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UNARMED Best Of 25th Anniversary is Helloween's thank-you to millions of fans old and new and will prove their exceptional position on the international metal scene. Instead of putting together a regular greatest hits compilation featuring their most successful tracks to celebrate this anniversary, the five band members completely rearranged the greatest melodies they had written in the course of their career to date. The album features Supercharge s exceptional saxophonist Albie Donnelly, Hellsongs s vocalist Harriet Ohlsson, pianist Matthias Ulmer, plus the 70-piece Prague Symphonic Orchestra and the choirs of the Gregorian singers!

As a special surprise, Helloween have come up with 'The Keeper´s Trilogy,' a stunning 17-minute medley of the songs 'Halloween,' 'Keeper Of The Seven Keys,' and 'The King For A 1000 Years,' recorded in cooperation with the Prague Symphonic Orchestra and likely to send shivers of delight down the spine of every Helloween fan.

User Reviews about Unarmed: Best of 25th Anniversary

If you are new to Helloween, this isn't the best introduction to the band. Another compilation or Keeper of the Seven Keys 1 or 2 is a better way to start.

That being said, I am a long time Helloween fan; Michael Kiske was still singer of the band when I got into them. Helloween has almost become synonymous with Power Metal, combining speed & precision, with catchy sing-along choruses, twin harmony solos, and constant double bass drumming.

If you only like Helloween's power metal side, then this album will probably not appeal to you. Helloween has always had a fun side, and if you remember the Chameleon album (and to a lesser extent Pink Bubbles Go Ape), then you might recall that Helloween had a more experimental side, which is reflected on this album. All the songs are well-known, but at first it is rather bizarre listening to all the reworked versions on this album.

The more I listen to it, the more I like the album.

Dr. Stein - This a very upbeat, almost ska-like rendition of the classic Helloween hit, including some honky-tonk, boogie-woogie piano, and saxophones.

Future World - This is a pretty straight-forward unplugged version. The songs is flawless, so it works acoustically as well as a power metal anthem.

If I Could Fly - Although the original featured piano, it was a very dark, moody song. They turned it into a much brighter, almost poppier version, pretty cool if you ask me.

Where The Rain Grows - They turned this upbeat rocker into a half-time acoustic ballad. Interesting

The Keeper's Trilogy (Medley) - One of the highlights of the album! Very orchestral! Many parts are like a filmscore a la Danny Elfman. This is the only song on the album where you will hear double bass drumming. Many of the guitar parts were replaced with strings & horns. The choir adds nicely to the overall epic feel of these songs.

Eagle Fly Free - Like "Where the Rain Grows" they turned this fast-paced power metal track into a half time ballad, including some female background vocals.

Perfect Gentleman - This doesn't deviate much from the original, as it was already a fun song to begin with.

Forever & One - This song was originally a power ballad. Piano is very prominent, and the choir adds very nicely to the song, making it almost like a gospel version of the original.

I Want Out - They added some children's choir as background, which reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" It's almost like a campfire, sing-along version.

Fallen To Pieces - Although this song is mostly acoustic, it has some strange/interesting electronic things going on in the background, turning it into a very ambient version of this song with an almost electronica type feel/vibe.

A Tale That Wasn't Right - Possibly the highlight of the album. This is a very orchestral (almost completely classical music) version of the original power ballad, which was a great song to begin with. Andi sings his heart out (although I think most of us still prefer to hear Kiske singing the old songs).

Why? (Hidden bonus track) - This is also an interesting version. They changed the grooves in the drum, so the song seems faster. OK version, I can see why it's a hidden or bonus track.
-- Not Your Typical "Best Of" or Unplugged Album

