Keeper of the Seven Keys Part [Original recording remastered, Import]

Looking at this as a fan of the album when it originally came it, it's not bad. If you're looking to check out Helloween for the first time, this is a great place.

First of, a remaster of one of the best metal albums ever is always a good thing! The liner notes are great, reprinting the orginal album sleeve artwork and also offering an intereview with a member of the band.

The bonus offerings, are not so bonus...

If you own "The Best, The Rest, The Rare" you already have Victim of Fate.

The Starlight remix is good.

The alt version of A Little Time is not much different from the original, which I prefer.

Still trying to figure out why they included the video edit version of Halloween. Having been listening to the 13 minute original version for over 15 years, this is just horrible. I've seen the video and understand they need to cut it down about 10 minutes but it just doesn't work in that context. If you heard this without knowing it was an edited down version you'd wonder what the band was thinking.

Overall, if you have this already you may want to skip over it. But if the original album artwork and remastering are your thing, then check it out.

When you hear the term "power metal", or more specifically "European Power Metal", Helloween has to be one of the first bands that come to mind, largely due to the impact of this particular album (and its companion piece Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2). Both albums completely reestablished both the band's sound as well as the whole idea of what power metal was all about. This is due largely to Kai Hansen adopting a more epic approach to his songwriting (as opposed to the Judas Priest style thrashers on Walls of Jericho) as well as the addition of vocalist Michael Kiske, who brought a powerful yet melodic aspect to Helloween's sound.

The way Helloween paired soaring melodies with metal aggression was inspired, and songs like "I'm Alive," "Future World" and "Halloween" essentially served as the blueprint for the new brand of power metal. I don't think the impact of the Keeper albums can be overstated. In the two decades since they were originally released, their sound has been adopted, adapted, and flat out imitated by countless bands. Without Helloween, there would be no Blind Guardian, no Rhapsody, no Edguy, at least not as we now know them.

If you're a power metal fan and for whatever reason haven't heard Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I, you need to order this album now. It truly belongs in every power metal fan's collection.

That said, why on earth has it taken 20 freaking years to get remastered versions of the Keeper albums? In an age where even the most recent bands keep reissuing their albums, we had to go way to long without a sonically improved Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I. Well, Sanctuary finally got around to the job in 2006, and they certainly did it right. In addition to digitally remastered sound (which is quite good despite what a previous reviewer would have you believe), you get four bonus tracks. The remixed/alternate/edited versions of existing songs don't add much, but adding the b-side "Victim of Fate" was a nice touch. You also get expanded liner notes by Metal Hammer scribe Dave Ling, photos, etc. plus a nifty slipcase for the disc.

This is what a remastered version of a classic album is supposed to look and sound like. If you're a Helloween fan and already own this album, it's time to replace your old version.

I first heard this band on a 10-song compilation cassette called THRASH METAL that my mom bought for me at K-Mart ($3.99). They're not exactly thrash, but I wasn't arguing, half because I was too young to know what the genre was, and half because the song ("I'm Alive") was freaking amazing. That feelgood power metal anthem is a bright spot on this album, but it's not the only one. Usually referred to as Helloween's best album (and miles ahead of the follow-up, Part 2), this record established the band as major players, or at least medium-level players, in the European power metal arena. In fact, some particularly rabid fans have suggested this album is the official beginning of power metal. But take that with a grain of salt.

If there's a storyline here, I'm not really getting it. Singer Michael Kiske's lyrics stay consistently in the fantasy realm, but what sticks with you much more are his Halford-esque melodic shriekings, perhaps best displayed in "A Little Time". But Helloween don't have any of the menace or malevolence of Judas Priest; their music is all medieval valor and gothic wonder. The dual soloing from guitarists Kai Hansen and Michael Weikath is stellar, and this album contains what I imagine ought to be the band's theme song, the epic-length "Halloween".

Occasionally the group's melodies are a little overwrought, such as on "Future World", whose chorus crosses the line from pompous into outright hilarious. Still, if you're going to enjoy power metal, you have to have a higher-than-normal level of patience for higher-than-normal levels of grandiosity. Later groups like Iced Earth, Hammerfall and Tad Morose have all had the same indulgences, but none of them have made a record as consistently thrilling as this one. Buy this and prepare to pretend you're riding a horse on top of a mountain, fighting a dragon.