Treasure Chest
(from Sanctuary Records)

Double Best-of CD + Limited B-Sides Bonus CD

The established thinking in the rock world of the ‘70 ’s dictated that no band will become a really great band if they are unable to find a decent balance inside the magical triangle of humor, tension and creative insanity. The history of the most established and successful German heavy metal act HELLOWEEN confirms this unwritten law without the slightest doubt: The brilliant Hamburg band coined its distinctive power/speed metal style in the early 80s,and cultivated their trademarks throughout the production of nine studio albums, produced a stunning pile of immortal song highlights and gained a worldwide following of numerous fans. In Japan the band belongs to the most wanted overseas acts since the late 80s.The 1998 album “Better Than Raw ” reached number two of the album charts (only being topped by “Titanic ” soundtrack singer Celine Dion), selling over 100,000 copies on the first day of release to break the gold record deadline! All in all the band sold some 15 million records; both “Keeper” - albums went gold in Germany with over 250,000 units. A tremendous achievement for a HM Band. Still only mainstream heroes like AC/DC are able to attract a bigger hard rocking audience in continental Europe.

Plus the band, by adopting their now famous Pumpkin logo and imagery, and their use of humoresque and intelligent lyrics has shown that metalmusic does not consequently depend on stale and stiff metal warrior battle songs.(‘Don’t Spit On My Mind ’,‘Where The Rain Grows’, ‘Wake Up The Mountain’, ‘Dr.Stein’, ‘Oernst Of Life’.)

Last year saw the departure of long-term members Roland Grapow (guitar) and Uli Kusch (drums), opening up a retrospective on 18 years with HELLOWEEN, which is celebrated with a highly commendable double album -and even more...

“We intended to pack the capacity of the CD's up to the very limit”, states founding member and lead guitarist Michael Weikath. This self-produced through-ball fairly screams into the back of the net: 157 minutes and 48 seconds pure HELLOWEEN at its very best. Extra bonus of this BigMac is a 11-track CD called “Buried Treasures”, containing a choice of former B-side numbers. In short words: Value for money. Plus there is one major difference to many other so-called best-of-releases: The rights of the whole back-catalogue are held in one hand so they could choose every single song they wanted to have on the album without being forced into negotiations with competing companies.

HELLOWEEN's biggest advantage: They often utilized major line-up changes as a chance to develop new musical dimensions. After they reached cult status in Germany during the mid-80s with guitarist Kai Hansen singing the tracks of their debut longplayer “Walls Of Jericho”, they consequently catapulted themselves into the circle of internationally competitive big names: 1987 they hired 19 year old amazing singing talent Michael Kiske, who performed the irresistable compositions of HELLOWEEN’s highly influential album “Keeper Of The Seven Key, Pt.I” to sheer perfection. The same year they were booked on the bill of the annual Monsters Of Rock festivals together with Metallica and Deep Purple, and 1988 saw them performing in Castle Donington in front of massive crowds, receiving rave reviews even by the usually very critical British rock press.

During the boom years of the HM scene HELLOWEEN naturally advanced to become one of the most respected and influential acts in the world. The HELLOWEEN sound plus their songwriting formula inspired literally thousands of musicians, especially since the mid-90s, when numerous bands appeared on the scene, carrying the flame of the 80s. Some of those -Brazil’s Angra, Sweden’s Hammerfall, Italy’s Rhapsody and Germany’s Edguy - managed to establish themselves among the big names of the metal circuit. Aside from the unique HELLOWEEN guitar sound, generations of new hopefuls were being influenced by Michael Kiskes vocals. Although Kiske had a rather short, but intensive career, his vocal range between Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate made him one of the most heavily copied singers in rock history.

The following years became infamous as the barren period of HELLOWEEN’s career. Kai Hansen left the band in late 1988, to build up his own band Gamma Ray. He was replaced by another guitarist from Hamburg, Roland Grapow. From 1990 on the band was a caught in the middle of a long term lawsuit which didn’t allow them to relase a new album. Their next two records “Pink Bubbles Go Ape” and “Chameleon” got rather critical reviews. Kiske left the band in 1994. And skinsman Ingo Schwichtenberg, an original member since 1984, got severe problems with his mental health over years. He had to leave the band since he could not work properly as a professional drummer with HELLOWEEN anymore. In 1995 he committed suicide, following the sudden death of his father.

The two remaining founding members Michael Weikath and bassplayer Markus Großkopf had been already starting the new line-up in 1994, bringing the band to another high times, matching up to the golden years in the 80s. Behind the drums Uli Kusch took his seat, and Andi Deris, an old buddy of Weikath, became the successor of Michael Kiske. Deris earned himself a well honoured name since he was known as the songwriting force behind the first two records of his former Southern German band Pink Cream 69. He reinforced his reputation as an exceptional singer and songwriter with his contributions to world class records “Master Of The Rings”, “The Time Of The Oath”, “Better Than Raw” and “The Dark Ride”, and on stage he topped this off with perfectly crafted and maturely performed HELLOWEEN shows, demonstrating his phenomenal vocal abilities.

Of all the Treasure in this Chest, the most interesting are the 5 tracks completely remixed by production wizzard Charlie Bauerfeind -“Murderer”, “Starlight”, “Ride The Sky”, “Keeper Of The Seven Keys” & “Dr.Stein”. Additionally, many of the tracks have been re-mastered to bring them to the highest sonic standard. “Treasure Chest” will be available as a Double Album, and a very special, full colour Limited Edition Box set featuring the Double Album plus the “Buried Treasure” bonus CD, and a Helloween Family Tree poster. This is the first time ever it has been possible to put together such a comprehensive collection of songs from one of the most creative and influential bands in rock.

“Treasure Chest" will be released on the 1st of April 2002 on Metal-is Records.

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