Search - Helloween :: Chameleon

Not sure.....

Aaron Harms | 12/31/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Just got this CD, and was very excited to see it arrive.....however, now, after listening to it a few times, I'm kind of neutral on it. Its got a couple Helloween-style songs (fast and hard), but like the sleeve notes say, it definitely is a different direction....if not a strange one. As an example, my recent CDs from them are all the newer metal and progressive sounding albums, rabbit don't come easy, etc. If you like a surprise with a new direction this CD will satisfy, if you're looking for that metal, old or new sound, you will be disappointed.... I'm still trying to get past the '80ish sounding synthesizer sound on a couple of the songs.....try it, you might like it, but if you're a metal guy like me, save your money for anything newer coming up."

A Dare to be Different...

alaskan glam-metal-head | Fairbanks, Alaska | 02/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many people don't know what to think of this album. Like Pink Bubbles Go Ape, Chameleon is an album that further alienated Helloween's original fan base of metalheads, drawing on a variety of influences and musical textures that are hard to describe in words. Despite the fact that most critics, and even the members of Helloween themselves, seem to view the album as somewhat of an awkward failure, I personally find it to be an incredibly emotional and dynamic album unlike any other record I've heard. I've been letting it sink in for nearly a year now, and if anyting, I like it even more now than I did when I first bought it.



To provide some context, Chameleon was released in 1993, at a time when the "grunge" bands ruled the airwaves, and when the tensions amongst the members of Helloween were at their height. Singer Michael Kiske was largely responsible for the band's change in direction, which most of his band mates weren't too keen on. Things didn't look very promising, as the experimental Pink Bubbles Go Ape wasn't very much of a success, and Chameleon was to be an even further step in the experimental direction. You might say Helloween was having a bit of an identity crisis, but if you ask me, it yielded a great album. EVERY track is BRILLIANT in my opinion.



There isn't a song on this album I don't enjoy. Even though I am a metalhead who largely prefers very traditional rock and metal (mostly from the 80s and earlier), I neverthless found this album to be an incredibly unique and passionate work of art. I love this album just as much as I do Helloween's earlier masterpieces. There is still a strong foundation of electric guitars (and the rhythm section, of course) throughout Chameleon, but on several tracks you'll also hear synthesizers, horn sections, and even a soprano saxophone in "When the Sinner." I can hear touches of jazz in several tracks, and outright swing in "Crazy Cat." However, these influences are secondary to the characteristic Helloween sound which is still in tact here as on the earlier Helloween albums. The melodies in the harmonized guitars and Michael Kiske's singing (which is also nicely harmonized) are powerful and sublime, albeit a bit softer and more subtle than on, say, the Keepers albums. However, these songs really aren't THAT far away from earlier Helloween. I could see songs like "First Time," "Giants," and "Step Out of Hell" fitting in on one of the Keepers albums. These songs aren't as fast and furious as Helloween's earlier music, but they have that same unmistakable, rich melodic impact. Guitarists (like me) and guitar fans can also be reassured that there is some fantastic lead work here courtesy of Michael Weikath and Roland Grapow. Helloween also explores their sensitivity more than before here, with beautiful ballads, including "I Don't Wanna Cry No More," "Windmill," and "Longing." The range of emotions that this album conveys is wide, expressing hope, pure joy, melancholy sadness and desperation, wistfulness, as well as empowering boldness. But as I said earlier, this album is hard to describe, and so is the way it makes me feel as a listener.



Unfortunately, Helloween would lose two of it's great members after the recording of Chameleon - the phenominal young singer Michael Kiske, whose creative vison clashed a bit with the rest of the band, and the very talented drummer Ingo Schwichtenburg, who, suffering from depression, would tragically committ suicide soon after. Despite their hardships, both of them perform excellently on this album. Ingo is just as good as he's been since the Walls of Jericho days, and Kiske's singing is simply out of this world as always. He has one of the purest, most profoundly powerful voices I've ever heard, and also has incredible range. Kiske perfectly delivers the wide range of feeling and atmosphere that this album calls for.



Truthfully, Chameleon is a fitting title for this album. It takes you many places, and is a real journey to listen to, possibly reflecting the difficult journey that some of the members of Helloween were going through at the time this record was cut. It's a strikingly deep album, and one that doesn't really fit in with any musical movement or stereotype before, during, or after the time it was recorded. For that, I think Helloween deserves a lot of credit. This album doesn't try to fit in with "grunge," or any other superficial "scene." It's simply a timeless, stunningly touching expression of a troubled band that was struggling to find it's voice."

A great album if you can accept the myriad of outside musica

John. N | Big Run, PA USA | 11/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When most European metal fans discuss the lowest point of Helloween's long-winded and somewhat land mined history, two albums immediately come to mind: 1991's Pink Bubbles Go Ape and 1993's Chameleon - the later usually invoking the most disgust. Why it is quite obvious to anyone familiar with Helloween's musical portfolio why an album like Chameleon would fail to revitalize the band's flailing carrier in the early 90s, this album is quite far from a "complete" failure - at least in my eyes. The only real failure here is by the band and/or label (I've lost track of who blamed who for the album's failure nor do I really care at this point) who completely missed the mark with what fans wanted.



With this said, those that will find Chameleon to their liking are metal fans that are willing to accept and respect outside influences that usually don't find their way into any kind of heavy metal record. A good number of the songs are infused with life by instruments typical to jazz and blues arrangements and the album somewhat takes on more of an rock and roll approach than that of a typical Euro release. In a nutshell, Chameleon is a lot more "artsy" than any Helloween album before or after it: think of it like your grandpa's version of Helloween - if that makes any since at all.



Anyways, despite what many will tell you, this album does have its fair share of good songs. "When the Sinner" and "Crazy Cat" contain jazzy, upbeat arrangements that I feel are full of energy despite the lack of any kind of European edge or flavor to them. "First Time" is straight up rocker that cleverly emulates the Rolling Stones' classic "Can't Get No Satisfaction" in term of lyrical content. "Giants" is the most Helloween-sounding song on the album and is definitely one of the most underrated songs by the band in this era. Heck, even songs like "In the Night" and "Windmill" come off beautifully despite the fact such tunes would never come to appease most fans.



As good as the above songs are in their own right, Chameleon really has some extremely sorry tracks. "Revolution Now" is what one would get if they took a song from Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime and stripped the song's lyrical content down to bone instead of having the different characters (Nikki, Dr. X) represent different worldly problems and ideals, "Music" is completely devoid of any musical coherence or substance, and "Step Out of Hell" comes off as the lamest anti-drug ad of the early 90's - a song like Starlight has the completely same message and is one hundred times better no matter if it's Kai or Kiske singing it.



The other problem with Chameleon is some of the best songs from the recording sessions ended up being b-sides for the four or five singles that where released to promote the album (how a song like "Step Out of Hell" was released as a single is still quite disturbing in my mind). Thankfully the second disc of the extended edition includes these excellent rarities: "Cut In The Middle" is an awesome rocker, "Get Me Out of Here" is a simply brilliant Kiss cover that isn't a Kiss cover and "Introduction" is simply a riot.



In the end, listeners that don't have a "if it isn't blank, it isn't worth listening to" mentality are the ones who will get the most out of Chameleon. While Helloween's other records may be undeniably more accepted, Chameleon is more than acceptable in my book."