For those of you who are new to Helloween, or old fans that are thinking this may be a nice, updated greatest hits CD, it is a whole lot more than that. For over a month now I have had the Japanese release of this, and it is 11 tracks, around 60 minutes of many of their best songs re-worked into orchestra and choir (adult and childrens). There is also a DVD 30 minutes on the making of this album. A couple of them almost come of with a folk type sound, like the track Eagle Fly Free. Many of the orchestra sounds have been "done" before by other bands (Scorpions, Metallica, Deep Purple, Ect...), and are mixed well, but would not stand out as original. Much of the Keepers Trilogy sounds like it could be a movie soundtrack at times, and could be laid overtop of a live action performance story about the tracks. There is even a hint of pop sound here. Favorite songs are Perfect Gentleman, Eagle Fly Free, and Keepers Trilogy. This may be for the hardcore fans only though, and can be seen as a good thank you to fans who have grown up with their music over the last 25 years. This is not likely to be at the top of most thrash/power metal fans playlists. However, as pointed out in discussions after my original posting on a different version listing that has been deleted, this album could be an access point for people who may not have ventured into this genre before. Worth a few spins in the CD player, and for me, I hear more things things I like every time I listen. I have actually bumped my rating from a 3 to a 4.

FYI: I now have the US version release, and it does not come with a DVD (though the original amazon listing had CD/DVD), but it does have a very cool version of Why as a hidden bonus track #12. Thank you again Helloween for 25 years of music. -- Good new take on old songs.

I was truly skeptical when I first heard of this album several months ago. I was expecting a been-there-done-that metal-band-in-front-of-an-orchestra kind of release. But being a long time Helloween fan (since the mid-80s), owning every album they have ever released, having seen them live twice, I wasn't going to dismiss it. And man, does Helloween deliver!

I have read a number of negative reviews on various metal sites, some saying Helloween has sunk to a new low. I couldn't disagree more. This album is amazing! The level of creativity, love and care that has gone into the work of rearranging these songs is truly astounding. The mix of pop, jazz, classical and whatever other genres have been included enriches these songs to a whole new level.

I love the saxes on Dr. Stein, the acoustic guitars on Future World, The guitar and piano work on If I Could Fly, the choirs (even the children's choir), the orchestra, the beat, the rhythms, the female vocals on Eagle Fly Free.... There are so many details woven into every song, for the first time in ages I find myself just sitting and listening to the music, discovering new details on every listen.

Helloween is a band that is not afraid of experimentation, of taking chances. They proved that on Chameleon, Metal Jukebox, and on the panned-by-many but what I consider their best album, The Dark Ride. And they prove it again with Unarmed. Compare that to Gamma Ray, created by Kai Hansen when he left Helloween way back when. I love Gamma Ray too, but there are no surprises there, you always know what you get.

Here's to Helloween! I hope you never stop surprising me! -- Wow! Fantastic release!

I've always been proud to be a member of the metal genre. Metal fans are the most loyal and devoted of any musical genre-they don't care how old a band is, if they had any chart topping singles, if they are overweight or just plain ugly. It's the music that matters, and that's what makes the metal scene great. On the downside of this, some metal fans are the first to jump all over a band's case when the band has done something the fan doesn't like(having a somewhat poppy sounding song on the album, playing a chord that sounds too "modern", using a drum machine on one track, and many other offenses).
Recently I have read some pretty harsh things online about Helloween's new Unarmed cd. Helloween have been in this boat before back in the day with the notorious Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon albums, so I'm sure the were expecting this type of reaction. I love the fact that they don't let it get to them. In fact, I have seen an interview with Michael Weikath on Youtube where he states(in regards to Unarmed) that a lot of people will hate this album, and he suggests people listen to it before purchasing. I have never heard a band member say something like that when promoting their new album! I was rather impressed by that statement.
So how is this new album? Well, it's probably not gonna get a ton of play in my cd player, but damn it, I enjoyed it. Like the style of music or not, Helloween's having a good time here. One of the things that's always made Helloween one of my favorite bands is their lighthearted nature, and their ability to not take themselves so damn seriously.
As you may already know, Unarmed is a "Best Of" anniversary album with the band doing non-metal versions of their classic songs. Faster Helloween songs are now slower acoustic ballads, songs have been converted to a more mellow rock, even jazzy sound. In fact, some of the songs are so far removed from metal that the intent is obviously to be a bit funny. It reminds me a bit of what Blind Guardian did with The Forgotten Tales, minus the cover songs from other groups, and a bit more tongue in cheek.
Some folks might think Helloween are disgracing themselves. Honestly, lighten up. Helloween are a metal band and will continue to be a metal band. They're not doing this album to become pop stars. This was just an oddball sidestep meant to be a fun time.....and it really could be if you let it. -- Many Will Hate It.....But Many Will Like It Too