Helloween - Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 1 (1987)

There are few metal albums out there that has the same legendary pedigree as Helloween's two parter "Keeper of The Seven Keys". It is a duo of albums that more or less created the power metal genre and all its tropes, taking some of the elements from their debut record "Walls of Jericho" and dialing them up to eleven. It is two landmark records that have a permanent impact on metal in general, so let us now see how well they hold up today, starting with part 1.

The biggest difference for Helloween from debut to sophomore effort is the line-up change. Feeling it was difficult to handle both guitar and vocal duties, Kai Hansen stepped down as the singer, and a young man named Michael Kiske entered the frame. Michael is more or less exactly what you want in a power metal singer, he handles all the high notes extremely well, creating long and soaring notes that us mere mortals would only dream of making, and he can also follow the melodies with ease. Seriously, it is like Helloween did not hold a audition for the vocal job, but instead went down to a lab to manufacture the perfect specimen.

So with that sorted out, Kai could focus more on the guitar work, and that let him be more free in his expression. Together with his partner in crime, Michael Weikath, Kai is showing some brilliant guitar work throughout the record, from galloping riffs to sweeping picks. One of my favourite bits are in the chorus of "Twilight of The Gods", where we hear this fast zig zag pattern in the background, a technical goody that elevates the chorus. I also love all the heavy riffs in the monstrosity that is known as "Halloween", a 13 minute track that ends the album in epic fashion with tons of different moods, techniques, and even a reference to the beloved children's figure Charlie Brown. It is quite a homage to that holiday.

The biggest strength of "Keepers of The Seven Keys: Part 1" is just how tight the whole album sounds. With a play time of just under 37 minutes and a quantity of 8 tracks, Helloween makes sure no second is wasted in this album, filling it with either blazing speed ("I'm Alive"), emotional ballads ("A Tale That Wasn't Right"), or even some pure 80's goodness ("A Little Time" and the single "Future World"). Only down time is the intro and outro of the record, but everything in between is all business, portrayed by a band that has found that perfect recipe to create some nice heavy music.

The only thing I am a little petty about is that the band uses a bunch of sound effects throughout the record that does not really add anything useful, skewing the listeners concentration to the wrong spot. From an alarm clock and buzzer, to laughing children and robotic voices, these sound bites does not really serve any real purpose other adding some gimmick to the song, and I can absolutely handle one or two of those, but there are simply too many in this short of an album.

Oh well, a couple of sound snippets should not ruin an experience, and it does not so in this case. This first part of the "Keeper of The Seven Keys" saga is rock solid in every aspect, combining all of the great qualities that every power metal release should possess. It is fast, epic, a ton of fun, and tight as hell, really living up to the "No filler, all killer" motto. It is a fast start that sets the bar high for the second half of the double header, let us hope Helloween has not burned out all their energy too early.

Songs worthy of recognition: Halloween, I'm Alive, Twilight of The Gods, Future World

Rating: 9/10 Initiations

www.helloween.org/
twitter.com/helloweenorg

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Motörhead - Rock 'n' Roll (1987)

It is pretty easy to see that "Rock 'n' Roll" is far from the most impressive work that Motörhead has ever done. The title is kinda meh, and while the artwork is cool as always, it just does not say very much, it is just a dark blue Snaggletooth doing his best Gene Simmons impression. Oh well, it is still Motörhead at least, so you know what you will get, and that is only the purest of heavy metal.

The first single from this album was actually written for a movie called "Eat The Rich" (which is also the name for the song), a British black comedy starring cast members of the then popular tv show "The Comic Strip Presents...". I have personally never heard of this movie before, but after taking a look at the plot, it seems pretty dark to say the least. The whole band did an appearance in the movie too, and so did also Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, and a bunch of different fairly famous people at that time. The song itself is okay, but really safe, so I do not have much to say about it.

I got more to say about track number 4 instead, and that is "Stone Deaf In The USA", an extremely fun song with a great groove, a hooky chorus, and some fun lyrics. I also love the solo that borrows some from fellow NWoBHM guys Judas Priest. The song ends on a really weird note though, with a sermon wishing that the man above takes care of this band, it feels like it is taken straight out from Monty Python. Actually, it is taken straight out from Monty Python, because the guy doing the sermon is none other than Michael Palin. A fun, but really weird ending to the song.

It is definitely the rock 'n' roll groove that is the strength of this album, being the driving force to a lot of the songs in here, like "Traitor", "Boogeyman", and "Stone Deaf In The USA". However, there is not much of the classic Motörhead styled metal that we all have gotten used to. Ironically, the track of this album is the only one that even resembles that sound, and that is the first song right off the bat. I am not saying that this does not sound like Motörhead (it definitely does), it just is not enough to fulfill my hunger at least.

Looking at the whole picture, it just feels like the band had to rush things. This album did only take one year to make, so that might be a good reason to why the overall song and production quality is not at its peak. I just do not get the purpose of some songs, like the really bland "All For You", or the over simplified "Dogs". It all comes back to the bland album title and the non spectacular cover art, this album in its entirety is what we in Sweden call "lagom", which means that it is perfectly fine, not bad at all, but not great either. I do not dislike "Rock 'n' Roll" at all, I kind of enjoy it, but if I had to chose a Motörhead album to listen to right now, this album would be pretty far back on my list.

Songs worthy of recognition: Stone Deaf In The USA, Rock 'n' Roll, The Wolf

Rating: 6,5/10 Blackhearts

imotorhead.com/
twitter.com/myMotorhead

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Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol (1987)

After all the confusion that "Seventh Star" brought, the next Black Sabbath had to be clear and straight for the band to gain back their reputation. And that is exactly what the band did in "The Eternal Idol", but they did it in a more unexpected way than I imagined.

"The Eternal Idol" is actually very much alike its predecessor "Seventh Star". The music is oozing of classic 80's rock that might work better on acts like Whitesnake and Deep Purple. However, this time the music actually feels like something Black Sabbath could do, and not something from a side project. But saying that "The Eternal Idol" is Sabbath to the core would be a lie, it does not have any of the darkness that personalized the early albums and the Iommi riffs are more in a normal fashion, although they are still interesting and nice.

A new singer named Tony Martin Harford started his Black Sabbath career in "The Eternal Idol" and he is so far the second longest running vocalist in the band (after Ozzy). His voice fits this type of music well, and he does an overall good job as the lead vocalist. Other wise, there are no new additions to the band in this album, but a couple of drop offs from their last efforts, including Ray Gillen, Geoff Nicholls and Dave Spitz (Dave is credited in the album but does not actually appear in it).

What I like most about "The Eternal Idol" is that it has more bite to it. The songs are tougher and feels more like hard rock, something "Seventh Star" never did. It kind of reminds me of the Dio era of Sabbath, only without the fantasy lyrics. But it also have some of the classic Sabbath vibe in it, especially in the ending track "Eternal Idol" where we hear some of the darkest riffs Iommi has made after the Ozzy era. A stunningly awesome piece that ends the album in a remarkable way.

There are a good amount of good picks from this album. "Lost Forever" does not only impress with its drive and heavy attitude, but also a fantastic guitar solo and a strong and epic ending where Harford shows his range. The opener "The Shining" does also have a good drive, but it also shows some sensitivity with its slower parts. A good diverse track that is also catchy. Finally, we have the more groove oriented "Hard Life To Love", a song that catches my attention thanks to its interesting song structure and infectious main riff.

However, if there is one thing I am missing from "The Eternal Idol", it is the fact that the overall song quality is just okay. No horrible song, but no real killer either. The record is filled with fine songs that does a good job in entertaining the listener, but it is highly unlikely that some one would chose any of the songs from "The Eternal Idol" as some of Black Sabbath's best works because either the band has done similar songs that are better, or the  song just does not have that attraction to it. In other words, together the songs in "The Eternal Idol" creates a good album, but they would not be strong enough to be able to stand alone.

"The Eternal Idol" is definitely one of those Black Sabbath albums that does not get the recognition it truly deserves. It does a pretty good job mixing the band's entire career, from the early days and the Dio era to the more recent outputs. It is a album that feels good, fresh, and most importantly, it feels like it belongs in the Sabbath discography. Nothing is truly eternal, but "The Eternal Idol" is a album that has a long enough life span to entertain several generations of metal fans.

Songs worthy of recognition: Eternal Idol, The Shining, Hard Life To Love

Rating: 7,5/10 Glory Rides