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The Dark Ride is the best Helloween album because the songwriting is the best. They never had songwriting that snappy, catchy and direct ever again or before, and TDR was a perfect album if you're like me and are into groovy bass lines, heavy riffs and catchy choruses. Everything is pulled together with finesse and style and character.

I don't care for any post-Walls of Jericho Helloween, honestly, and even then in terms of goofy German speed metal Scanner is clearly the superior band, imo. Time to go listen to Hypertrace again.

The Dark Ride is one of my favorite Helloween albums too, and I think Andi Deris is killer. To me, the pumpkin in the helloween logo is Deris. He's got this distinct cackle where he sounds menacing, but at the same I can imagine him giving you wink and a wry grin afterwards. I think his voice embodies Helloween's imagery the best.

The Keeper albums always make me think of early Scanner thesedays too. Maybe it was UltraBoris' comparison or something, but yeah, they are infinitely superior in every single way.

I still cannot get into keepers at all. I am with Oblarg on this one, anything post WOJ just never had an impact on me when it comes to Helloween.

UltraBoris' comparison makes no sense to me. Early Scanner draws comparisons to Rage, certainly, but Helloween?

If you want Keeper of the Seven Keys Part III, Gamma Ray's Heading for Tomorrow is the album to listen to. It's got just about everything those albums had, even the weird German humor.


These two elements work at cross purposes.

If I wanted Keepers Pt. III, then I would listen to Keepers Pt. III.

:V

"Keepers I and II are defecated on by Keepers: The Legacy"?

Basically, The Dark Ride is a superficially "heavy" album, with a decent production, and some crappy downtuned riffs. Helloween were better off before they decided to self-consciously modernise. Their stuff with Kai singing is the only really heavy stuff they'll ever do; not too say the later stuff is necessarily bad.

Also, Gamma Ray really kinda suck, don't they?

I have a soft spot for Gamma Ray, probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for pretty much them and Running Wild (I say Running Wild ages way better). That said I personally don't like Ralf at all or the first three albums aside from a few songs (which are better on the "Blast From the Past" collection/remake) and I enjoy "Majestic" but the quality dipped there. I haven't really cared about them since. Maybe it is just pure nostalgia that makes me like those few middle albums, I probably can't even finish one song from the newer stuff, so who knows. It's a weird relationship.

I definitely think "No World Order" is legit though. Definitely a bit more Priest than power, it's grown on me the most over the years.

But yeah I think WoJ is Kai's greatest moment. Even if some people here will argue his singing is pretty terrible there, the whole album is just on fire and relentless, so sloppy/aggression is best for it!

"Land of the Free", "Somewhere Out In Space" and "Blast from The Past" all contain some pretty challenging and ambitious vocal sections, and Hanson somehow manages to pull it off, although those albums would be vastly improved with a better vocalist. It's almost as if he bit off a bit more than he could chew for what he was trying to accomplish. That said, I think the melodies are pretty compelling, and I like Gamma Ray more than most Euro-power bands that followed. It seems like the most original Euro-power bands are keyboard driven (which I don't like), and the more "aggressive" riff-oriented ones are extremely generic and don't write memorable melodies.

I think the thing is for me is that Kai just has a lot of character, nobody else out there sounds quite like him. Limited or not, I definitely couldn't imagine WoJ or Gamma Ray without him. People like Piet Sielck on the other hand... they're good, but tons of guys out there like that.

I think his best performance is probably on "Rebellion in Dreamland".

However, I can say that Kai is sometimes cringe worthy / hilarious when he pops up for a few moments in early Blind Guardian. Now when you pit him alongside Hansi, yeah the difference in skill is fucking clear.

Hansi is one of those vocalists I think has/had potential to be so much more though... after "Tokyo Tales" I just could careless about BG and the vocals can't save it.

He sounds so freaking pissed on Tommyknockers, can't get enough of that song.

Wat.

Imaginations is their best album, hands-down, no contest. And Nightfall/Night/Edge are really awesome, too.

If anything, it's their first 2 albums that aren't that special. And even then, that's only in comparison.

I think Imaginations is super weak compared to SFB, blows it away. Production and everything. I know it's not a popular opinion, but yeah it just does nothing for me.

I used to think Imaginations was pretty good but then I realized I only actually enjoy a few songs ("Another Holy War" rules). I'd definitely put SFB above it. Saying ANATO and Edge are better than Battalions of Fear and Follow the Blind? ...bad taste noted.

I guess you could put it either way depending on which way the defecation is happening. The Legacy certainly takes a big dump on the good name of the first two albums. There is no Keeper of the Seven Keys without Kai Hansen. Just not happening. He wrote all the best songs on those albums, and the band was never the same after he left.


No, they don't. At their zenith (Land of the Free through Powerplant) they were the best power metal band in the entire world, bar none. I hope To the Metal is just a fluke though, because it's an unmitigated disaster of an album.


Piet Sielck is the man. If you describe his style on paper it doesn't sound all that special but the conviction he brings to his vocals is awesome.


I dunno about that, Hansi got off to a weak start on the first two albums and didn't fully mature as a singer until Imaginations. Kai blows him away on "Valhalla". Of course, if Kai popped up to do vocals on say, "Somewhere Far Beyond" or "Born in a Mourning Hall", the tables would be turned.

I'm surprised at how well Hansi did with the screams on the new album. I've never really thought of him as a shrieker, but he handles it well on At the Edge of Time. That album could have really used a de-fluffing though. A lot of the orchestrations and extended intros were just unnecessary.


YES! YES! Not to mention the riffs on that song absolutely destroy everything in their path.

Hansi was never able to replicate Kai's shrieks on Valhalla. My heart sinks every time it gets to that part in a live version and he dosent even attempt it.

I actually love every Blind Guardian release except "A Twist In The Myth", which is surprising because there aren't many bands that have more than three albums that I like. Maiden has five albums that I like, and Pharaoh and Metal Church each have four. That's it -- every other band has three or less. That said, even though Queensryche is a one-album wonder for me, I like "The Warning" more than any individual album by any of those 4-8 album wonders that I mentioned. I'm not sure than "highest number of albums enjoyed" is the best criteria for favorite band.

I wouldn't really describe Kai's vocals in past as limited. Some of the things he did back on Land of the Free/Somewhere out in Space are incredible and the arrangements are adventurous.

It's just now that he's showing a bit more age. To the Metal was abysmal in that department (and every other one). I just hope they get out of the rut they created on that album.

Admittedly yeah this is Hansi's weakness. Never really much of a shrieker. They've got a great cover of Satan's "Trial by Fire" but Hansi's vocals definitely leave a lot to be desired compared to the original. Again, he doesn't even attempt the few shrieks Brian did.

EDIT: Wait... now according to Woolie_Wool's post above, Hansi's started shrieking now?

Kai is great on "Valhalla", I'll agree on that!

These songs aren't bad. Is this album more to the point than the last few? Maybe I can get into it.

I liked At The Edge of Time quite a bit, Xeo. It's 100% less shitty than A Twist In The Myth.

Edge of Time is better than Twist, but that's not saying that much.

Some comments...

@The Dark Ride: It's pretty much the Helloween album I turn to whenever I want to listen to the band, so eh.

@Gamma Ray: I like their attitude and enthusiasm more than their actual songs.

@Blind Guardian: I still haven't heard their first two all the way through (I know...) but I like SFB and then Imaginations right after that. Nightfall is pretty lame and ANATO is too ambitious for its own good. Twist in the Myth is about half killer and half OK songs, which is better than At the Edge of Time's rather safe and bland approach.

I really like SFB and Imaginations the most from Blind Guardian. Well, along with ANATO, although I know that's not a particularly popular opinion around here. I didn't think Edge was much better than Twist - it had some great songs, like Road of No Release, but then some stinkers like Tanelorn, Valkyries, etc. Twist was more consistent, but never rising above decent. Nightfall is probably my least favorite BG album, though. Too many ballads, and the riffs were really lacking.

I think that many of the best songs from ANATO and NIME are performed on the 2003 Live album, excepting "Battlefields" and "And Then There Was Silence" (which I think is great). Blind Guardian is one of the few bands who has recorded live renditions that I preferred to their studio output. Tokyo Tales also serves as a "best of" of their early material.

I like a lot of the material on NIME, but there's too much filler. All the Tolkein'esque interludes are pretty boring, and the album is too long.

Justa outta curiosity, is anyone here familiar with a Spanish singer called Leo Jiménez? Because if not, you should be, as the man is badass.

That was completely awesome. I'll have to look into Saratoga "Agotaras".

I heard their "Painkiller" cover once, wasn't impressed.

Why don't Hibria cover that song? Or some other speed metal band that's actually worthy of taking it on?

Because Hibria write better songs than Painkiller. They don't need to play no covers!

Hibria have this nasty habit of pulling out one or two great riffs, but then padding out their songs with boring chord progressions. Also, their vocalist is a bit tame and their solos are way too ultra-squeaky-clean for my tastes.

I love everything Hibria has done but there's no way this is actually true! Their cover of Painted Skies is a pretty good homage though. I don't agree with the tame vocals thing either, there's certain tracks where Samson's vocal delivery is very forceful. He pushes himself to the limit on the 1st and 2nd album.

ANATO and Imaginations are my favourite BG releases. The first is very ambitious, interesting and catchy arrangements and I feel the latter is everything written before that album, perfected. There's not a bad track on that disc.

Just checked one Hibria song from their debut. Stuff sounds pretty solid.

As far as Blind Guardian goes...I still think their debut is the best they've ever done. Just fun, quite raw speed metal. I don't listem to them a lot but when I do it's mostly their debut that I listen to.

Ooooooooh majesty!

Yeah, I dig Hibria, but something like Portrait is more my style.

That cover blows, yes, but then again they're not a band who's really good with them. Just like Xeogred said, you might wanna check out Agotaras instead. It's really cool heavy/power metal with a sense of urgency and, as previously pointed out, insane vocals.

That singer from Saratoga was cool Xlxlx. Much more impressive because it's live.

Yeah, Leo Jiménez is awesome. I think he showcases his abilities the best in this cover of Pantera's Shattered. He sounds even better than Phil, for fuck's sake! I mean really, this man has one of the best tenor voices I have heard until now, his power and control being something to envy. His English could be a bit better though