The Time of the Oath [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Helloween

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2001)
• Original Release Date: March 1, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sanctuary Records
• ASIN: B00005OW5X
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #230,683 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. We Burn

2. Steel Tormentor

3. Wake Up the Mountain

4. Power

5. Forever and One (Neverland)

6. Before the War

7. Million to One

8. Anything My Mama Don't Like

9. Kings Will Be Kings

10. Mission Motherland

11. If I Knew

12. Time of the Oath

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Effort., August 31, 2004

By	GLAD (NYC) - See all my reviews

Sounds like classic Helloween. Vocals are right on. The bass work is sick and perfectly placed in the mix. Added to the traditional Helloween sound are at times elements of funk and progressive rock.

The album has a nice pace and plenty of diversity. My favorites are the opening thrasher We Burn and the epic, but quirky Mission Motherland.

In general I haven't enjoyed most of Helloween's work since Keeper Pt. 1 & 2. The Time of the Oath is a pleasant surprise.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Deris era continues, January 2, 2008

By	Justin Gaines "Corporate Rocker" (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Helloween had made a good effort at redeeming their legacy (built with The Keeper of the Seven Keys albums and then squandered with the disastrous Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon) with their 1994 album Master of the Rings, but they still had a lot to prove with their 1996 follow-up The Time of the Oath. Fortunately the band was more than up to the task.

As much as I enjoyed Master of the Rings, The Time of the Oath is even better. It helps that this is without a doubt a fist in the air, headbanging,100% METAL album. Maybe the continued presence of new vocalist Andi Deris (ex-Pink Cream 69) gave the band a new outlook, or just a chance to start over, but Helloween took the opportunity to bring back the galloping leads, anthemic choruses, and powerful melodies that so defined their early sound (and pretty much created the power metal genre). It worked when they were a hungry young band in the 80's, and it worked again with the older, wiser band in the 90's. The higher production values the era had to offer made a difference as well.

The Time of the Oath is a remarkably strong melodic power metal album, and a worthy addition to the Helloween legacy. Songs like Steel Tormentor, We Burn, Mission Motherland and the title track all stand out as some of the album's best offerings, though there really isn't a weak moment on the entire album (though the song Anything My Mama Don't Like seems better suited to Deris's former band than Helloween). The band is extremely strong musically, and became stronger in terms of vocals and songwriting with the addition of Andi Deris. Between this album and Better than Raw, Andi Deris really established himself as the definitive Helloween vocalist.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard paced pure metal, September 20, 2005

By	Tim Smith "Tim" (New York) - See all my reviews

I bought keeper of the seven keys II a couple of a years ago after seeing what affiliation Helloween had with bands like Iron Maiden, i am was immediatly stuck with them. But when i saw that the singers switch so many times i was unsure about the other albums becuase i like the guys voice so much. I previewed the songs from the album i realized how naive i was, not only is the singers voice not that much different from Keeper of the Seven keys II(they both have very high toned singing voices), but the music is faster and more intense than ever. The lyrics are again questionable, but that is not the point as this album rocks. The first 6 songs are perfect with a mix of double kicks, epic guitar solos and catchy chorus'. After that however they start to trail downhill as they get slower and wierder. Those songs do not not bring the album a lot however,and some of them are still somewhat strong like their earlier counterparts(The Time Of The Oath).
We Burn, Steel Tormentor, Wake Up The Mountain and Power are almost better than keeper of the seven key II, almost.
Definitly worth buying.