By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

HELLOWEEN – KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS: PART II (1988)

When I wrote about the Helloween album Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part 1 two weeks back I hadn’t really planned on writing about this follow up album as the next article in The Cassette Chronicles series. However, as I mentioned at the very end of the article, Helloween was scheduled to play the Worcester Palladium (here in Massachusetts) a few days after that first article was posted online. It was part of their “United Forces” tour with the band HammerFall. I did indeed go to the show and once again, Helloween (as well as HammerFall) put on one hell of a show! And while loving both sets and running into some friends at the show (plus new Metal Church singer Marc Lopes) certainly made for a great night out, what really keyed my decision to write about Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II was the fact that five songs from the album still factor heavily into the band’s setlist even after nearly 35 years since the original release of the album.

So while I don’t make it a general practice to write about the same group in back-to-back installments, I felt I just had to do it here. And considering my cassette copy of Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part 1 died a tragic death when I went to play it again after submitting that article, time was wasting away I’d say.

When I first heard the album, I was still mightily opposed to instrumentals. So my first impression of the opening track “Invitation” was something like, “Will you please finish so I can get to the “real” songs?” Of course, my thoughts have evolved over the years and when I played the album this time, I’d come to see how the song served as the introductory overture, setting the stage for what was to come with the rest of the album. And while it is just barely over a minute in length, the song sure does its job. It sets you up for all the music to come. The songs aren’t necessarily all tied together but “Invitation” sure makes you feel like you are about to listen to a massive theatrical presentation.

The first side of the album features two of the tracks that remain in the band’s live set. “Eagle Fly Free” hits you like a blitzkrieg. The musical attack is fast and furious and the way singer Michael Kiske delivers a rapid fire performance lyrically, the song made a great impression on me when I first heard the song and continues to set me back on my heels when I hear it in the present day.

The other song on this side that features in Helloween shows is “Dr. Stein”. And while the song lyrics are based on the Frankenstein novel, the lyrics are almost comedic in nature with Helloween giving us their own slightly twisted take on the story. “Dr. Stein makes funny creatures, they become great rock musicians” is a brilliantly self referential line to say the least.

As for the rest of Side One, that going slightly mad style of lyric writing comes around a second time with the song “Rise and Fall”. It might be easy to dismiss songs that, whether intentional or unintentional, make you chuckle at the sometimes absurdist lyrics but I don’t find that the case with Helloween’s songs. They may make me smile or whatever, but when you combine those lyrics (plus Kiske’s heightened performance of them) with the band’s explosive power metal soundtrack, you never feel like they are shortchanging you. Such is the case with “Rise and Fall” because the band delivers a fiery musical background that leaves you wanting more.

The song “You Always Walk Alone” could serve as a personal motto depending on your own outlook on things but as a whole, the song is another fast paced number that leaves you breathless.

The side’s closing track is “We Got The Right”. It is the slowest starting song on the first side but that more deliberate opening lasts just a brief time before almost immediately bursting into a more high energy and over-the-top metallic number. It’s got a heavier thump to it in spots and  much like the rest of the material on Side One, leaves me (and hopefully you) just trying to catch your breath.

As you can see, I love the first side of the album. And just to let you in on a big spoiler, that’s pretty much how I would sum up my experience with the second side of Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II as well.

The song “Save Us” opens up the second side and it is just a musical punch in the face for the listener. The delivery doesn’t give you much of a respite throughout its run time. There’s something to the song as well because it is still in the band’s set list, even though I don’t think it is nearly as popular as a lot of other Helloween tracks. Much like “Eagle Fly Free” the song “March of Time” is an unstoppable blitzkrieg. For me, I think it is a very underrated track for the band.

The final two tracks on the album are two more songs that feature in Helloween’s live set pretty much every show and tour. And that isn’t much of a surprise when you consider the song “I Want Out” is likely the band’s best known song. I know I remember seeing the video for the song on TV often when it was first released. And the band usually saves it as the song to close out their shows.

And then of course comes the dramatic set piece of the album and the Helloween live set. The album’s title track “Keeper of the Seven Keys” is a massive thirteen plus minute undertaking that is a whole album’s worth of moments all by itself. You’ve got a slightly slower moving overture to open things up but once the band kicks things into a higher gear they start revealing the story part of the song through the Kiske’s singing. As that story progresses, the band’s music ebbs and flows as needed to highlight and enhance those lyrics (the song was written by Michael Weikath). There’s a mid-song tempo switch that will let your heart rest for a minute before revving things back up until the song’s fade out which brings things full circle as it sounds like the opening part of the track.

The song is truly something special and when the band starts playing it live, you can’t help but feel that anticipation about what you are about to hear and see. And that would pretty much apply to the Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II album as a whole. It not only serves as yet another grand statement from Helloween but is such a bold and boisterous undertaking that it sounds as fresh today as in did back in 1988.

NOTES OF INTEREST: “I Want Out” may be Helloween’s most well known song but the song being essentially about Kai Hansen wanting to leave the band provides a bit of irony for the track.

I can’t seem to find any sales figures for the album other than Germany, where Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II went gold. The album’s writing credits had two songs written by Michael Kiske, three songs from Kai Hansen and five song from guitarist Michael Weikath. It is the last album to feature Kai Hansen until the band released the Helloween album in 2021.

When the album was first released, the song “Save Us” was Track #7 for the North American editions. According to Wikipedia, the original CD release has the song being listed as a bonus track but my CD version has the song in the same running order as the cassette. The expanded edition came with five bonus tracks.

By the way, there is a full show video on YouTube of that May 21st, 2023, Helloween show from the Worcester Palladium.