Helloween were passed off as an Iron Maiden clone band in the British music press back in the day, mainly due to Michael Kiske’s vocals being close to Bruce’s. The band have made some killer records, and they were big on the concept element. Somewhat ironically, they are now part of the Sanctuary Records group set up by Maiden manager, Rod Smallwood.
This magnum opus was the band’s second release back in ’87, and basically gave birth to the European Power Metal scene. There’s not one bad track on the record and it’s only their second album and they produced one of the classic metal albums of the eighties. Stand out tracks for me are Twilight Of The Gods, which pounds along at a fair lick with killer guitar, soaring vocals, and superb harmonies, Future World, with a fast four to floor groove and trouser tightening vocals, and the 13 minutes of pure awesome that is Halloween – an absolute monster of a tune that has everything a drooling metal fan could wish for. It has a huge imposing evil intro with max riffage, and plenty of groove changes to fill many albums.
The band actually recorded parts 1 and 2 at the same time wanting to release them as a double album, but the record label refused. Anyhoo, a great metal album.
9.5/10 from The Grooveman.
