See also:
- Broken Base:
- Andi Deris or Michael Kiske (or Kai Hansen)?
- Or those who only like Keeper Of The Seven Keys 1 & 2 and Walls of Jericho, and those who like these and almost everything else.
- Kiske period. He was either the only thing that ever made the band good and someone whose departure ruined Helloween forever, or the single most overrated vocalist in metal history whose obnoxious oversinging ruined the albums he was on, as well as being responsible for Europower/"flower metal" (Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Rhapsody, etc.), the likes of which is despised by a good portion of metal fans.
- Contested Sequel: It's generally agreed that Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy is not only the weakest of the three Keeper... albums but also one of the weakest Helloween albums overall, due to its overly long songs and disjointed nature.
- Critical Backlash: Sure, as Chameleon shows, lighter prog-rock with pop elements is the wrong genre for Helloween. However, if you happen to be into that sort of thing, it's surprisingly not-so-bad for its reputation.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Due to his appearances in both "Dr. Stein
" (the Unarmed version) and "Are You Metal" (from 7 Sinners album) videos, the "Dr. Stein" impersonator is on the way to become one of these. - Even Better Sequel: Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 2 in the Keeper saga. And Keeper Pt. 1 in their whole discography, after Walls of Jericho.
- Fandom Rivalry: Helloween vs. Gamma Ray.
- Fan Nickname: "Michi" for Michael Kiske, and "Weiki" for Michael Weikath.
- Fanon Discontinuity: Aside from Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon, many fans choose to dismiss the entire Andi Deris' Era, and claim that the band didn't release anything since Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2.
- Harsher in Hindsight: The lyrics of "A Tale That Wasn't Right" take a new meaning after the death of Ingo.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Pink Cream 69 was the former band of Andi Deris, before joining Helloween. Ten years later, Michael Kiske would start the Place Vendome project (now a full-fledged band called Unisonic) with three (later two) members of Pink Cream 69.
- Take the lyrics of "Rise And Fall", from Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 2. That song gets funnier when you remember everything Kiske went through after getting sacked from Helloween.
- Roland Grapow was the composer behind "Mr. Ego (Take Me Down)" from Master of the Rings. After he was sacked from Helloween, he formed Masterplan alongside Uli Kusch, and considered Michael Kiske, the alleged receptor of the aforementioned song, as their singer.
- Mis-blamed: Weikath, for Hansen's quiting and Kiske's firing, despite that now both Hansen and Weikath are in very good terms. He's also misaccused for being the only egotist in the history of the band, despite the fact that Kiske had almost completely taken over the band after Hansen left, and the only way he'd let go was for Weikath to fire him.
- Narm: The creepiness of the intro to Gambling With The Devil is practically ruined by the band's broken English ("So you want a good life, on the highest top level").
- Nausea Fuel: "Reptile", from Walls of Jericho.
- NightmareFuel: The end of Dr. Stein. Dr. Stein decides to clone himself and when he goes to sleep the clone murders him by poisoning him with a syringe. And it's implied that after this the monsters he created are about to become even worse.Dr. Stein grows funny creaturesLets them run into the nightThey become a great oppressionAnd their time is right
- Replacement Scrappy: There are a number of fans who still do not accept Andi Deris as the vocalist, despite the fact that it's been over fifteen years and he's been with the band longer than Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen combined! Not so much these days now that Kiske's rejoined the band and the two take the stage together.
- Signature Song: "I Want Out".
- So Bad, It's Good: Kai Hansen could barely sing on key on the first album, but his absurdly over-the-top wails fit the music so perfectly it's still beloved by most fans.
- Suspiciously Similar Song:
- The chorus for "Guardians", from Walls of Jericho, is very similar to the Christmas song "Frosty the Snowman".
- "Revolution Now", from Chameleon, has a riff very reminiscent of "Give It Away".
- In "World of Fantasy", from 7 Sinners, the intro sounds like the opening of King Arthur & the Knights of Justice.
- Word of God states that Weiki had to change the melody of "Salvation", from The Dark Ride, because it sounded too much like Stratovarius's "Father Time".
- Sweetness Aversion: "Future World", from Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 1, a song so happy (in fact, it was the reason why Power Metal was seen as "Happy Metal" at some point) that it has it's own hatedom, despite being in one of the band's most acclaimed albums ever.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- There's a very vocal group of fans who revile the silliness that Large Ham Andi Deris brought into the band. However, Michael Kiske was just as silly live, as the Live in the UK live album proves. And they brought out an album called Pink Bubbles Go Ape with a song called "Heavy Metal Hamsters" on it before he was mercifully booted out.
- The reaction to Unarmed was... less than enthusiastic. Bear in mind, again, that said album was non-canonical, as mentioned above.
