Helloween

The diabolical pumpkins invent a new kind of genre

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Helloween is the living proof that German metal is not limited to Scorpions or Rammstein. Powerful music, fast rhythms and lyrical flights enthusiasts, they have long since blown away the crowds to impose their style. They are at worst the trailblazers of power metal, at best the founders of the genre. They hammer the double pedal as if their lives depended on it, guitars are playing harmonies or fighting in duels, high-pitched vocals in the manner of Iron Maiden, no doubt, there is something deeply epic in the sounds of this quintet straight out of hell !

Accompanied by their diabolical pumpkin, we can say that the members of Helloween go through the ages in their own way. And it is certainly not a long, quiet river! Climbed to the top in a dazzling way, they hit the bottom just as fast and slowly resurfaced, riff after riff, solo after solo, like the melodic sagas they will never be tired of telling.

It's no surprise if their lyrics, unlike Gamma Ray or Blind Guardian, don't evoke fantastic themes. Wrestling with the devil himself, they prefer to talk about what they know: the struggle between good and evil, love, inner conflicts that have more than once almost brought the band down. But also the redemption that Helloween has finally found after more than 30 years of existence. Today, on stage, the voices of singers from different eras mingle, the guitarists tune up and the band still distributes hits in the form of monumental slaps to their fans. Maybe hell has finally turned into paradise ?

Highlights

1985

Helloween speeds up the tempo

The band enters the heavy metal scene like a thunderclap, releasing the very good Walls of Jericho. The rhythm is extremely fast, the solos are melodic, and the critics already praise the invention of a new genre, the melodic speed, which will soon become power metal. This first opus was soon followed by Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 1 (1987) and Part 2 (1988), which confirmed the band's success, giving us some of their best seller and most famous songs like Halloween or I Want Out.

1989

Helloween digs his grave

It is only one year after their worldwide success that the band begins its descent into the underworld. In 1989, Kai Hansen, founder and guitarist of the band, decided to leave due to tensions with the other members. The albums that followed received a cold reception from critics and fans, this time shoving singer Michael Kiske, out the door. He left the band in 1993, followed by drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg, who suffered from schizophrenia and committed suicide two years later.

1996

Helloween, rebirth of the living dead

The band is then morose and rumours of separation are rife. It is without counting on the resilience of the remaining members who recruit Andi Deris on vocals and Uli Kusch on drums. The band is now steady and enjoy renewed success with the very good Time of the Oath (1996) followed by Better than Raw (1998). Helloween finds some rhythm in the flow after a series of turbulences.

2016

Helloween, back to the basics

This is a thunderclap in the world of metal. After years without having played together, the band announces that Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske will join the current members for an exceptional tour called Pumpkins United, to the delight of their fans. The concert series is a huge success, as is the eponymous single. Following this success, the seven members of the reunited band entered the H.O.M.E. studios in Hamburg, where it all began, to record a new album.

Testimonials

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As a lifelong fan of the band, it is a pleasure to see Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske, the emblematic members, alongside the band. Each one sings the tracks produced by the other, the three guitars complement each other perfectly and the hit songs follow one another! After two encores that could wake the dead, I can definitely say that I attended the best concert of the year!

Baptiste after the concert at the Zénith in 2017

After a roller-coaster career, many hardships and heights of glory, it is a pleasure to see the founding members of the band back on stage. Far from monopolizing attention, they play in symbiosis with the quintet, you can see they enjoy themselves . The founders of power metal still have some gas left in the tank and should be back on stage very soon !

One could only dream of such atmosphere, it is a pleasure to witness the bond between the artists and their connection is a musical delight ! The closeness of the band with the audience is also there, thanks to a thrust stage that the artists enjoy walking up and down, to the delight of their fans. The set list is impressive tonight and one can say that there is hardly a classic song - or nearly none - missing.

Radio Metal