lukretion Gamma Ray’s 7th full-length caught me by surprise. Knowing the band mostly for their classic mid-90s albums Land of the Free and Somewhere in Time, I was expecting another solid slab of anthemic, if predictable, power/speed metal. No World Order! served me instead with a kaleidoscopic compendium of everything metal, where the sound of classic UK/US bands from the 1980s (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Manowar) is reinterpreted with gusto by the German band, finding new life as it is filtered through the Gamma Ray musical rulebook. The end result is an exciting voyage through vast metal landscapes, which might feel familiar but are nonetheless exciting.

The references to the classic HM sound are mostly apparent in the record’s mid-section. “The Heart of the Unicorn” and “Solid” are obvious tributes to Judas Priest (with “Solid” even blatantly borrowing the main riff from “Rapid Fire”). “Heaven or Hell” is a battle hymn whose epic overtones will excite more than one Manowar’s fan, while “New World Order” sports a fun, pure hard rock riff that wouldn’t have been out of place on an AC/DC album. The remaining tracks bear stronger resemblance to the German power/speed metal sound that Gamma Ray, together with Helloween, have contributed to immortalize. Even in these songs, however, Kai Hansen and co. do not refrain from laying down a couple of Easter eggs for their fans, like the Maidenesque solos in “Eagle” or the Manowar-tinged ballad “Lake of Tears”.

Remarkably, almost every song feels truly inspired, regardless of the style that the band decides to push to the fore. “Dethrone Tyranny”, “New World Order”, “Damn the Machine” and “Eagle” are particularly exciting, sporting strong riffs, memorable melodies and fun, explosive solos. “Fire Below” is perhaps the only episode that is below average and could be regarded as a filler, while “Solid” may be a bit too close for comfort to the source of its inspiration.

Overall, No World Order! Provides a smooth listening experience that keeps the listener second-guessing which particular artist inspired each song, while at the same time never sounding completely derivative but maintaining a strong Gamma Ray identity throughout. The album’s main strength lies in the way its 11 tracks explore each a different sonic niche. This variation helps balancing the otherwise rigid songwriting that rarely departs from the usual cycle of verse/chorus repetition. It’s a fun album to sit through, one that truly captures the spirit of heavy metal in the same way as the best records from the HM greats once did. And now, this is no mean feat, is it?

Kingcrimsonprog 2001's No World Order was the legendary German Power Metal band Gamma Ray's seventh full-length studio album. After two Sci-Fi themed concept albums, the band returned to the set-of-songs formula, with fantasy lyrics and themes covered like on their earlier records.

The music is explosive and bombastic on a grand scale, and in combination with the production, it jumps out of the speakers perhaps the most of any Gamma Ray album. It's a really great example of both the band and the genre. They lean a little more heavily on the thrash component of their sound this time around, while still retaining their Queen influence, progressive attitudes and neo-classical components in smaller doses, so its one of the most aggressive and hard hitting records the band have put out.

A lot of fans hail this record as one of the band's best, and its certainly a damn fine record, a great example of melodic, thrashy Power Metal. If you like virtuosic guitar work, lots of harmonies, big choral backing vocals, shrieking high pitched Heavy Metal vocals and pounding double-kick filled drumming then it's a great example.

Standout tracks include `Solid,' `Dethrone Tyranny' and `Heart Of The Unicorn.' They have a sense of urgency and are a mixture of impressive serious Metal and great cheesy fun.

Admittedly, some fans criticize the band for running out of ideas and recycling old Gamma Ray and Helloween riffs and vocal patterns, as well as taking suspiciously direct Judas Priest influences (specifically `Painkiller' and `Metal Meltdown') and suggest that the album is the start of a period of decline.

Personally, in this instance I don't mind the repetition of old material too much at all, since it is done so well. They may take familiar sounds, but they rework them, and they're only one part of a song that's great on its own anyway.

Overall; The guitar solos are brilliant, the choruses are memorable and the riffs and drumming are driving, heavy and energetic. This is a really entertaining record and as long as you haven't overdosed on its formula before hand, should still be of a high enough quality to excuse that one issue.

RuneWalsh2112 After a one year break where Kai Hansen concentrated on his side project Iron Savior, the band assembled once again in the studio to record "No World Order". It was clear that Hansen wasn't interested on following the same route as he did with the previous trilogy of albums, instead he took inspiration from his idols of the NWoBHM movement and carved together some of the heaviest tracks that Gamma Ray has even conceived.

Unfortunately for Kai, the rest of the band weren't really in the same frame of mind as him while writing for the album, thus "No World Order" still has quite a few traditional Power Metal moments. This fact actually works surprisingly well in the record's favor. Just the fact that it was the record that drew me to Gamma Ray and thus the whole Power Metal movement back in 2001 is clearly a testament to the record's chameleon quality. A perfect gateway Power Metal album, if you will!

To me, this album also clearly marks the moment when Dan Zimmermann finally came into his own as a songwriter who could challenge and sometimes even outmatch the band's great frontman. Songs like "Dethrone Tyranny" and especially "Damn The Machine" are two of my all time favorite Gamma Ray tracks, both composed by Zimmermann! Henjo Richter also contributes two of the album's great classics "Follow Me" and the mighty power ballad "Lake Of Tears". These four Power Metal tracks are combined with six Traditional Heavy Metal tracks from Kai Hansen (+one excellent intro track) was a lethal combination for my young teenage mind back in the day, hence the record got some heavy rotation in my collection!

Fortunately I wasn't the only one who got under the Gamma Ray spell here in Scandinavia since the album reached some of the band's highest chart positions both here in Sweden and also in Finland. The two nations were clearly taken by storm which also paved way for all the consecutive chart records for Gamma Ray. I highly recommend "No World Order" to both fans of Power Metal and NWoBHM since both parties have something to gain here.

Easily one of the better albums that the Power Metal genre has to offer!

***** star songs: Induction (1:00) Dethrone Tyranny (4:14) Damn The Machine (5:04)

**** star songs: The Heart Of The Unicorn (4:48) Heaven Or Hell (4:19) New World Order (5:03) Solid (4:23) Fire Below (5:34) Follow Me (4:43) Eagle (6:05) Lake Of Tears (6:47)

Mjöllnir My first experience with power metal, actually, which I became quickly became obsessed with in the summer to winter 2002. Ah, those were the days... Looking back now of course things are different, with countless albums listened to with increasingly stale bands. I still enjoy this one, Gamma Ray strip things down a bit, pay tribute to their heroes (a little too much on Solid) with an evident NWOBHM streak to their polished sound. They weren't quite in the habit of annoyingly "quoting" Maiden and Priest everywhere yet which makes the unoriginality forgivable.

If you've read my other reviews for this band, then the drill remains largely the same. There's more sameness to the songs than usual but with the quality songwriting making up for it. I should also mention that drummer Dan Zimmerman is also very accomplished in his writing duties, penning eye-popping opener Dethrone Tyranny and the crushing Damn the Machine. Heart of the Unicorn, Heaven or Hell and New World Order are typical Kai Hansen tracks, very good but nothing he hasn't come up with before. Solid is adapted (sounds more accurate that labelling it "lifted") from Judas Priest's Rapid Fire although the pre-chorus/chorus section is original. Some will hate this but others will see it as a nice tribute. I've come to really loathe it when bands do this but for some reason I continue to enjoy this one.

From here on out, the last four tracks lose a bit of energy although it's not total crash and burn except for the "evil" weepy ballad Lake of Tears. For an album I bought based on the cover art alone, this was something quite special and it's held up when I wouldn't have expected it to. Got to give it serious credit for the great stuff I went on to find.