My fist exposure was the follow up to this one so I like it more, however, this was a fine album. Unfortunatly I haven't heard this in a long time due to getting rid of the CD (I still don't know why because there was nothing wrong with the lyrics and I liked it) but it is on my wantlist (I've been trying to find it used but I'm about to give up and just get it special ordered). From what I remember my favorite songs were Future World, A Tale That Wasn't Right, and Halloween. I always liked the disclaimer that if you mix up the band Helloween and the song Halloween you will "turn into an ugly half-priced pumpkin".

The first two Helloween releases leaned more towards thrash/speed metal, so the change found on KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS PART I was something of a shock to me at first. Of course, over the years the album has become one of the most influential power metal releases, I'd go so far as to say that it's essentially Power Metal 101. I'm sure that the guys who went on to form Stratovarius, Freedom Call, Edguy, Rhapsody, etc., etc., etc. all regularly masturbated to this album when they were teenagers.

But seriously folks...there's no denying that Kiske's vocals gave the band a shot in the arm and widened their sonic palette. Kiske's vox would've sounded weird if they'd stuck to the same speed-metal template they were doing on WALLS. He had a hell of voice (and as we'd soon learn, a hell of an ego to go with that voice, but at this time he hadn't developed Lead Singer's Disease yet, haha) and his singing (as well as stellar material all around) took the band to a whole 'nother level.

I happened to be in Germany around the time this album was released in '87, and there was a LOT of hype for it, I remember seeing huge displays of the album in every record store I visited. One store even had this REALLY cool cardboard stand-up in their front window of the Keeper character shown on the album cover, holding the album in his hand (where the crystal ball is on the actual cover). I wanted to steal that thing but figured I'd never be able to get it into my luggage and sneak it onto the plane without ruining it. I waited till I got home to the U.S. to buy a copy of the album for whatever reason (probably because I spent most of my $ on beer while I was over there, haha), I originally bought it on vinyl (the little "pumpkin man" cartoons that were dotted all over the lyric sheet on the record sleeve were hilarious; I copied many of them onto my school book covers that Fall). I didn't upgrade it to CD until about five years ago but for my last couple of years of high school and into college, I wore out several tapes that I made from my vinyl copy.

Helloween fans frequently debate which KEEPER album is better, part I or II; I always go with this one. It's stronger than its counterpart and shows this lineup of the band at its absolute peak. Unfortunately, this lineup began to fray around the edges virtually from the moment PART II hit store shelves.

On a semi-related note, sometime during my senior year of high school I ordered a KEEPER PART I t-shirt from one of the merchandise ads in Circus Magazine -- I wore it proudly until it shrunk in the wash. I also had a back patch of the KEEPER PART I cover on one of my denim jackets back then. So yea, obviously I was a big fan of this one.

Oh, and by the way... that "Slobbo" dude that I mentioned in my WALLS OF JERICHO post HATED the singer change and declared Helloween had "sold out" with this album.

Selftitled EP: my favorite Helloween release and one of my favorite speed metal records. Every track on it is just amazing. They really excelled at that Maiden-on-crack sound. Still love that album to death.

Walls Of Jericho: not as good as the EP, but still awesome. Heavy Metal Is The Law, Ride The Sky and How Many Tears are all 10/10 classic songs. Too bad they didn't redo the demo song Oernst Of Life for the LP.

Keeper I: different, but still extremely kickass. Kiske's Geoff Tate-like vocals are amazing (though they are kinda funny at times. Sometimes that German accent is kinda thick, haha) and the Hansen and Weikath duo lay down some heavy riffs and soaring solos. This is probably my favorite of the two Keeper albums though. The second one is not quite as good as part I, but still a really good album.

Keeper Part I is an essential album for all metal fans. This thing rocks! The only real drawback,as previously stated,is the Follow the Sign outro.Other than that,one of the greatest things released.If you don't have it,you're truly missing out.

I have learned to really like the Keepers albums but at first they seemed to be trying to find their sound too much. Maybe it was just me not realizing what they were doing. Kiske is a huge improvement imho.

'Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I' is one of those heavy metal masterpieces/milestones. It spawned a whole genre on it's own, today wrongfully labeled power metal . 'Walls Of Jericho' put the band on the map, but it was when this album was released that Helloween really got recognized as something else. They sat the standards for melodic speed metal, the German way! Kai Hansen gave over the vocals duties to ex-Ill Prophecy singer, the young Michael Kiske, and a much more sophisticated approach was adopted. The speed is still here for the most part. But it is way more controlled, and is supplemented with melody and time changes, without ever crossing the progressive threshold. Michael has a smoother, and way more versatile voice, as opposed to Kai's more abrasive shrieks. He brings melody to the bands speedy music. The band also wrote their first epic tune, "Halloween", a fan favorite ever since. An edited version of the video release of the song even got some airplay on MTV. 'Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I' has everything a metal album should have, and then some. It is an all time favorite of mine.

