Walls of Jericho

Performer: Helloween
Distributor: MSI Music Distribution

Notes: Helloween: Kai Hansen (vocals, guitar); Michael Weikath (guitar); Markus Grobkopf (bass); Ingo Schwichtenberg (drums). Recorded at Musiclab Studio, Berlin, Germany in 1985 and Horus Sound Studio, Hannover, Germany in July 1986. All tracks have been digitally remastered. WALLS OF JERICHO is a 1986 album by the German metal group Helloween. Reissue includes an extra cut. CD contains 1 bonus track. Helloween followed up their very popular self-titled mini-LP with 1986's even more accomplished Walls of Jericho, a disc that saw the quartet from Hamburg, Germany, outperforming expectations and quickly defining their sonic identity. The instrumental title track soon gives way to amazingly mature and complex compositions like "Ride the Sky," "Phantoms of Death," and the awesome "How Many Tears" (even more ambitious 13-minute epics would soon follow). And although these were heavily reliant on Iron Maiden for inspiration, it was Helloween's speed metal innovations that clearly helped make the songs so special and influential for future bands. Even the album's lyrically challenged, somewhat one-dimensional moments ("Warrior," "Metal Invaders") usually succeed, thanks to the group's uncontainable energy. On the downside, the album continued to expose Kai Hansen's limitations as a singer, but the band would soon remedy this disadvantage by bringing on teenage phenom Michael Kiske as lead vocalist. [The CD reissue of Walls of Jericho offers a complete recap of Helloween's first incarnation by combining it with their eponymous mini-LP and the Judas EP in chronological order.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

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