Helloween

About Helloween

Helloween invented power metal, more or less. That's their legacy in one sentence, though it took them a few decades and several lineup changes to make peace with it.

They started in Hamburg in 1984, pulling together members from various German metal bands during the height of the thrash movement. Kai Hansen handled guitar and vocals initially, Michael Weikath played guitar, Markus Grosskopf took bass, and Ingo Schwichtenberg sat behind the drums. Their self-titled EP and debut album "Walls of Jericho" in 1985 leaned heavy on speed metal, all aggression and raw energy. But Hansen's voice wasn't really cutting it for where they wanted to go.

Enter Michael Kiske in 1987. The guy was seventeen and had a voice that could hit notes most people can't even hear. "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I" dropped that year, followed by Part II in 1988, and those two albums essentially wrote the blueprint for power metal. Fast guitars, soaring vocals, fantasy lyrics, songs that stretched past the seven-minute mark without getting boring. "Eagle Fly Free" and "I Want Out" became anthems. The production was clean enough to hear everything, heavy enough to still feel dangerous.

Then it all fell apart. Hansen left in 1989, tired of touring and increasingly at odds with the direction. Kiske and the band spent the early nineties making albums that confused everyone, including themselves. "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" and "Chameleon" had moments but mostly felt like a band trying to be Nirvana when they should have stayed in their lane. Kiske left in 1993. Schwichtenberg's mental health deteriorated, he was fired in 1993, and he died in 1995. Dark period.

Andi Deris replaced Kiske and proved doubters wrong. He didn't have Kiske's range but he had personality and consistent songwriting instincts. "Master of the Rings" in 1994 stabilized things. They spent the next two decades as a reliable touring act, putting out solid albums like "The Dark Ride" and "Gambling with the Devil" without really recapturing that late-eighties magic. They were respected, influential, but operating in power metal's long shadow rather than leading it.

The big move came in 2016 when they somehow convinced both Hansen and Kiske to rejoin, not as replacements but additions. Seven members, three guitarists, a potentially absurd setup that actually worked. "Helloween" in 2021 was their first studio album with the reunited lineup, and it sounded exactly like what fans hoped for—big, melodic, unashamedly theatrical metal.

They're still touring that lineup now, playing three-hour sets that span their entire catalog. It's rare for a band to get a second act this graceful, especially in metal where grudges typically outlive careers. They're older, clearly having more fun than they did thirty years ago, still playing music that influenced everyone from Blind Guardian to DragonForce without ever chasing trends.

Helloween crowds are there to sing along to "I Want Out" and lose their minds during the galloping sections. The band plays tight and locked in, trading riffs and harmonies like they've done it a thousand times. Energy stays high but never feels frantic. Fans come prepared.

Known for Future World, I Want Out, Halloween, If I Could Fly, Keeper of the Seven Keys

See Helloween Live