I totally lost my power-metal hard-on at the end of 2002. I'd first gotten into this style of music at the age of 14 when I saw Helloween on Headbanger's Ball in 1988. I loved the speedy dual guitar interplay and double bass drumming that the genre is most known for and in the mid-to-late '90s I completely overdosed on the shit. By that time, there were a handful of original bands and a legion of clones churning out the style. It was impossible to keep up with and eventually I started to lose interest, but it wasn't until 2002 when I attended ProgPower III in Atlanta that I just couldn't take it anymore. By the time that weekend was over I thought if I ever heard another happy chorus or a song about kings or elves or knights I'd shoot myself in the face. I shit fairy-dust for a month, I swear.
I'm currently in the process of unloading part of my 2000+ CD collection and as I was setting aside stuff I no longer had use for I came upon Helloween's debut album "Walls of Jericho". For the hell of it, I popped it in the CD player and gave it a spin for old time's sake. What do you know, this one is still kicks serious ass!
Back in 1985 the style known today as "Power Metal" was in its infancy and "Walls of Jericho" was one of the records to birth the genre. The cliches and shortcomings of the sound had not yet congealed into the crusty stagnation which defines it today so this album is basically just an '80s metal record with a little less focus on agression and more on speed and melody. Nonetheless, it's a "proto-Power Metal" album through and through. Happy sing-along choruses? Check! Incessant double-bassery? Check! Noodly dual-guitarmanship? Check! It's all there, but completely forgivable since these guys were one of the first to actually do this shit and if you're in the mood for it, it fits the bill nicely.
The production is raw, the band isn't at their peak, but the songwriting is top notch and their talent shines through even if it lacks the polish and squeeky-cleanliness of what would come later. All for the better, I say! Kai Hansen can't enunciate for shit but his tinny, unrefined vocal style gives the band a completely unique vibe, not to mention his interaction with guitarist Michael Weikath which still has yet to be surpassed. The rhythm section of Ingo Schwichtenberg and Markus Grosskopf is also awesome and tight as fuck. This is one talented group of Germans and while I have little love left for the beast they collectively spawned, if you only buy one album to represent this kind of metal in your collection, you can't go wrong with this one.
Most people like the "Keeper of the Seven Keys" albums better than this, and I'll agree they're good, but I guess overall I prefer the raw and more traditional sounding "Walls of Jericho" over what came after so this is the one that gets my recommendation.
Anyway, I didn't mean for this to turn into a review. I just felt like adding something to the blog and shooting the shit with you all before I got back to shuffling around my CD collection. Later, fuckers!
0 comments:
Post a Comment