Helloween Reunion - Fear of the Fallen

In 2017, the unthinkable happened — power metal originators Helloween reunited with classic members Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen... and nobody was booted from the lineup. Now, a historic self-titled reunion album that features a total of seven members, is nearly in our grasp (it comes out June 18) and we spoke with legendary singer Kiske about the role that ego — or the lack of ego — played in uniting everyone.

In an era where, unfortunately, many band feuds play out where various members form different versions of the group and duke it out in court over rights to the proper name, Helloween managed to avoid all of that by putting aside ego with a focus on the collective spirit and the pursuit of something entirely new for everyone involved.



Helloween perform their "Walls Of Jericho" classic "How Many Tears" in their "Pumpkins United" line-up live at Wacken Open Air during their "United Alive" world tour 2018.

Helloween, the band's 12-track new album which unites every era of the band, could not possibly be a more fan-oriented album. There's co-writes between members who were never in the band together at the same time, which thrusts Helloween into new territory while, simultaneously, there's many nods to the past with Kiske taking lead on songs written by guitarist and occasional third singer, Hansen, as well mainstay Michael Weikath.

Elsewhere, Kiske and Deris' voice work magnificently, either through clever tradeoffs or resplendent harmonies.

It all feels very pure and natural, but a lot of necessary things had to happen personally and professionally between Kiske's 1993 exit and the present day.

In our interview, we discuss Kiske's life outside of Helloween, where, in addition to continuing to make new music, he dove deeply into spiritual philosophy and gained a heightened perspective of himself and the type of life he wanted to lead. These practices eventually allowed him to bond quite easily with his new bandmates, singer Andi Deris and guitarist Sascha Gerstner in particular.

Of course, we eventually dive into the new record and what transpired in order for this unparalleled reunion to take root.

Before we get into this new record, let's go back to your first stint with Helloween. What do you hear now when you look back on Chameleon, your last album with Helloween before you left in 1993?

I don't like to look at them very much, but there were some good songs there.

When you look at the first years of Helloween where I was part of it, everything seemed to work. Time was on our side and when years like that happen, you feel invincible. When Kai left, it was naive to think that it wouldn't be such a big change. We were completely dysfunctional.

Afterward, when I was on my own, those years were so important for me personally for shaping my character and growing.

Helloween - Walls Of Jericho Medley [Bratislava, Slovakia, 26.11.2017]

This is the Medley of "Walls Of Jericho" from Helloween from Bratislava, Slovakia.

Tour called "Pumpkins United World Tour 2017-2018". The guys played there a 3-hours awesome concert with some old Helloween classics by joining the legendary ex-members Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske.