Helloween followed up their very popular self-titled mini-LP with 1986's even more accomplished Walls of Jericho, a disc that saw the quartet from Hamburg, Germany, outperforming expectations and quickly defining their sonic identity.
The instrumental title track soon gives way to amazingly mature and complex compositions like "Ride the Sky," "Phantoms of Death," and the awesome "How Many Tears" (even more ambitious 13-minute epics would soon follow).
And although these were heavily reliant on Iron Maiden for inspiration, it was Helloween's speed metal innovations that clearly helped make the songs so special and influential for future bands.
Even the album's lyrically challenged, somewhat one-dimensional moments ("Warrior," "Metal Invaders") usually succeed, thanks to the group's uncontainable energy.
On the downside, the album continued to expose Kai Hansen's limitations as a singer, but the band would soon remedy this disadvantage by bringing on teenage phenom Michael Kiske as lead vocalist.
[The CD reissue of Walls of Jericho offers a complete recap of Helloween's first incarnation by combining it with their eponymous mini-LP and the Judas EP in chronological order.].
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ride the SkyHelloween | Helloween | Play | 05:57 | 13 MB | 39 MB |
| 2 | ReptileHelloween, Michael Weikath | Helloween | Play | 03:45 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 3 | GuardiansHelloween, Michael Weikath | Helloween | Play | 04:19 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | Phantoms of DeathHelloween | Helloween | Play | 06:37 | 15 MB | 43 MB |
| 5 | Metal InvadersHelloween | Helloween | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | GorgarHelloween, Michael Weikath | Helloween | Play | 03:55 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Heavy Metal (Is the Law)Helloween, Michael Weikath | Helloween | Play | 04:02 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 8 | How Many TearsHelloween, Michael Weikath | Helloween | Play | 07:17 | 16 MB | 46 MB |
| 9 | Walls Of Jericho | Helloween | Play | 00:49 | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| 40 mins | 93 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 262 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Markus Großkopf | Bass, Group Member |
| 2 | Markus Grosskopf | Bass |
| 3 | Kai Hansen | Composer, Group Member, Guitar, Vocals |
| 4 | James Hardway | Emulator |
| 5 | Helloween | Arranger, Composer, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 6 | Harris Johns | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 7 | Edda Karczewski | Cover Design, Design |
| 8 | Uwe Karczewski | Cover Design, Design |
| 9 | Jan Nemec | Engineer, Mixing |
| 10 | Ingo Schwichtenberg | Drums, Group Member |
| 11 | Dirk Steffens | Remixing |
| 12 | Peter Vahlefeld | Artwork, Layout Design, Typesetting, Typography |
| 13 | Michael Weikath | Composer, Cover Art Concept, Group Member, Guitar |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |