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Helloween: Hellish Videos- The Complete Video Collection (DVD)

This DVD is probably one of the top items on the list of the Helloween fans. So now in an answer to the requests is the complete video collection from the course of this historic Power Metal bands career. As I began to watch this DVD and the song "Halloween" came on, I was instantly brought back to my youth and the memory I had when I first saw this band on MTV. I had never heard anything like it at the time and especially how well the guitars worked over the double kick drums. From that moment on Helloween became a band that I always appreciated and enjoyed listening to. Their videos are mainly kitsch in their content and style but any fan of the group will certainly appreciate this stuff being all in one place. It might be geared more towards the diehards, but it's a safe assumption to think newer fans could enjoy it as well.

Originally I had thought that there were more than what is included on the DVD, but apparently I was wrong. This collection of all the bands promotional videos, was put together under the watchful eye of Andy Deris (singer) and includes videos done for the following releases: Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. 1, Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. 2, Pink Bubbles Go Ape, Chameleon, Master Of The Rings, The Time Of The Oath, Better Than Raw, The Dark Ride and Rabbit Don't Come Easy. If I had to select some favorites I go all the way back to "Halloween" and "I Want Out" (which still makes me laugh as the camera zooms into Michael Kiske's mouth where the band is seen performing). I also have a certain fondness for "Where The Rain Grows" and "Just A Little Sign" because they are such great tunes. The bonus features are on the limited side and have some tour outtakes, a live version of "Hey Lord" and a photo gallery. I think they could have includes a Discography and some complete lineup information. There is certainly enough room on a DVD to go and do that.

As a band, Helloween pretty much helped to set the standard to how Power Metal was to be done. To this day they are still one of Germany's biggest groups and while the years have gone by and some members come and gone, the music is still pure Helloween. Take a trip back and remember how a genre of Heavy Metal was kicked off.


Track Listing
Halloween
I Want Out
Kids Of The Century
When The Sinner
Mr. Ego
Where The Rain Grows
Perfect Gentleman
Power
The Time Of The Oath
Forever And One
I Can
If I Could Fly
Just A Little Sign

Added: August 9th 2005
Reviewer: Ken Pierce
Score:
Related Link: Helloween Website
Hits: 7307
Language: english

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Helloween: Hellish Videos- The Complete Video Collection (DVD)
Posted by Pete Pardo, SoT Staff Writer on 2005-08-09 09:13:29
My Score:

The collective videos of German power metal originators Helloween are finally available in one nice neat package, which should be reason to rejoice for long-time fans. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much interest this will generate among fans of the current crop of metal bands. While metal videos can still be considered somewhat cheesy, production techniques have greatly impoved over the years, and today's music videos are sometimes put together to come across like little movies. Many of the Helloween videos included here are pretty basic combinations of the band lip synching to the songs, with sexy ladies, masked men, and people in costumes running about. Basically these are the typically styled videos that most metal bands were making in the late 80's and early 90's. Still, seeing Michael Kiske fronting the band on the earlier videos is a nice nostalgic trip, although after not seeing the clip for "Halloween" for close to 15 or more years, it's a horrible reminder of how much they butchered that song to make a video of it. Anyone familiar with the song will cringe at the hack job they did to that epic track to fit into the 5-6 minute video format. There are some highlights here though, like the grand metal stylings of "Kids of the Century", the horns-filled catchy anthem "When the Sinner", and "Forever and One", "Power", and 'The Time of the Oath" from the Andi Deris era of the band. One thing that is cool to see as well is how well Michael Weikath and Roland Grapow worked together as a guitar duo during the 90's. Also, for those younger fans, seeing current Gamma Ray leader Kai Hansen on the earlier videos will be a hoot for sure.

If you're a Helloween fan, you probably either already have this or it's on your wish list. There's not much in terms of bonus features, just some tour outtakes (which are pretty humorous) a photo gallery, and a live clip of the excellent song "Hey Lord".



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