I replaced my original RCA version of the CD with the 2006 Expanded Edition of the album. It comes with 4 bonus tracks, all previous released as single b-sides only. Most noticeable are the versions of "Victim Of Fate" & "Starlight" where Michael is handling the vocals. The booklet features all the lyrics, as well as loads of photos and liner notes by Dave Ling. All of the songs have also been remastered, of course.

Killer tracks: A Little Time, A Tale That Wasn't Right, Future World, Halloween

I once owned the e.p and "walls of jericho" on vinyl. Let a persom borrow them and they never found the way back home.

I have "keepers I and II" on vinyl and that completes my Helloween stash. Agree with I being better than II. Can't wait for the thread to continue to hear 'bout what I missed out on by not getting more stuff by theses guys.

1988 saw the release of Part two of the concept album called The Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2. Basically music wise it was right where part 1 left off except this album was over 20 minutes longer than the previous. Again this album featured the song You Always Walk Alone which was taken from Kiske's previous band Ill Prophecy. I always thought it was funny how this song fit right in with the album even though it wasnt intended to, but sadly it is my least favorite.

This was the first album I heard of theirs. and I was hooked right after I heard the anthem Eagle Fly Free. Metallica was my favorite back then but after I heard this I knew from then on this was my favorite band. This album is another perfect 10 for me. Even though I dont care for one of the tracks (I can tollerate You Always Walk Alone) you have songs like Eagle Fly Free, March Of Time, I Want Out, Dr. Stein and the massive title track Keeper Of The Seven Keys which brings the concept to somewhat of a conclusion but what heppen to the rest of the keys? ahhh.... that comes later, much, much later.

This album also featured their third single and second video for the song I Want Out that included the songs Save Us (which was also included on the US version of Keeper 2) and Dont Run For Cover. Another single was released for the song Dr. Stein which included Savage, Livin' Aint No Crime and a re-recorded version of Victim Of Fate with Kiske on Vocals.

Part two in Helloween's magnum opus. Again an astonishing album, that sets the standard for this genre. Melodic and speedy songs go hand in hand, and they also threw in some ballads. The humor is also very much present. Michael Kiske sings like no one before or after him, in Helloween. The title track is another long epic tune clocking in at nearly 14 minutes. A masterpiece, and A MUST!! This is probably the best album from this band.

I anxiously awaited part II of the "Keeper" saga back in the day, and I must admit that though I liked a lot of it, I hated some of it too. Though it is a strong album overall, it didn't (and still doesn't) come near to matching the grandiosity (is that a real word?) and power of the first half of the saga.

My main problem with it is that Helloween let their rather weird sense of humor come too much to the forefront on this one, prime examples being the silly "Rise and Fall" (which has one of the most annoying choruses ever concocted) and "Dr. Stein" (which isn't a bad song, but it's not something you want to listen to every day either). That said, "Save Us," "Eagle Fly Free," and of course the irresistible "I Want Out" remain some of Helloween's finest compositions.

I got the feeling from KEEPER PART II that the new line up was already starting to squabble over their direction (did they want to be an out-and-out metal machine, or a goofy pop metal band?), which is something that would continue to escalate over the next couple of records until the Kiske lineup finally imploded.

Kai Hansen left the band after the tour for KEEPER PART TWO ended (replaced by Roland Grapow) and though they continued releasing albums and remained popular overseas, Helloween pretty much disappeared off the radar in the U.S. for the next five or six years.

Another great album, although I prefer the first one by just a little. Still, an awesome power metal record, and "I Want Out" "Dr. Stein" and "Save Us" are among my favorite Helloween tracks.

I prefer Part II, even with some of the overt silliness and unbridled pomposity of it all. Any band that strives to be THIS dramatic gets credit in my book for even trying.

It's hard to not be impressed with a tune like Eagle Fly Free...this combination of influences really shouldn't work...but Helloween makes it happen. The song "You Always Walk Alone" sounds like an unreleased track from the first Queensryche EP. March Of Time is another impressive arrangement.

My favorite song is "Save Us". It feels like everything they were striving to accomplish is here...the Priest/Maiden riffage, elements of speed metal, catchy vocal harmonies...all adding up to an epic track that still remains catchy as hell.

