Chameleon (album)

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Chameleon
Studio album by Helloween
Released	1993
Recorded	Chateau du Pape Hamburg, Germany 1992
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	71:26
Label	EMI
Producer(s)	Helloween and Tommy Hansen, assisted by Michael Tibes
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Helloween chronology
Pink Bubbles Go Ape (1991)	Chameleon (1993)	Master of Rings (1994)

Helloween's 1993 album Chameleon is their most musically adventurous, but also their least commercially successful. It is their fifth album.

Tensions within the band resulted in an album that is highly eclectic in terms of its musical aesthetics to the point that it has been rejected by many fans as being a Helloween album at all. Having failed to live up to the standard of Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1 and Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2 on the preceding Pink Bubbles Go Ape, Chameleon abandoned almost all elements of the power metal sound that the band had been instrumental in creating, and can be seen as an attempt to garner success in wider musical avenues. This was never to happen however, as vocalist Michael Kiske left after the subsequent promotional tour. Helloween then recruied vocalist Andi Deris from Pink Cream 69 and continued in a direction more akin to their earlier works. Nonetheless Chameleon has achieved a cult status among some fans, who praise its esoteric artistic merits.

The atmosphere of the album is closer to progressive rock, with some pop elements, than power metal. It's arguable that these elements had always been a part of Helloween's sound, but were not celebrated as their dominant aesthetic qualities by the bands core heavy metal audience. Chameleon was the first and last time these diverse influences would make it to the front of Helloween's sound. The end result is an album which would have probably met with success had a band like Queen recorded it, but the discourse surrounding heavy metal culture did not allow it to be welcomed with open arms. In terms of production, this is arguably the most accomplished album of the Michael Kiske era, with an epic sound full of different stylistic influences. In recent years, some fans have conceeded that Chameleon is a good progressive rock album, but cannot and should not be enjoyed as a power metal album, like the bands earlier works.

The album was reissued in 2006 with a second CD of bonus tracks along with most of the bands early catalogue.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Expanded Edition Bonus Tracks 3 Credits 3.1 Other information

[edit] Track listing

1. "First Time" (Weikath) – 5:30
2. "When The Sinner" (Kiske) – 6:54
3. "I Don't Wanna Cry No More" (Grapow) – 5:11
4. "Crazy Cat" (Grapow) – 3:29
5. "Giants" (Weikath) – 6:40
6. "Windmill" (Weikath) – 5:06
7. "Revolution Now" (Weikath) – 8:04
8. "In The Night" (Kiske) – 5:38
9. "Music" (Grapow) – 7:00
10. "Step Out Of Hell" (Grapow) – 4:25
11. "I Believe" (Kiske) – 9:12
12. "Longing" (Kiske) – 4:15

[edit] Expanded Edition Bonus Tracks

1. "I Don't Care You Don't Care"
2. "Oriental Journey"
3. "Cut in the Middle"
4. "Introduction"
5. "Get Me out of Here""
6. "Red Socks and the Smell of Trees"
7. "Ain't Got Nothing Better"
8. "Windmill (demo version)"

[edit] Credits

• Vocals: Michael Kiske
• Guitars: Roland Grapow
• Guitars: Michael Weikath
• Bass: Markus Grosskopf
• Drums: Ingo Schwichtenberg

[edit] Other information

1992 Recorded at Chateau De Paup Hamburg/Germany
1992 Mixed at Scream Studios Los Angeles USA
Mastered at Precision Mastering Hollywood USA
Produced by Helloween and Tommy Hansen assisted by Michael Tibes
Mixed by Michael Wagner at Double Trouble Productions Inc. assisted by Craig Boubet
Mastered by Stephen Marcussen
Logo by Michael Weikath and Sleeve design by Michael Kiske
All songs published by Zomba Music Publishers (LTD) S.F. USA

Helloween
Andi Deris | Michael Weikath | Sascha Gerstner | Markus Grosskopf | Daniel Löble
Kai Hansen - Michael Kiske - Ingo Schwichtenberg - Roland Grapow - Uli Kusch - Mark Cross - Stefan Schwarzmann
Discography
Studio albums: Helloween | Walls of Jericho | Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 | Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2 | Pink Bubbles Go Ape | Chameleon | Master of the Rings | The Time of the Oath | Better Than Raw | Metal Jukebox | The Dark Ride | Rabbit Don't Come Easy | Keeper of the Seven Keys – The Legacy
Live Albums: I Want Out Live | Keepers Live | Live in the UK | High Live
Compilation Albums: The Best, The Rest, The Rare | Metal Jukebox
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