Helloween: Thirty-five years tearing down the Walls of Jericho

«Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.«

Joshua 6, Book of Joshua (Old Testament, The Bible)

The pumpkins’ appearance at Rock Fest Barcelona 2018 was one of the highlights of that edition and probably one of the most intense experiences I have ever had in front of a stage. The long-awaited reunion of Weikath, Grosskopf, Hansen and Kiske had been going around for many years and it seemed that the moment when their comeback tour to Spain would finally be announced would never arrive. It must be said that Helloween is one of the bands that has marked my life the most, probably being one of the bands I listened to the most during the first ten years of my life. The «Keepers Of The Seven Keys» accompanied me throughout my school years and played an important role in my musical development over the years. And although they are two timeless records and genuine jewels of the genre, «Walls Of Jericho» is another of those releases that I believe should occupy the same place in the kingdom of power metal. I had the pumpkins’ debut recorded on cassette, and although at first it was difficult for me to enter the realm of German speed/power metal, once I finally crossed the threshold and entered their territory, I could never leave its rooms again, and that was more than two decades ago

The first incarnation of Helloween, known as Gentry, was formed in 1978 by Hansen and Piet Sielck, current vocalist and leader of Iron Savior. The band went through several name changes during the following years, becoming known as Second Hell in 1981 and Iron Fist in 1982. In 1985 «Helloween» saw the light of day, the mini-album that introduced the Hamburg quartet, a release consisting of eight tracks filled with the fast and powerful sound that would characterise bands of the era such as the demos of Lucifer’s Heritage – later renamed Blind Guardian – or Rage’s first two albums, «Reign Of Fear» and «Execution Guaranteed». That release, barely twenty-five minutes long, was the perfect example of the sound the pumpkins possessed during their early years. The band had been formed one year earlier under the leadership of Michael Weikath and Kai Hansen on guitars, the latter also taking on lead vocals, with Markus Grosskopf on bass and the late Ingo Schwichtenberg behind the drums

Later that same year, barely six months after the release of their debut EP, the Teutons entered Musiclab Studios in Berlin, at the time located in East Germany, in the German Democratic Republic. The composition and recording process took them little more than a month, between September and October of that same year, with the album being officially released on this very day in 1985. «Walls Of Jericho» would be the first of the few studio albums the band released under the Noise Records label, which had previously released their self-titled EP and would later distribute both «Keeper Of The Seven Keys» albums before merging with an EMI subsidiary in 1990.

Although the Keeper Of The Seven Keys saga is the best-known work of their extensive and long career, at least its first two chapters, «Walls Of Jericho» is one of their greatest achievements and a favourite among their followers, thanks to the combination of a raw and powerful sound that they would lose on their subsequent works and that we would never hear again in their compositions. Furthermore, it is the only record on which Kai Hansen would contribute his characteristic voice, until he took up vocal duties again in 1995 with the magnificent «Land Of The Free» from his next project, Gamma Ray

The work of Helloween is characterised by the use of lyrics with a humorous touch and lighter passages, with extremely catchy melodies and highly recognisable choruses, but it was not always like that. In 1985 they were bringing plenty of trouble and that inner rage was reflected in their earliest compositions, which relied on dirty and fast guitars, devastating drums and lyrics with strong social and political criticism, attacking the Church or telling stories about the liberation of the self, as is the case with the brutal «Ride The Sky», which opens the album after the iconic «Walls Of Jericho» introduction, paying homage to the famous children’s song «London Bridge Is Falling Down», which in turn tells the story of the collapse of London Bridge in the seventeenth century

Likewise, the band defended Heavy Metal as their only passion and the banner of the movement that was leading the underground during the eighties, leaving proof of this in tracks such as the catchy «Heavy Metal (Is The Law)» or «Metal Invaders». But, just like many other power metal bands, at a time when the genre was in full development and growth, the style was always characterised by stories about supernatural beings and legends of armed knights fighting evil with sword and shield, and this is where authentic blows such as «Phantoms Of Death» or the underrated «Gorgar» were born, one of the most powerful moments on the entire album, without forgetting the wonderful «Guardians»

That’s right, pals, «Walls Of Jericho» is one of the greatest releases of the decade. It is easy to say, but few were able to match the grandeur of the pumpkins on their first full-length, although that is something both Blind Guardian and Rage would manage to overcome, giving birth to genuine genre jewels such as «Follow The Blind» or «Secrets In A Weird World», standing proudly alongside the pumpkins at a time when Helloween had already chosen to soften their sound with Kiske on vocals. And with «How Many Tears», a very special chapter for the Germans came to an end, delivering one final punch to the table in the form of the powerful single «Judas» in 1986, shortly before Hansen abandoned his vocal duties and buried the microphone for almost a decade

«Apocalypse Now» is probably a reference I have already used on previous occasions, but just as «Redux» is the complete and definitive version of Coppola’s film – and not «Final Cut» as its director would have us believe – the «Remastered & Expanded Edition» released by Helloween in 2006 through Sanctuary and Noise Records is the most complete edition of a release that breaks all the rules, an album whose score goes well beyond ten. So, if you have nothing better to do, I recommend putting on that edition or, failing that – and in this order – «Helloween», «Walls Of Jericho» and «Judas»