Walls Of Jericho and this album are really the only ones I'm familiar with.

My first Helloween album after hearing I Want Out on the radio (late night show which was the only time to hear this during the grunge movement). I first mistook them for Maiden but of course the vocalist was not Bruce. I soon picked up the tape at a used tape store and loved every minute of it. This is my all time favorite Helloween album and I love every single song. To pick a favorite would be near impossible. The three albums after this one are ones I have yet to lay ears on (apart from Master Of The Rings, I understand I'm not missing anything special).

'Keeper of the Sven Keys Part II' is the only Helloween album I owned or ever owned. I only picked this up late last year after reading a book by Martin Popoff's ' The 500 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time' or something like that.

Listening to this CD last night it hit me how influential they are and how little credit they have received, just about every so called 'Power Metal' band owes them a world of debit.

The music is majestic, pompous and at times boarders on speed metal. Power metal or whatever they call the genre that Helloween helped create is not a genre I am huge fan of, but this album is great and must of soundly really amazing when it was first released back in 1988.

'Eagle Fly Free' 'I Want Out' and the 13 minute epic ' Keeper of the Seven Keys' are all great songs and I amazed how well this album holds up and I imagine many bands ( Dream Theater among them) studying this album.

The first Helloween album I bought. I didn't like it instantly (the production was not as heavy as I had hoped), but after a few listens I was hooked.

Keepers II is still among my favourites, possibly their best work. Very similar to the first Keepers album, to no-one's surprise, but maybe there's even more real awesome songs on this one. Eagle Fly Free, Rise and Fall, Dr. Stein, I Want Out... all these great tongue-in-cheek power metal anthems. An essential album to any fan of melodic metal. You really cannot be disappointed with this.

The title track is the better of the two Keepers-era epics, and Kiske sounds simply spectacular all throughout the album.

Favourite tracks: Eagle Fly Free, Dr. Stein, Keeper of the Seven Keys.

Another good album and how many weren't impressed by Eagle Fly Free? The humor was great and they were taking this style to a level unseen by anyone before. I can't pick a favorite of the two Keepers albums but Eagle is the best song off the two.

During the Pumpkin Fly Free tour in support of The Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums Kai decides to leave the band due to the long touring schedual. Kai was soon replaced by Rampage guitarist Roland Grapow. During this time the band releases two best of albums 1989 Pumpkin Tracks only released in Europe. Also their first live album and last with Kai was released In the same year called I Want Out Live (in the US) other parts of the world it was called Keepers Live and another for the UK entitled Live In The UK which featured a bonus track for the song Rise and Fall.

Pumpkin Tracks Features songs from the first 4 releases plus 3 b sides. I dont own this since I cant find it for a decent price, but I own all the albums so in a way its kind of pointless. I am a Helloween collector though so im still sort of in search for it.

As for the live album the concert was recorded in late 1988 in Scotland during a tour with Exodus and Anthrax. What a concert that must have been huh? This is probably my favorite out of all the live albums I own. The performance was flawless, the band sounded great and the song choices were interesting. There was no Keeper of The Seven Keys, Halloween or March of Time which they would regulary be playing during this time. None the less its a great live album. Also this is the only official live album ever done with Kiske.

My favorite song off this is definetly How Many Tears. This is probably my favorite out of all the songs Kiske sang from the Kai era. I would even say this version was better than that on Walls its just that good! Even though the live album is short its still something that you will enjoy listening to. This got so much play from me that I know all of the in between the song ramblings by heart. My only complaint is that its way too short.


After these released Helloween was unhappy with Noise Records and decides to break their contract and sign over to EMI records which caused them a lot of trouble and in the end basically ruined the momentum they had in the US. Noise Records filed a lawsuit which the band would end up loosing thus making them pretty much extinct outside of Europe and Japan since they were not able to release their albums out of these territories.

What about the I WANT OUT...LIVE mini-album (also known as LIVE IN THE U.K.)?

lol thats why I said I have to finish it. I kind of wrote something wrong and I had to go back and fix everything so its back up now. Continue

Ok I had to add a couple of more things, I am done now. haha

Don't have any of those and during the time I was introcuced to Helloween, apart from Walls and both Keepers albums I never saw or heard anything about them until Better Than Raw came out.

I WANT OUT...LIVE was a cool album. For whatever reason it's also the hardest of their older stuff to find on CD (I have yet to upgrade my old cassette for this reason). Kiske does a bang-up job on "How Many Tears." Dang, now I'm gonna have to dig out that crusty old tape and give it a whirl.