Walls of Jericho (album)

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Walls of Jericho
Studio album by
Helloween
Released1985
RecordedSeptember–October 1985
StudioMusiclab Studio (Berlin, West Germany)
Genre
Length40:54
LabelNoise
ProducerHarris Johns, Helloween
Helloween chronology
Helloween
(1985) 		Walls of Jericho
(1985) 		Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I
(1987)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal8/10[3]
Sputnikmusic[4]

Walls of Jericho is the debut studio album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 1985 on LP by Noise Records.[5] It is the only album featuring Kai Hansen as lead vocalist until 2021's Helloween, although he would continue to act as guitarist on the two following albums.

In 1988, Walls of Jericho was released on CD. Due to the enhanced capacity of the CD, the Helloween EP/mini-LP and the song "Judas" from the Judas EP were added to the Walls of Jericho track listing; they are now released as a compilation. In the late 1980s, due to a manufacturing error, side one of several cassette copies of Walls of Jericho accidentally contained the music of Celtic Frost's To Mega Therion, confusing many first-time Helloween listeners.[6]

Track listings[edit]

Original Edition[edit]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Walls of Jericho"Michael Weikath, Kai Hansen0:53
2."Ride the Sky"Hansen5:54
3."Reptile"Weikath3:45
4."Guardians"Weikath4:19
5."Phantoms of Death"Hansen6:33
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Metal Invaders"Weikath, Hansen4:10
7."Gorgar"Hansen3:57
8."Heavy Metal (Is the Law)"Weikath, Hansen4:08
9."How Many Tears"Weikath7:15
Total length:40:54

1987 CD Edition[edit]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Starlight"Weikath, Hansen5:17
2."Murderer"Hansen4:26
3."Warrior"Hansen4:00
4."Victim of Fate"Hansen6:37
5."Cry for Freedom"Weikath, Hansen6:02
6."Walls of Jericho / Ride the Sky"Weikath, Hansen6:45
7."Reptile"Weikath3:45
8."Guardians"Weikath4:19
9."Phantoms of Death"Hansen6:33
10."Metal Invaders"Hansen4:10
11."Gorgar"Weikath, Hansen3:57
12."Heavy Metal (Is the Law)"Weikath, Hansen4:00
13."How Many Tears"Weikath7:15
14."Judas"Hansen4:43
Total length:71:37
1989 Japanese version bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Don't Run for Cover"Michael Kiske4:47

2006 Remastered & Expanded Edition[edit]

Disc one is the same as above.

Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Murderer" (remix)Hansen4:34
2."Ride the Sky" (remix)Hansen6:46
3."Intro / Ride the Sky" (live)Hansen7:17
4."Guardians" (live)Weikath4:26
5."Oernst of Life"Weikath4:46
6."Metal Invaders" (demo version)Hansen4:37
7."Surprise Track (White Christmas - I'll Be Your Santa Claus)"Traditional2:08
Total length:34:34
  • Tracks 1 & 2 also appear on the album Treasure Chest
  • Tracks 3 & 4 also appear on the Judas EP
  • Tracks 5 & 6 also appear on the Death Metal compilation
  • Track 7 also appears on the Helloween EP

Notes[edit]

  • The second pressing of an unofficial 1991 cassette release by MG Records comes with a yellow top right corner, a pink stripe in the top right corner, a pink spine, and a pink/black label logo on the front cover. The third pressing in 1992 comes with a blue top right corner, a yellow stripe in the top right corner, a pink background on the front cover, and a black band logo on the front cover
  • An unofficial 1991 cassette release by Tact adds the song "Starlight"
  • An unofficial 1993 cassette release by Euro Star adds the song "Judas". The second pressing comes with a green background behind the tracklist, green border around the album art, the band name in green, and the album title in blue
  • The track list on the back cover of the 1993 CD release by Futurist lists "Walls of Jericho" and "Ride the Sky" as separate tracks instead of the actual CD where they are joint
  • An unofficial 1997 cassette release by Audio Max excludes "Heavy Metal (Is the Law)" and "Judas"
  • The track list on the back cover of the 1997 re-release by Noise Records is incorrect, which lists "Walls of Jericho" and "Ride the Sky" as joint songs
  • An unofficial 2001 CD release by Agat Company contains the 1987 album Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I
  • The 2002 release by Sauron Music has the lyrics in Korean

Personnel[edit]

Band members[edit]

Additional musicians[edit]

Production[edit]

  • Produced, engineered and mixed by Harris Johns
  • Edda and Uwe Karczewski – Cover design
  • Peter Vahlefeld – Layout, typography

Charts[edit]

Chart (1989) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[7] 40

Trivia[edit]

  • The titular entity in the song "Gorgar" is the first talking pinball machine ever produced.[8]
  • The main theme of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is used in the song "Gorgar."
  • The intro to "Starlight" is taken from a commercial in the movie Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
  • The song "Heavy Metal (Is the Law)" is not an official live recording. Rather, crowd noise was added.
  • The live versions of "Ride the Sky" and "Guardians" are not live recordings; they are the same songs as found on Walls of Jericho but with crowd noise mixed in. The actual live versions of the two songs appeared only on the original 12" vinyl edition of the "Judas" single.
  • Professional wrestler Chris Jericho took his ring name and the name of his submission maneuver from the title of this album.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Helloween - Walls of Jericho". Metal Reviews.com.
  2. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Helloween Walls of Jericho review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  3. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  4. ^ Stagno, Mike (2006-10-31). "Helloween - Walls of Jericho". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
  5. ^ "Helloween - Walls of Jericho". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  6. ^ "Helloween - Walls of Jericho". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  7. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  8. ^ "The Internet Pinball Database Presents Gorgar". The Internet Pinball Database. Retrieved 2011-12-30.

External links[edit]

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