Helloween "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I" CD

Helloween is now one of the most famous metal bands out there, and they owe a lot from that success to the albums "Keeper of the Seven Keys" (Parts 1 and 2). Unarguably two metal classics, regardless of the subgenre, every metalhead must know these two albums. So why making a review of an album that well-known? Because there's probably some people who claim that this album is not as good as it really is, and I am willing to contribute to make clear that this is a masterpiece.
The album starts with a short keyboard-based intro that makes you feel that something epic is coming, then the fast and catchy "I'm Alive" starts: a song with very fast riffs and drumming, and a lot of solos, but at the same time very melodic. Both verses and chorus stick to your head. Another example of this formula is "Twilight of the Gods" but it's a bit more aggressive. You can find as well slower songs like "A Little Time" and "Future World" that are even catchier than the two mentioned before. The band somehow manages to stay heavy without using only extremely fast riffs and blast-beats. The bass player Markus Grosskopf is very talented as well, he's not that kind of bass player that only follows the guitars, his style is very easy to distinguish and you will hear it clearly the whole time
The album contains also a ballad, but that doesn't decrease the intensity of this work, because Michael Kiske's voice astonishes you throughout the whole song, not only with his undeniable outstanding high-pitched vocals, but also his lows are very well performed. While in the other tracks he focuses on the highs (not exclusively, though), here he sounds more volatile.
Lyrics are good enough to fit the singing and the music, Kiske sings mainly about being powerful and make things right, they can get very hopeful but you will find some funny verses as well. They are obviously very entertaining but that's not the highlight of the album
I couldn't find any imperfections on this album, some people say there's no perfect album, but come on, it will obviously come to tastes, I mean, when you have a song lasting 13 minutes and that doesn't bore you at some point that means that these guys knew what they were doing, when you decide to write such a long song you need to be sure that some interesting passages are included, and they did exactly that. Some of the arguments that state that this album isn't perfect is that it is too short, but it just doesn't need to be longer, the mission is accomplished within 37 minutes.

Official promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...