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Helloween - Chameleon



5.9 | 475 votes |
Release date: 1993
Style: Power metal

Owners:

399 have it
16 want it


Disc I
01. First Time
02. When The Sinner
03. I Don't Wanna Cry No More
04. Crazy Cat
05. Giants
06. Windmill
07. Revolution Now
08. In The Night
09. Music
10. Step Out Of Hell
11. I Believe
12. Longing

Disc II [2006 Expanded Edition]
01. I Don't Care You Don't Care
02. Oriental Journey
03. Cut In The Middle
04. Introduction
05. Get Me Out Of Here
06. Red Socks And The Smell Of Trees
07. Ain't Got Nothin' Better
08. Windmill [demo] [Previously Unreleased]

Guest review by
Spyroid
Rating:
9.0
I got this album as a Christmas gift some years ago. I used to listen to Helloween with my friend and this was the only album we hadn't heard. He paid something equal to 8 dollars (the backside said 30 $m imported from the U.S) which says pretty much about what people think about this album. At first I didn't like it at all because it was not metal enough of course. People seem to look at this album as Helloweens "Risk" or "St. Anger" and they all think it's to much pop/rock and not enough metal. I absolutely disagree, and especially nowadays when I've started to be more open minded with music. In my opinion, Helloween does this kinda music great and much better than most other bands. The daring to do something different - and succeeding (that's what I think) is so unique for power metal bands, Hammerfall for example wouldn't want and wouldn't be able to create something like this.

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published 10.12.2006 | Comments (40)

Found in 14 lists
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Comments

Comments: 13   Visited by: 472 users
26.10.2013 - 20:10
Rating: 8
Azarath
Free as a.. Fish
I'm enjoying the hell out of this album.
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26.10.2013 - 20:58
Lord_Regnier

Garbage. And what a letdown it was back then in 1993.
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"Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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24.06.2016 - 13:27
Rating: 8
Mountain King
K i K o
Not sure I would call this a bad album. A bad album is an album that you can't listen to. I think people get persuaded with the opinion of the general public.

I would put this album almost on par with the previous one (PBGA). I Believe, Music, When The Sinner, Longing are excellent tracks. Kiske sounds great. Okay I understand there are no double bass speed/power metal anthems bla bla which is the only missing thing for a Helloween fan. Otherwise, musically and vocally the album is not bad at all. Production is great, solos are good, more chill and bluesy and so forth. Give it a chance as the last of Kiske's epic era.
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13.07.2016 - 22:18
Rating: 6
majormalfunction

This one got a pretty nasty reputation and I do understand why. There are good things here but the stuff that is bad is so bad that you never want to hear it again. The first three tracks are just utter garbage, sure First Time has a heavy nice intro riff and decent verses but when the chorus kicks in it sounds like a daycare song. So very wrong. Revolution Now is 8 minutes pure boredom, it doesn't in any way justifies it's length and don't get me started on In The Night and Windmill (oh my...). As for the rest it's not that bad. Crazy Cat, I actually like this one, it got some messed up lyrics but that horn section is very well implemented in the music. Giants with it's pounding guitar and excellent chorus is a huge Helloween favourite of mine. The last four tracks are also all pretty strong, especially Music is very enjoyable and relaxing (again with a horn section that works really well). All in all not a total disaster, delete songs 1-3 and 6-8 and you got yourself a nice 35 minute long album.
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Everything's twice as bright with money in your hands
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15.01.2017 - 04:08
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
What a boring one, but same time it has some catchy parts
fits in pop scene
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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24.04.2017 - 14:01
nikarg

Pretty average and "soft". Half of it has good songs, the other half is quite boring. Kiske is saving it really from being considered pretty bad, this guy's voice is just out of this world.
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29.06.2017 - 02:22
Rating: 6
musicalkaratekid

The term "top heavy" is often used when describing inconsistent albums, but I think the best way I can describe "Chameleon" is that it's actually BOTTOM heavy. Opening track "First Time" is a fun enough listen, but the rest of the first half is what seriously drags the quality of this album down for me. Yet there's a steady ascent in quality once "In the Night" begins, which is written seemingly from the heart and actually doesn't render the-then Helloween as a passing joke. It gets even better with "Music", which is a questionable attempt at doing some form of progressive rock, albeit with Helloween's very tongue-in-cheek spin on things. And "I Believe", whilst its venture into power ballad territory probably made the "Keeper of the Seven Keys" enthusiasts vomit with disgust back when this album was first release, is quite soothing in all the right ways.

