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Rating: Was there really a need to bring out after seventeen years such a famous title as the one this album boasts? For what purpose, then, if not for mere sales reasons? According to the band, this title was chosen precisely to redeem themselves from their past and to show everyone that Helloween is not just the two keepers and that despite the absence of two of their pillars in the lineup, the versatile elf Kai Hansen and the golden voice Kiske, they can still produce excellent work, work that presumably finds its progenitor in this, probably the best of the Deris era, superior to other good albums like "Better Than Raw" and "The Dark Ride". However, the title chosen by Weikath and company does nothing but force the birth of a confrontation between the past and its legacy, a confrontation in which the legacy finds itself miserably crushed by a past too brilliant to be repeated, casting many shadows over this album and making the past even more brilliant. However, despite the confrontation appearing so forced, I find it fair to try to judge this third Keeper Of The Seven Keys for what it is, that is a good album, which perhaps suffers from compactness and from an uneven quality in the various tracks.
The album presents itself in a lavish format and is made up of two CDs, for a total of thirteen tracks, among which two suites stand out, almost as if to further force the comparison with the first Keepers and the famous "Halloween" and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys". The first, "The King For A 1000 Years", the trailblazer of the first CD and therefore of the entire album, written by all the members of the group with ten hands, is the most beautiful thing Helloween has written in recent years: fourteen exciting minutes, full of light and shadows, cheerful, melancholic, and aggressive at the same time, with an excellent use of keyboards, rhythm changes, astonishing solos, and an evocative and compelling chorus, which leaves great hope for what will follow. Introduced by the evergreen bass of Grosskpof, "The Invisible Man" proves to be a good track, convincing and quite catchy, especially regarding the chorus. But after another seven fairly good minutes, with "Born On Judgement Day", the hope of finding in the stereo a Keeper worthy of its name begins to fade: as pleasing as it is and despite a remarkable bass solo, the track lacks freshness and sounds very familiar; "Pleasure Drone" certainly doesn't bring the smile back to your lips, because this time the track isn't even that pleasant to listen to, and Deris' voice becomes really unbearable, prompting a skip towards "Mrs. God", the first single extracted from the album, a rather insignificant little song in its barely three minutes, which does its job well without overdoing anything particularly striking. "Silent Rain" is, however, a very good track, compelling and equipped with an excellent chorus that once again, as in "The King For A 1000 Years", manages to be sad and cheerful at the same time and deals with a theme I have never seen tackled in this kind of music, which struck me deeply, pedophilia. This concludes the first part of the latest effort by the Hamburg pumpkins, and it is with the second suite, "Occasion Avenue", written entirely by the singer Deris, that the second CD opens: once again Helloween seeks the parallelism with the past, directly citing, in a sort of intro, "Eagle Fly Free", "Halloween", and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys", broadcast by a small radio that a phantom listener listens to, in search of something satisfying; his search stops when he tunes into "Occasion Avenue", which starts slowly and then proceeds with fast and powerful riffs, very good solos, and once again well executed rhythm changes. Despite being objectively an excellent track, it is still inferior to "The King For 1000 Years", and is followed by two lackluster tracks, a bland ballad where Deris duets with Candice Night, "Light The Universe", and "Do You Know What You're Fighting For", which boasts the title of the track with the worst chorus of the entire album. And if "Come Alive" is not much better, the very fast and hyper-fast "Shade In The Shadow" awakens the listener from a possible nap, placed before two very good tracks, the '80s styled "Get It Up" and the conclusive "My Life For One More Day", which nonetheless have the flaw of sounding once again not very original.
"Keeper Of The Seven Keys-The Legacy" is in conclusion a very good album, where however quantity has prevailed over quality, with some rather mediocre tracks that contribute to making the comparison with the past even less feasible: if Helloween had chosen to avoid inserting all those fillers, and if they had limited themselves to just one CD, which would have made the listening less chaotic, the result of the third "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" would have been quite different, and the comparison with the past much more feasible. What a shame.
