Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Helloween
Label: EMI Records
Release: 1991
Runtime: 44:02
Rating: 2.5/5
»Pink Bubbles Go Ape« is, and not just going by the title, but by the music too (which is what matters most), hands down the worst album in the history of the cult German power metallers Helloween. On the flip side, it has a great, if unconventional, cover, designed by the legendary British graphic designer Storm Thorgerson (sadly no longer with us), best known for designing most of Pink Floyd’s album covers. Thorgerson was known for only doing covers for bands whose music he actually liked, so the Helloween guys considered it a special honor that he took some of his precious time to contribute a really interesting cover for their fourth studio album, one that sadly didn’t live up to the sky-high expectations.
After signing a new deal with the prestigious label EMI, with their friends in Iron Maiden and the charismatic manager Rod Smallwood putting in a good word, it seemed in the late eighties like Helloween were about to become the hottest name on the European heavy metal scene. They had everything it takes to get to the top: a charismatic frontman whose vocal approach recalled both Geoff Tate (Queensryche) and Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), an extremely successful twin-guitar tandem, one of the best rhythm sections in Teutonic metal, a totally unique, humorous take on typical metal lyrics, and a recognizable stage setup with mascots in the form of human pumpkins. Behind them were two outstanding concept albums that defined European power metal (the »Keeper Of the Seven Keys« saga) and brought them worldwide fame, peaking with their appearance at the prestigious Monsters of Rock festival at Donington stadium in 1988. But over the next three years, things sadly took a strange turn.
First, after the release of their first live album, »Live in the UK« (1989,), original guitarist (and once the original singer too) Kai Hansen left. Alongside the other guitarist, Michael Weikath, he was the key songwriter and creative mastermind of these Hamburg metal giants. Once he saw that he could no longer find any common ground with Weikath and singer Michael Kiske, Hansen walked away and, after a brief stint with Blind Guardian, started a new creative path with his own band, Gamma Ray. His departure turned out to be a minor catastrophe, practically cutting Helloween’s creative brain in half. The remaining members decided to carry on with a new guitarist, Roland Grapow, who came from the obscure band Rampage. They needed a full three years for the new album, because the new ideas just wouldn’t flow. On top of that, Kiske’s personality started getting more and more problematic, and it soon got harder and harder to get along with him, especially after he joined some bizarre religious sect. The only one who had any patience for his whims was drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg, who himself began sinking deeper and deeper into depression, which ended in suicide two years later.
Taking all of these misfortunes that marked the band after Kai’s departure into account, it’s no surprise that »Pink Bubbles Go Ape« is a completely schizophrenic album on which they tried, through a few short stylistic detours, to drift a bit away from their signature ‘happy’ power metal, though there are still gems to be found here and there. So the album has four excellent songs (»Kids Of The Century«,»Someone’s Crying«, »Mankind« and »The Chance«) that could easily have sat on either »Keeper« album, three average ones (»Back On The Streets«, »Number One« and »Your Turn«) and three flops (»Heavy Metal Hamsters, »Goin’ Home«, »I’m Doin’ Fine Crazy Man«). As a whole, the album fell far short of the sky-high expectations, but despite its inconsistent quality it deserves a spot in every fan’s collection. Even though Chris Tsangarides is a top-notch, legendary producer, best known for his work with Judas Priest, he didn’t do his best job this time, so it’s no surprise that Helloween brought Tommy Hansen back for their next studio projects.
The opener, after a short, humorous, acoustic intro that makes up the title track, promises a lot. »Kids Of The Century«, released as the album’s first single, is one of Kiske’s best achievements as a member of Helloween. This hugely energetic opener has all the core sonic strengths that shot the band to the top of the ‘hottest’ names in European metal in the second half of the eighties: melodic guitar harmonies, the rattle of double bass pedals with wild drum fills, and an epic chorus where Kiske doesn’t hold back one bit with his enviably high vocal range. Sadly, the album quickly waters down from there, which you can already hear on the pretty average »Back On The Streets«, with its mischievous guitar phrases and yet another excellent vocal performance, but a totally forgettable chorus. This track was already stylistically closer to hard rock than power metal, though not to the point of being overly distracting.
