March of Time: The Best of 40 Years

March of Time: The Best of 40 Years is a three-CD anthology issued by Noise / BMG on 28 March 2025 and by Victor Entertainment in Japan on 2 April. The Japanese pressing carries JAN 4988002945214 and holds forty-two tracks running about three hours and forty-six minutes, laid out very nearly in order of release, from the 1985 debut Walls of Jericho through 2021's Helloween and beyond. The first disc stays with the early years. It opens on 'Walls of Jericho/Ride the Sky' and gives most of its room to the two Keeper of the Seven Keys albums — 'Eagle Fly Free', 'Halloween', 'Future World', 'March of Time', 'Dr. Stein' and 'Keeper of the Seven Keys'. The title track comes from Part II in 1988, which says plainly which era the collection is built around. The second disc starts at 'I Want Out' and works through the 1990s; the third opens on 'The Invisible Man' and carries the 2010s onward. The Michael Kiske years, the Andi Deris years and the 2021 album that brought Kiske and Kai Hansen back are drawn as one line, and the set closes on recent material: 'Pumpkins United', 'Best Time', 'Fear of the Fallen' and 'Skyfall'. Most of the programme uses 2024 remasters.