I guess what I'm saying here is that "Chameleon", as opposed to being a poor album, is instead inconsistent and quite the mixed bag. Half the album succeeds on many levels, whereas the other half falls flat with little effort. I guess the album just had to stand the test of time though, because I now realize many longtime fans of Helloween are giving it a second chance and enjoying it for once. Also, this album is too long for its own good.
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07.12.2019 - 18:52
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by nikarg on 24.04.2017 at 14:01

Pretty average and "soft". Half of it has good songs, the other half is quite boring. Kiske is saving it really from being considered pretty bad, this guy's voice is just out of this world.


Firts song is best and maybe he cant sing such music, he should sing metal?
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
07.12.2019 - 22:32
Rating: 6
Redel

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2019 at 18:52

Firts song is best and maybe he cant sing such music, he should sing metal?


"I believe" is among their all-time best songs IMO.
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08.12.2019 - 11:08
nikarg

Written by Redel on 07.12.2019 at 22:32

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2019 at 18:52

Firts song is best and maybe he cant sing such music, he should sing metal?


"I believe" is among their all-time best songs IMO.

Yes, it is an incredible song.

"First Time" that BE mentioned, "Giants" and "Music" are the other three that I remember liking a lot. And Kiske's voice in the last track, it's just wow. But "I Believe" is definitely in a league of its own.
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25.12.2019 - 10:56
Rating: 4
Joppe
Steelemeister
First time is a pretty good opener; only its chorus kind of blows, but I actually wouldn't mind listening to a whole album of songs like this. Then come the experimental or whatever this approach should be called. On one hand somewhat interesting songs due mostly to their variety and their un-Helloween-ness. Unfortunately I don't find these songs very good a compositions and if I wanted to listen to this same stuff, only waaay better why I don't just go for Pink Floyd?

I have heard this album before but now that I'm relistening to it after over a decade later, I can say that I hadn't totally forgotten only When The Sinner and Windmill -- and not because that they're good tracks, rather because their being different than a typical Helloween track. So I think there's not any superb songs in the first seven; First Time and Giants would be my top picks, which can't compete with the earlier aka the classic Helloween though. Music is a great song and also the often mentioned I Believe. Even Step Out Of Hell and Longing are better than an average song on this album, which makes this 4 song streak the only relatively skip-free part on this album. If we count all the good stuff together we still get about ½ of the album's 70 minutes being crap.

It seems to me that on this album the band has lost almost all that was good about it the past -- the only exception is the still magnificent voice of Michael Kiske -- and the new elements added to the songwriting are working rather against than for this album's good. Even the legendary Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums is rendered almost invisible by this tedious music. While I am definitely NOT very fond of the albums following Chameleon, I think Chameleon is the biggest failure in Helloween discography and their least listened album by me. My sole argument for listening Chameleon over later Helloween albums is the fact, that Kiske sounds about 10 times more like a Helloween singer than Deris does.
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My vision is augmented
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10.12.2021 - 01:28
Rating: 6
Nate612

I don't like this album but there is no reason why this is rated lower than Pink Bubbles Go Ape
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09.08.2023 - 12:32
Rating: 6
24emd
Theory Snob
Definitely works fine as a hard rock album, way better then the terrible Pink Bubbles.
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"I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense." - Proverbs 30:2
"Music? Well, it's just entertainment, folks!" - Devin Townsend

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