Helloween

Legendary German power metal band Helloween was founded in 1984 in Hamburg, Northern Germany by members of bands Iron Fist and Gentry.

Its first lineup consisted of singer and rhythm guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, lead guitarist Michael Weikath, and drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. Hansen left on 1989 and went on to form the Power Metal band Gamma Ray.

Following the departure of Hansen, and after many legal disputes, Helloween finally returned to action with “Pink Bubbles Go Ape” in 1991. Chameleon, the follow up to Pink Bubbles, also didn’t work well on fans and culminated Helloween’s second lineup, kicking off Michael Kiske (set to launch a solo career) and Ingo Schwichtenberg.

Andi Deris and Uli Kusch were brought in to record Helloween’s 1994 album “Master of the Rings”, which was a far more liked album to fans than the previous efforts by the band. Then, in 1995, former drummer Ingo Schwichtenger took his own life after dealing with schizophrenic episodes, Helloween dedicated 1996’s “The Time of the Oath” to their fallen friend, and, coincidentally, the album turned out to be the strongest since the glory years of the Keeper saga, doing much to resurrect their career.

Helloween continued to prosper following “The Time Of The Oath”, putting out many albums such as 1998’s “Better than Raw”, 2000’s “The Dark Ride”, 2003' “Rabbit don’t come easy” and even a follow up to their Keeper saga; “Keeper of the seven keys: The Legacy”.

Gambling with the Devil, which has been cited by fans as being one the group’s best Andi Deris-era releases, arrived in 2007, and was followed by the hard-hitting 7 Sinners in 2010. Their 14th album, Straight Out of Hell, arrived on the End Records in early 2013, followed by My God-Given Right in May 2015, the latter of which marked the group’s return to Nuclear Blast.

In 2016, Helloween confirmed Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske would re-join the group for a planned 2017/2018 tour, with Kiske and Deris performing their respective Helloween works.

As of 2017 the band’s lineup consists of:
Michael Weikath – Guitars
Markus Grosskopf – Bass
Kai Hansen – Guitars, Vocals
Michael Kiske – Vocals
Andi Deris – Vocals
Sascha Gerstner – Guitars
Dani Loble – Drums

Current Discography:
Walls of Jericho (1985)
Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I (1987)
Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II (1988)
Pink Bubbles Go Ape (1991)
Chameleon (1993)
Master of the Rings (1994)
The Time of the Oath (1996)
Better Than Raw (1998)
The Dark Ride (2000)
Rabbit Don’t Come Easy (2003)
Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy (2005)
Gambling with the Devil (2007)
7 Sinners (2010)
Straight Out of Hell (2013)
My God-Given Right (2015)
Helloween (2021)