review by: Roberto Martinelli

An excellent move that Castle decided to re-master and re-issue Helloween’s first eight studio albums and include bonus tracks, often in the form of a second CD. Overall, the new versions are fantastic. However, there are some dubious aspects to some of them, none the more so than the obvious, glaring omission of the band’s most seminal albums, the twin Keeper of the Seven Keys records (the PR company handling these releases says those are coming to the US in August). 

But let’s start at the beginning. If we’re going to have to wait to get better sounding Keepers, the next best thing is a spiffier Walls of Jericho, Helloween’s first full-length record, which, as versions before it, comes packaged with the band’s self-titled, 5-song EP, and the bonus track "Judas." The expanded edition also features a 7-song, second CD, brighter, clearer artwork, lyrics, and an improved booklet with the first installment of an 8-part interview with guitarist Michael Weikath.

Re-masters can hit or miss big time. When they miss, it’s merely the old recording, but louder and sharper, with the higher frequencies brought up to piercing levels. Walls of Jericho suffers from none of those shortcomings, and we can honestly tell you that even if you’ve heard the album many times, you’ll notice a bunch of details throughout the 15 tracks that you probably never really focused on before. (Did we say 15 tracks? It’s actually 14, just like on the older, pre-remastered versions. Even now, no one thought to go in and split the intro to "Ride the Sky" and the actual song into two tracks, like the back of the album claims them to be). Ironically, it sounds a bit less cult as a result, but it sounds more powerful and heavy, while retaining the album’s glorious energy and delivery.

Walls of Jericho is certainly Helloween’s most stylistically singular record. From start to finish, it’s power/speed metal, albeit done in an unabashed, original way that the band would never really recapture, but not necessarily to the band’s detriment. At that time, Helloween was being fronted by guitarist Kai Hansen (who later went on to form the much inferior Gamma Ray), whose voice, although no Michael Kiske’s, had a definite charm in its latent, budding talent. Hansen was an apt performer for these songs, as his high, straining voice was applied with such gangbusters gusto that the feeling that he was on the verge of losing control of his pitch and key only made the album more endearing.

Even at the time of this review, 20 years later, Walls of Jericho still stands as one of the finest, most important heavy metal recordings of all time, especially if you’re considering factors of the essence of the genre as being hard, fast and rough, but with melody. These songs are the quintessential blueprints for so much that is still coming out today. Check out "Ride the Sky," "Murderer," and "How Many Tears" for some of the best examples. What makes these aspects even more endearing is that Helloween changed styles over the years, never truly to return to its Jericho form ever again.

Aside from Hansen’s vocals, elements that stand out on this record include the bass guitar, which is refreshingly distinct from the rest of the music, adding an excellent layer over the raging, tireless, old-school power metal drums, played by Helloween’s original and most remarkable drummer, Ingo Schwichtenberg. Helloween’s speed metal-meets melody formula is greatly complemented with Hansen and Weikath’s immortal soloing and bridges.

The second, bonus CD is rather bittersweet, which does well in keeping with the sentiment of these incomplete re-issues. The first couple tracks are complete re-mixes of "Murderer" and "Ride the Sky," (originally found on the retrospective Treasure Chest album) making the songs sound very close to a more modern, edgy and powerful album. It’s quite remarkable to see indeed how well the material has stood the test of time, and it makes you wonder, with improved mixing technology, how many other albums could stand toe-to-toe with today’s bands’ recordings. But alas, there are only two re-mixed songs. It might have been better to have none.

The next couple tracks are "live" versions of "Ride the Sky" and "Guardians" (originally from the Judas EP). What’s suspicious about these tracks is that they sound exactly like their studio versions, down to the instruments’ timbre, the vocal inflection, and the pace. Even the crowd noise that suddenly pops up at the end of the song, only to quickly and awkwardly fade out as the track ends, marks any noticeable difference between the live and studio versions.

Also included for the world to behold are the first two songs that Helloween recorded for public consumption: the Death Metal compilation (1984). The songs (one of which, "Metal Invaders," would be re-recorded for Walls of Jericho) are somewhat worthwhile in a quaint, "how far they have come" way, and only relative to that. "Oernst of Life" meanders quite a bit, and the performances are rather sloppy, with the double bass drums being really bad. Schwichtenberg would come a long a great deal from this inconsistent form into his later powerhouse incarnation.

Finally, a "surprise" track. Cute and curious, but ultimately good only once (maybe): the theme to the movie "Halloween," followed by Helloween singing a Christmas carol.

In conclusion, there has never been a better time to get your hands on one of metal’s all-time greatest gems. If you already own it, the re-issue will breathe new life into your enjoyment of this record. (9.5/10)