Chameleon

Chameleon is an extremely bold record of change on which Helloween steps far from its usual dashing metal and tries keyboards, acoustics and pop melody in many facets. True to its name, showing varied colors like a chameleon, it is the record on which the band’s experimental spirit appears most strongly. The guitar does not always run at the front but turns to a role of setting the mood. From the epic scale of “When the Sinner” and the brightness of “First Time” to the grand ballad “Windmill” and the lyricism of “In the Night” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry No More,” bright melody, soft singing and unexpected arrangements follow one after another, and a stance of using the band’s skill in another direction shows clearly. Precisely because it was a change that drew strongly mixed views, an inexhaustible compositional curiosity and an unstable appeal, not measurable by power-metal expectations alone, remain. Beyond seeking differences from earlier works, one wants to take in the shifts of color the keys and singing create in each song. Even in Helloween’s history, it is a particularly singular, experimental, intriguing work.