the eighties, but on the side of the modern observer for not listening to Angra instead. Add to this a dated production, with underpowered bass, overloud synthetic-sounding drums, a raspily thin, trebly guitar tone and an annoying singer (is it just me who thinks that Kiske sounds incredibly weak and weedy here?) and we end up with a big pile of... nothing much.

To wrap up, this album may have at one time been innovative and popular (despite dear Michael trying his best to mess everything up) but nowadays is basically pointless. So many bands in the meantime have just aped Hansen's composition style - as well as taking it to new levels, Kai included - that this is really now showing its age. So what exactly is the problem?

To me, it is that power metal has by definition a very fixed style, and in general it has not evolved. Other genres of metal have slowly changed, leaving the innovators sounding unique and isolated - thrash did, black did, death did, and traditional heavy metal really encompasses a lot of varying styles and techniques - but whilst power metalhas progressed in finesse and intricacy, it has not fundamentally altered (aside from notable exceptions such as Blind Guardian - and even this is arguable).

This makes 'Keeper... Part 2' an ancient flint tool; it worked back in the day, was a great new thing that helped move mankind into new areas, and indeed was amazing when it first appeared - but nowadays has no property which has not been superseded and improved upon. The only way this work could still have relevance is with truly stellar songwriting, and I have already laid down my reasons why this is not the case. Save your money.

I love this album, I really do. It's one of the ones responsible for my metal rennaisance back in high school that saved me from a lifetime listening to mediocre radio crap. It started with Time of the Oath that I found on the used racks, I figure a band with a name like "Helloween" deserved some investigation. Probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I followed that one up with this immortal album, a reference point for the entire genre.

With the Keeper albums, Helloween took their turbo-Maidenish sound and refined it into something new and original, starting a shockwave in the metal scene that's still being felt nearly 20 years later. My esteem for this album has not wavered, but I find myself hitting the "next" button on the CD player a few more times than I'd like.

The Great: Catchy, melodic tunes, some of the classics of the power metal genre like Eagle Fly Free and I Want Out, and some excellent but overlooked classic songs like We've Got the Right, still to this day one of my favorite Kiske performances. The guitarwork is inventive and excellent, and Markus and Ingo are no slouches either. The songs are expertly crafted, and hold their own to this day.

The Not So Great: The production isn't really that great. It's good, but it does make the album sound a little dated at times. Not in a bad way, but if an album was released that sounded like this in 2006 fans would be clamoring for a remixed, remastered version. There are some thin songs on here, as the band has remarked in recent years they didn't have the time they'd have wished to fine tune some of the songs. Yes, there is some cheese here, but no "black arrows to false metal" type of junk here. It's evident they don't take themselves too seriously, so you can't really fault them for this. There are some middling tracks as well, like You Always Walk Alone and Save Us, good but not great.

The Lousy: Rise and Fall. If I were the god of metal, I would erase this song from the album. It's really stupid. I've tried since my teen years to look at the song in context and I really tried to like it, but from the vocals to the guitars to the sound effects, this song would have been best left as a B-Side (though it's nowhere the steaming pile of turd that is Heavy Metal Hamsters). Dr. Stein doesn't really do it for me either, I liked the song years ago but the more time has passed, the less I can tolerate this song. I know it's regarded as one of their classics, but I would have to say it hasn't aged as well as some of the other songs on the album. Also to echo an earlier review, they could have done without the dumb sound effects.

To summarize this album, It really is a great album. I still consider it one of the albums that changed the way I looked at metal and music in general, and I still give it a spin very often all these years later. Though there are some songs that would make me want to give it less than a 90, the impact of the great songs on here and the shockwave it sent through European Metal warrants it having a great rating. I still regard it as an essential release, even if there are some songs on here that make you say "ehh".

The second part of the groundbreaking Keeper Of The Seven Keys part I! To be fair (without being influenced by the love and respect I have for this album) PartII wasn't as good as the first one, but nevertheless a record containing some of the best known power/speed metal songs ever written!

