Helloween

Keeper of The Seven Keys: The Legacy World Tour 05/06: Live In Sao Paulo (SPV)
By Michael McCarthy

There aren’t many casual Helloween fans. Most fans, myself included, tend to be really into the band. Unfortunately, most of us North American fans haven’t had the opportunity to see the band live in concert, their domestic appearances far too few and in between. (I was lucky enough to see them on the Rabbit Don’t Come Easy tour at the Key Club in L.A., and it was everything I’d ever hoped for and more.) So there’s a lot of pressure on the band to really live up to the dream and deliver a superb concert that really transcends to the listener when it releases a live album. They did it several years ago with the double album High Live and I’m pleased to say that they’ve done it again with this latest double album. Andi Deris’ voice sounds superb, the musicianship is spot on, and the audience sings along with fervor. There isn’t much more that you could possibly want out of a live album. The only complaint some might have is that, since The Legacy is the third of their Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums, songs from all three Keepers albums are the focus of the show, meaning you have three songs nearly fifteen minutes long on the album and a few others in the ballpark of ten minutes, practically making it a prog-rock show. Which is kind of weird, being that I don’t think any of Helloween’s fans really consider them to be a prog-rock band, but they’ve got just enough songs that break the mold in their discography that one could make that argument and they all just so happen to be performed here. So if that’s going to bother you, you’re better off checking out their great new studio album, Gambling with the Devil, instead. And since this is a collection focusing heavily on the band’s rare longer songs, I wouldn’t suggest this release to someone who’s looking to check out the band for the first time. Any of their studio albums would be a better place to start.
(www.spvusa.com)