Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy (2CD)

This is a kick-ass album. Uneccessarily spread over 2 discs, this picks up both in terms of quality and in style. The music has that 'classic' Helloween feel that everyone felt when they first heard classics such as 'I Want Out' and 'Eagle Fly Free'. I can't pick out any particular song, as I love the whole damn album. It also rears the band's head back up, as I felt they had become a bit generic over their last few albums, but this is a much needed kick up the arse to the metal community. I would rate this slighlty higher than Kai's latest effort, but buy that as well. Make sure you buy this album.

You haven't bought it yet? What part of kick-ass didn't you understand?

Okay let me start by just saying I am a fan a huge fan of guitar music, in particular power/progessive metal style of music. I decided to write this review to drown out two reviews which in my opinion are completely incorrect.

An example of the inaccuracy of one review - when mentioning song writing credits claiming Kai Hansen wrote ALL the songs. He wrote alot of them but not every song. I think you need to double check who wrote the epic 13 minute title track for Keeper Of The Seven Keys, also what about Eagle Fly Free, Dr. Stein, A Tale That Wasn't Right. Songs which are staples on the Helloween live setlist and considered to be some of the best if not the best power metal anthems of all time written by.... Michael Weikath.

Despite being the vocalist during the original Keeper of the Seven Keys albums Michael Kiske is only credited with writing 3 songs. There's no doubting he is an excellent vocalist but he almost destroyed Helloween after the Keeper albums changing the musical direction. People seem to forget this or just haven't bothered to listen to anything created by new singer Andi Deris who himself is an excellent composer and singer despite not having the range of Kiske.

Helloween were heavily critised for writing songs under the 'Keeper Of The Seven Keys' album title years after the originals and especially when there are only now two of the founding members left. Michael Weikath on guitar and Marcus Grosskopf on Bass.

Helloween have always been asked by fans and the media if there would be another Keeper installment and they felt 2005 was the year to finally answer this question and bring the saga to an end. They were accussed by some of simply trying to cash in however the point of the album was to show fans that the current Helloween line-up despite several member changes was heading in a direction which could possibly see them creating their very best pieces of work starting with 'Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy'.

Okay so to the album review. Why buy this album?

The first disc is excellent with disc 2 being slightly weaker but still enjoyable. Like many people I think the album should have been on one disc.

The Best....

The King for 1000 Years - Epic masterpiece *****

The Invisible Man - A personal fav, sounds great live and really like the guitar solo. ****

Born On Judgement Day - Catchy and powerful ****

Pleasure Drone - I particulary like the harmoized guitar solo, excellent. ****

Mrs. God - The single, this song has a bit of humour to it. Helloween singles are often ****

Silent Rain - A song which has been highlighted for its lyrics, still an excellent song. ****

Occasion Avenue - The 2nd epic on disc 2. *****

Light The Universe - The ballad with Candice Night. ****

My Life For One More Day - Another powerful song which is one of the best on the album. *****

The Rest..... but still worth a listen.
These songs range from good to okay. They just feel like they have something missing from them compared to the tracks above.

Come Alive - Catchy Chorus. ***

The Shade In The Shadows - Great Intro and drumming, no guitar solo which is odd but still a decent track. ***

Do You Know What You Are Fighting For - This song eventually grew on me. ***

Get It Up - Meh... my least favourite I admit. **

So Overall I would give this album a solid 4 out of 5. If songs like 'Shade in the Shadows and 'Come Alive' had that missing something to them and perhaps a couple of the other songs had been left out this album would have been pushing for 5/5.

Excellent performaces from all members of Helloween which continued on into their next studio release, Gambling With The Devil.

Take the finest Germanic metal band in the world, add an unbelievable second Guitarist (Gerstner) and the mother of all rock drummers (Loble), send them into the studio and the result can only be the best Helloween album ever recorded! Keeeper -The Legacy is simply the best thing Helloween has ever done! Mind you, I have expressed similar sentiments for the last three albums but I mean it this time!

This album rocks! The songwriting is awesome, the playing out of this world and the production is so good the songs bust their way out of the speakers and punch you in the face!

My favourites are The Invisible Man, Pleasure Drone and Mrs God but each time I listen to the album I discover more!

Enjoy!