The History of Power Metal

KICKASS, MORE HELLOWEEN!!! This time I'm looking at Judas , a 12" EP that Helloween released in 1986. Before we get into the music, let's check out the artwork: The front cover is really cool, and keeps the classic Helloween pumpkin theme going. The way it's designed to resemble a skull is so metal, and having the band's logo on a flag lodged inside the pumpkin is a killer creative touch. Let's check out the back! This time, we get a pumpkin count of four and a Helloween logo count of one! It's not as pumpkiny as before, but there's still plenty of pumpkins to go around, and the awesome pumpkin side numbers from Walls of Jericho get to make their triumphant return. I love the live shots of each member, and the way to photos are arranged is so eye-catching. The back also has a message that says "JUDAS IS DEDICATED TO ALL POLITICANS WHO TALK HUMAN BUT ACT LIKE MONSTERS" - something unusual to see on a power metal record, where the lyrics tend to...

IT'S A WHOLE ALBUM OF HELLOWEEN!!! HELL YEAH!!! Walls of Jericho  is the debut album from German power metal legends Helloween, and it's a masterpiece! First of all, let's look at the cover: The title  Walls of Jericho  is a reference to the Battle of Jericho, which is written about in the Biblical Book of Joshua.  Wikipedia summarizes what happened  by describing it as "the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. According to Joshua 6:1–27, the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around the city walls once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh day, and then blew their trumpets." Well, that was the traditional version of the story - in the Helloween version, Fangface, decked out in a kickass hood, singlehandedly destroys the walls with his bare fists, and the trumpet is played by some pumpkin-faced dude in a white T-shirt! I love the art and the concept is so outside the box yet so metal! The fr...

Welcome back, power metal warriors! Today, we'll be looking at Helloween's classic self-titled 1985 debut EP. Let's check out the artwork: Damn, that's cool! This cover features the debut of Helloween's mascot, Fangface (no relation to the Saturday morning cartoon!) and he makes a hell of a first impression with his menacing face bursting out from a pumpkin in some kind of post-apocalyptic environment with dark clouds and lightning and fire and all that cool shit! I'm not sure how the pumpkin's in the air... maybe it has some kind of supernatural powers that keep it all floaty and  immune to being set on fire? How does someone's face get stuck inside a pumpkin? Why does the pumpkin in the Helloween logo having glowing red eyes? Did it cause all of this madness? But it doesn't matter because it looks badass, and in metal, that's all that matters! Now, let's flip this record and check out the back: This back cover is really nice - the way the s...

 WOAH!!! It's time for review #1! So, according to the mighty Encyclopedia Metallum (what an epic name!), these Helloween dudes are a band formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1978. From 1978 until 1981, they were called Gentry, then from 1981-1982 they were Second Hell. In 1982-1983 they changed their name to Iron Fist (possibly inspired by the British metal band Motorhead's song/album of the same name), and then, in 1983, lightning struck and the band found their permanent name: HELLOWEEN! It's like Halloween, but extra spooky because it's in hell! Kickass! On June 17th, 1984, they released the  Death Metal Demo - which according to Metallum was untitled, but it's called the Death Metal demo because both of the songs on this tape appeared on a 1984 compilation released by the German label Noise Records entitled Death Metal . On that release, one of the bands Helloween was paired with was Running Wild (you'll be hearing more about Running Wild later - at the time they...