On »Number One«, the album’s second single, they also used some pretty electronic-sounding synths, which was straight-up blasphemy for plenty of fans. The end result is still kind of fun, even if its ‘pop metal’ structure and cheerful, ‘Eurovision-style’ chorus aren’t exactly what most people would expect after three metal classics in the studio. It’s hard to believe that less than six years earlier, on the debut »Walls Of Jericho« (1985), they were still playing possessed speed metal. »Heavy Metal Hamsters«, whose opening guitar phrase was ‘borrowed’ straight from the Deep Purple standard »Rat Bat Blue, is a truly daft effort that they could still sink into the ground with shame over today. Helloween were always big jokers, but this time their self-irony, amid desperate lyrics about ‘heavy metal hamsters’, completely misses the mark. Instrumentally it’s not a bad piece of work, as both guitarists deliver some great harmonies, but that’s not enough to make a song with lyrics that actually make sense. Many years later, Weikath admitted this embarrassing effort should have been released as a bonus track. »Goin’ Home«, another hybrid of power metal and melodic rock, promises a lot in the first part, but quickly disappoints with a dreadful chorus that would fit some American pop diva like Mariah Carey better than Helloween.
»Someone’s Crying« instantly lifts the quality bar by at least three notches, as it marks a return to full-blooded power metal like they made in the days with Hansen in the lineup. The merciless pounding of the double bass pedals, dynamic guitar passages and mighty vocal harmonies from the indestructible Kiske are once again at their peak, and for a short while it seems like Helloween are back in ‘proper form’. That rare moment of inspiration doesn’t let up on the epic »Mankind« either, another overlooked track that’s on par with their best material from the eighties. The song is marked by a totally untypical, dark atmosphere, the result of crossing sharpened guitar lines with synth waves in the background. Majestic vocal harmonies with yet another bravura Kiske performance deliver drama of epic proportions, while the sarcastic lyrics are the best on the album. This is the classic Helloween that you miss so badly on most of the rest, like the dreadful »I’m Doin’ Fine, Crazy Man«, which at times sounds like it was recorded by a totally different band, since it’s a perfect reflection of the chaotic and inconsistent nature of this ‘half-baked’ album. How this space-waster made it onto the album’s regular material is still a big mystery today.
Still, toward the end of the album Helloween manage to gather enough strength to offer one more classic. The positivist ode »The Chance« is the only song from »Pink Bubbles Go Ape« that was popular enough with fans to stay in the live set for years after this incarnation of the band broke up. A witty guitar phrase, the kind only Weikath could come up with, sets the foundation for an energetic melody and smart drum transitions, while the peak is a melodic chorus on par with their best work from the ‘golden’ eighties. Closing the album with the melancholic power ballad »Your Turn«, loaded with acoustic and piano arrangements, isn’t the happiest farewell, especially since all three previous records had superb ‘epilogues’, but with its positivist chorus and message it still ranks among the more inspired moments of »Pink Bubbles Go Ape«.
All the Helloween fans who expected another epic masterpiece after the »Keeper« era got a cold shower with »Pink Bubbles Go Ape«, which also turned out to be a major commercial flop. Just looking at the cover and the changed logo, which was missing the protective pumpkin, they could tell something was off this time, and that after Hansen’s departure the band had taken a rather odd stylistic path with pretty mixed results. On the one hand, it was totally understandable that the guys, with completely different musical tastes, were slowly getting tired of playing power metal, and, partly at the label’s urging to steer them toward a more commercial path, wanted to try something new to avoid being overly generic. On the other hand, it’s inexcusable that in three years they couldn’t manage to come up with at least a decent successor to that mighty legacy, even if nobody was expecting »Keeper of the Seven Keys – Part III«. Their next studio project pushed the experimentation with different styles even further and drifted them even more from traditional power metal, but it delivered far more interesting and inspired results than »Pink Bubbles Go Ape«, so this version of the band certainly never lacked positive songwriting virtues.
Lineup
Michael Kiske – vocals
Michael Weikath – guitar
Roland Grapow – guitar
Markus Grosskopf – bass
Ingo Schwichtenberg- drums
Production
Chris Tsangarides
Track List
1. Pink Bubbles Go Ape
2. Kids of the Century
3. Back On the Streets
4. Number One
5. Heavy Metal Hamsters
6. Goin’ Home
7. Someone’s Crying
8. Mankind
9. I’m Doin Fine, Crazy Man
10. The Chance
11. Your Turn
