Editing Helloween (section)

=== ''Keeper of the Seven Keys'' (1986–1989) ===
[[File:Foursome.jpg|thumb|Helloween live in 1988]]
The band found an 18-year-old vocalist, [[Michael Kiske]], from a local Hamburg band named Ill Prophecy. Kiske was initially uninterested in them, having heard the more thrashy ''Walls of Jericho'', but after Weikath insisted, he attended one of their sessions and heard some songs they had composed for his voice (songs which would later be featured in their next albums), and he changed his mind.<ref name="RCinter">{{cite web |last1=Dutra |first1=Daniel |title=HELLOWEEN – O pai de todos |url=https://roadiecrew.com/helloween-o-pai-de-todos/ |website=Roadie Crew |access-date=5 July 2021 |language=Portuguese |date=10 June 2021}}</ref>

With their new lead vocalist in tow, Helloween approached record labels Noise International and RCA and proposed the release of a double-LP to introduce the line-up. This proposition was turned down.

Instead, they recorded a single album, resulting in ''[[Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I]]''. The album was released by Noise Records on 23 May 1987, months after the band spent the winter of 1986 into 1987 hard at work inside Horus Sound Studio in Hannover, Germany. It consisted of songs mostly written by Hansen. Due to guitarist Michael Weikath's illness, he was recovering from a nervous breakdown, all the rhythm guitars on the album were played by Hansen. Weikath was only able to play some guitar solos and only wrote the ballad "A Tale That Wasn't Right". Weikath said in an interview: "I was pleased to still be in the band."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1 April 2021|title=Dave Ling Michael Weikath Interview 14 november 2005|journal=Classic Rock/Metal Hammer Magazine}}</ref>

The album received great reviews from the press and a great response from the fans. In addition, it made Helloween a benchmark to measure power metal bands.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Helloween {{!}} Biography & History|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/helloween-mn0000957340/biography|access-date=30 June 2021|website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> The positive reception took Helloween across the ocean, as they toured the US together with [[Grim Reaper (band)|Grim Reaper]] and [[Armored Saint]]. Their American distributor at the time, RCA, got them to record a video for the epic "Halloween", but cut it to four minutes so that the video could be played on [[MTV]]. However, after the European tour together with then-unknown American thrash metal band [[Overkill (band)|Overkill]], the first struggles within the band started taking shape.

Exhausted from touring, Hansen asked the band to take a short break from live performances. However, as the band was just starting to gain momentum the time to take a break was just not right. The disputes ranged from arguing about their musical direction on the future releases to extensive touring and other, mostly insignificant topics. Hansen started contemplating leaving the band.

In August 1988, Helloween released ''[[Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II]].'' This time the record featured more Weikath-penned tracks. The idea behind this was that the first album should feature tracks written by Hansen due to their similarity to the style of their debut, while the second album would feature tracks composed by Weikath which were a lot more mainstream by comparison. The album capitalized on the success of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 and picks up where it left off. Success bloomed all over Europe, Asia and even the US. The album went gold in Germany, reached #108 in the US, hit the UK top 30 albums and single "''[[Dr. Stein|Dr Stein]]"'' reached the lofty heights of #57.

Despite the vast commercial success of the Keeper's part two, the rift between the band members kept growing. They spent more time arguing about the music rather than composing it. Hansen called for a meeting and once again asked the band if they could take a break from touring.

The band got the chance to perform, in front of 100,000 people, as a part of the [[Monsters of Rock]] festival along with [[Iron Maiden]], [[David Lee Roth]], [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]], [[Megadeth]] and [[Guns N' Roses]] at [[Donington Park]] on 20 August 1988.

Around the same time, the tension between the band and their record label Noise led to an argument which would later lead to a lawsuit. The band was discontent with how much they were being paid taking into account great record and merchandise sales, as well as frequent touring. Helloween also supported Iron Maiden on their [[Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour]], on some dates in Europe.

In the fall of 1988, the band went on yet another European tour, now as headlining act, named "Pumpkins Fly Free Tour", which spawned their first ever live album, released the year after, titled ''[[Live in the U.K.]]'' recorded during their show in Scotland. The same record was also released as ''Keepers Live'' in Japan and ''I Want Out Live'' in the US.

MTV put the single "[[I Want Out (Helloween song)|I Want Out]]" into heavy rotation. A video that was directed by [[Storm Thorgerson]]. For "I Want Out", Hansen very publicly laid out his disillusion with life as a member of Helloween at this time,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/helloween-were-not-as-big-as-maiden-but-were-way-bigger-than-spinal-tap|title=Helloween: "We're not as big as Maiden, but we're way bigger than Spinal Tap"|first=Dave Everley21|last=June 2017|website=Classic Rock Magazine|date=21 June 2017|access-date=19 July 2021}}</ref> explaining:

{{cquote|''"It was a statement, yeah. It wasn't just wanting out of the band, it was a general thing relating to everything that was going on: poor management, other people telling us where to be and what to do, never-ending internal discussions… I just wanted to rock."''}}

In support of its ''[[Headbangers Ball]]'' show, MTV also presented the [[Headbangers Ball Tour]] in U.S. and invited Helloween to be a part of it in 1989. However, before the start of that tour, in December 1988 Kai Hansen broke the news to the other members that he was leaving Helloween. Hansen's last show with the band was at [[Forum Birmingham|The Hummingbird]], Birmingham, UK on 8 November 1988.