The album continues with the same energy and structure of songs but with more ideas from guitarist Weikath and less of Kai Hansen and a slightly more progressive and commercial feel. All in all a wonderful conclusion to the first part.

"Eagle Fly Free" is considered the best power metal song ever written, comprising of dual guitar solos,perfect vocals,a bass and drum solo. "Dr. Stein" is a wonderful, melodic, funny(lyrics) and classic song. "March Of Time" is a technical, also melodic and strong power tune. "I Want Out" is a pop (catchy), heavy metal song that fulfills its purpose. "We Got The Right" is a strong power-ballad were Michael Kiske shines, delivering a breathtaking performance filled with melodic and high-pitched vocals. Finally the title track has some magnificent ideas but it sadly can't surpass the masterpiece "Halloween" of part I (the chorus is a little cheesy).

Musically the album is still characterized by fast double-bass drumming, twin-guitar melodic reefs and solos, outstanding vocals and fantasy lyrics-themes.
The production is slightly better than the first part, as the album sounds tighter and kind of clearer. The band sounds a bit tighter compared to their previous relish, but that maybe due to the better production.

Michael Kiske has surely glued in the band and his charismatic voice gives you the chills throughout the whole album (he sings higher than ever, hitting all possible notes with great precision)!

The only minor drawback in this album are the tracks "You Always Walk Alone" and "Rise and Fall" witch cannot by any means be considered bad songs, but just don't seem to fit here...And the other being that most of the song writing was done by Weikath, who is a exceptional songwriter and guitarist but not as good as Hansen.

This is a classic and groundbreaking record in the history shelves of metal, together with part I. A source of inspiration and influence to countless bands to follow.
This is also the last chapter in the Hansen - Helloween (80's) glorious era, from where onwards the band went downhill (in my opinion).

A MUST HAVE for any power/speed,heavy metal and open-minded hard rock fan.

I've had this album for some time, but haven't listened to it for awhile, and decided to just for the hell of it. Though it's widely viewed as one of the greatest and most influential power metal albums of all time, and my views are on the positive side of things, I'm still a bit mixed.

The good? The writing is creative and the musicianship is superb, and I'll acknowledge Kiske really has a powerful set of lungs. The riffs and choruses are among some of the catchiest and memorable I've heard, and almost make me want to type them as I write, and then start air-drumming along. This album is full of good if not great riffs, melodies, and solos. Though it's far less aggressive than some of their other works, there's certainly some worthy headbanging moments, particularly in "Eagle Fly Free" and "March of Time." The production is crystal clear and brings out the best in it.

The bad? This album is cheesy, big time. Not in the way that all the youth of today mistakenly think that anything with long hair and lead guitars as "cheesy," of course, but this album is a bit over the top. I often "embrace the cheese," but fully embracing this album would be a bit of a stretch. Nearly everything from this album exudes a bit too much happiness, from Kiske's vocals to the subtle symphonic elements and the grandiose, jovial rhythms and choruses. I can also unfortunately sense a hint of Christian elements in the title track, especially "Save Us". Then again, it's not quite as over the top in the uplifting sense as, say, Angra. Though the songs themselves are often catchy, the lyrics to "Rise and Fall" and "Dr. Stein" are just bad, but sort of funny at times and are catchy in their silliness. The title track has its moments but drags on forever, and is nowhere near as good as "Halloween" from the previous album. "We Got the Right" is just a dud. The best known track, "I Want Out" is good, but it grows repetitive.

Is it perfect or ideal? Not quite. It's a bit too cheesy and cartoonish, and I can really only listen to it when I feel like I need a good chuckle to make me a little less grim. I also prefer Walls of Jericho over this album by a good margin. However, I also acknowledge the good in Keeper, so I'll give it a 81%. Essential? Maybe.