The 80s saw metal splintering into several exciting new subgenres: thrash, death metal, industrial. And in Germany, a former thrash band called Helloween drew up the blueprint for power metal as we know it with two albums that would briefly turn them into metal’s Next Big Things: and . “We knew we had come up with something special,” says Kai Hansen, Helloween’s founding guitarist.
“They were records which we knew would make an impact – take us to the next level.” The roots of Helloween dated back to 1979, when Hansen and fellow guitarist Piet Sielck formed a band called Ironfist in their native Hamburg. The line-up was completed by Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums and Markus Grosskopf on bass.
After Sielck left to become a sound engineer, he replaced by former Powerfool guitarist Michael Weikath. By 1984, Ironfist had changed their name to Helloween and bagged a spot on the misleadingly-titled compilation , released via soon-to-become influential German label Noise Records. The two tracks they contributed, and , together with the following year’s EP and album, established their sound – something Hansen describes as “Iron Maiden on speed”.
Hansen had doubled up on vocal duties to that point, but he was feeling overstretched. He knew Helloween needed something extra. “The guitar parts were getting more and more demanding, and I really had to concentrate on that part of what I did for the band,” he says.
“Trying to perform live was getting tough for me, .
