Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not sure....., December 31, 2006
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.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great album if you can accept the myriad of outside musical influences..., November 2, 2006
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.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'm a helloween fan, but what were they thinking?, July 20, 2006
Now, the only reason I gave this album a 4 star rating is because I like the new packaging, liner notes, and they added a bonus disc. I already owned the single disc version of this, but now this double disc version costs less than what I paid for the single disc...I should have waited.
Now, I must get on with saying, what was Helloween thinking. After having a very lack luster album before (Pink Bubbles Go Ape) they released this. Of course it was during the early 90's, and I'm sure there were drugs and rock and roll involved, but this album could have been the death of this band. 1994's album Master of the Rings saved this band. Listenable tracks are I don't wanna cry No More, When the Sinner, and the best track on the album "Step Out Of Hell". This alubm is a mish mosh of ballads and Bad music. Windmill, what is this non-rock Michael Bolton type tune?
Now, the bonus disc is cool, just full of odd stuff, giving you an Idea of how deep the turmoil was in Helloween. Cut in the Middle, good track, but Red Socks and the smell of trees, Oriental Journey, and Ain't got nothing better to do are just lost songs, placed on singles, cause heck, this band really had run out of ideas and needed filler.
This album could be passed over for a slight fan of Helloween. If I were not a fan that believes helloween needed to just get this and "Bubbles" out of their systems, this could have easilly ranked a 2 or 3
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