«Walls of Jericho» is the first Helloween album and it was released on 18 November 1985 through Noise. It was recorded in September and October 1985 at the Musiclab Studio in Berlin, with Harris Johns producing.
Country: Germany
Genre: Power Metal
For fans of: Iron Maiden, Running Wild, Gamma Ray
It is the only Helloween album with Kai Hansen on lead vocals, until his return in 2021. Michael Weikath was next to him on guitar.
The record joins speed metal velocity with strong melodies and lays the foundations for the German power metal that followed. Kai Hansen left later to found Gamma Ray, and sang with Helloween again many years afterwards.
Helloween formed in Hamburg in 1984 and first put out the self-titled EP and the «Judas» EP, which showed early on their leaning towards fast, melodic compositions. «Walls of Jericho» was their first full work and quickly established them in the German scene. «Starlight» from the EP became one of the most recognisable songs of the early period, while the band was already playing live across Germany.
«Ride the Sky», «Phantoms of Death» and «How Many Tears», which closes the album at seven minutes, stand out.
The cover shows a huge skeletal figure tearing down the walls of Jericho, with small human shapes falling into the dust. In the band logo the letter «o» is replaced by a Halloween pumpkin, which became the group’s emblem.
The 1988 CD edition added the tracks of the self-titled EP and «Judas», which made the album longer and completed the picture of Helloween’s early period.
See also: Helloween – Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I and Helloween – Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II.