Tracklist and Lyrics
04 Pleasure Drone (00:00)
There’s an abyss in your life
‘Cause a good love’s gone bad
You’ve lost someone for now and forever
She was the best you’ve ever had
Just let me go it’s a hopeless endeavor
Don’t stick your head in the sand
Don’t you cry so much, it doesn’t help
Not with her picture in your hand
Just when you lose your smiling face
Gonna bring you to a special place, ‘cause I’m a
Drone, pleasure drone
And I wipe your tears away
Drone, pleasure drone
I’m gonna make you a perfect day
I’m made for sensing your mood
No reason for despair
Can you hear mechanical noises
When I buzz thru the air
To get you up I’ll hand you presents
From my telescopic arm
No matter they’re no hands
But my claws won’t do no harm
And wherever there’s bad vibes
I will detect them with laser eyes, cause I’m a
Drone, pleasure drone
And I wipe your tears away
Drone, pleasure drone
I’m gonna make you a perfect day
Solo: Gerstner/Weikath/Both
Drone, pleasure drone
And I wipe your tears away
Drone, pleasure drone
I’m gonna make you a perfect day
Drone, pleasure drone
07 Occasion Avenue (00:00)
What you sight you have seen
Where you go already been
Then again you go through
Occasion Avenue
Sister, the day you sell you skin
(The gold of night is the gold of the blind)
Sister, that day you soul gives in
(You'll never find what you left behind)
Oh, oh, no matter what they do
Oh, oh, you got to go straight through
Occasion Avenue
Brother, dare not look left or right
(Coaxing your eyes, poisoning your mind)
Brother, don't stop or you must fight
(No indulgence or its death you find)
Oh, oh, you may not leave with doubt
Oh, oh, you may not take it to
Occasion Avenue
Follow your heart – follow your truth
Follow the path that shines for you
On Occasion Avenue
How far you go – how good you do
Uncovers the prize or rebears you
To Occasion Avenue
Domini, domini - Occasion Avenue – domini sancti
Satani, satani - Occasion Avenue – satani mundi
Will there be tomorrow – will there be the stars
Will there be a future – time beats in our hearts
Or will there be the fire – branding us his mark
I pray for all us people
Trying to solve the riddle
I don't know where we're going
I don't know if we're being true
On Occasion Avenue
Solo: Sascha
Precious is your taking
For a little bit of faking
For a tiny slight deception
For some insincere affection
(TV: ...sentenced to 16 years for marriage imposture and order of
murder to his current wife
Whose life assurance's worth one million pounds.)
Much will be your power
By the essence of a flower
By seducement and cold rapture
By abusing mother nature
(TV: ...murdered close to old Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie.
Police assumes just one more execution by completing drug-cartels).
Great will be your status
When you know how to lick anus
When you lie and swindle ruthless
And your biggest hero's Judas
(TV: ...committed suicide in his New York penthouse,
He leaves no dependant so stay tuned for the latest news of
"Where do all the millions go")
Will there be tomorrow – will there be the stars
Will there be a future – time beats in our hearts
Will there still be laughter – will there be relief
Will there be religion – will there be belief
Will you see your people – from your former lives
Will you know them this time – will you win the prize
Will there be an ending – will there be a start
Or will there be the fire – branding you his mark
I pray for all us people
Trying to solve the riddle
I don't know where we're going
I don't know if we're being true
On Occasion Avenue
Mother, I dreamt of my last life
(You'll never find what you left behind)
Mother, I killed toy with my knife
Oh, oh, we got to make it through
Occasion Avenue
Follow your heart – follow your truth
Follow the path that shines for you
On Occasion Avenue
How far you go – how good you do
Uncovers the prize or rebears you
To Occasion Avenue
Domini, domini - Occasion Avenue – domini sancti
Satani, satani - Occasion Avenue – satani mundi
Occasion Avenue
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