SilentScream213 Land of the Free was a great album, but I feel this one right here is where Gamma Ray finally proved they were one of the greatest Power Metal bands of the 90’s, and an even rival to Helloween. Seriously, all the musicianship here is phenomenal. Incredibly powerful drumming, absolutely loaded with double bass and giving Thrash Metal a run for it’s money at times. The guitars are, of course, a melodic current of catchy tunes and technical prowess. Vocally, Kai has improved yet again, and is in top form here. Even the bass is laying down some nice groove. It’s worth mentioning that this is definitely a bit heavier than the past Gamma Ray album, thanks in no small part to those pummeling drums.

This one has a loose focus on space and sci-fi, but it’s not really integral to the listening experience. At the end of the day, this is just prime Power Metal music. Even the interludes here are good, featuring an awesome drum solo and a nice piano piece. The ballad is strong as well, and even the bonus tracks were worthy of inclusion. The band were just pumping out pure quality at this time. I consider this one a classic.

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?

adg211288 Often overlooked next to the albums released between 1995 – 2001, Majestic (2005) is the eighth full-length studio album by German power metal act Gamma Ray. Bringing to a close what had been the Kai Hansen led group's longest stretch between studio albums, it is probably fair to say that Majestic isn't quite the genre classic that Land of the Free (1995), Somewhere Out in Space (1997), Power Plant (1999) and No World Order (2001) are, but it's easily the band's next best album.

Hansen and co get the album going full throttle right off the bat with My Temple. Fast, heavy power metal riffs that are well produced and full of energy; just the thing that fans of the genre expect to hear. Like many power metal albums there are some heavy metal elements too that add some variation to the tempo, but overall Majestic is close to being a pure power metal release. Hansen's distinctive vocals are instantly recognisable, as usual perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but by this point it really wouldn't be Gamma Ray without his signature style, no disrespect meant to the work of Ralf Scheepers on the first three Gamma Ray albums of course. And he serves up many memorable choruses on Majestic that keep the album's tracks stuck in your head upon its conclusion. My Temple is just the first of these. There's also Hell is Thy Home and Condemned to Hell, to name a couple.

It's definitely a fair conclusion to call Majestic a typical sounding Gamma Ray album, but why try to fix a winning formula that isn't broken? That's right, there is no point. It's also true that this album doesn't serve up tracks that will go down alongside the likes of Rebellion in Dreamland, Beyond the Black Hole, Land of the Free and Anywhere in the Galaxy as Gamma Ray's very best songs, but what the album does have is ten very good songs that consistently deliver all the classic Gamma Ray elements for about fifty-five minutes. What more to you really want from a power metal album? More to the point, at the time of Majestic's release it had been fifteen years since the debut Gamma Ray album Heading for Tomorrow (1990) and twenty years since Kai Hansen fronted the first Helloween album Walls of Jericho (1985) yet here he is turning out hard hitting power metal with his group in such a fashion that most young bands can only hope to match. He's not called the Godfather of Power Metal for nothing!

Warthur Call your power metal album Power Plant, and that's a pretty clear signal to anyone that this album is going to be Gamma Ray business as usual - all power metal, all the time, done in the well-worn Gamma Ray style. The cheese is strong in this one, at points overpowering the band's sense of taste; whilst the idea of a metal cover of the Pet Shop Boys' It's a Sin isn't terrible, the execution here is predictable and doesn't really shed any new light on the song. (If you know the original song and Gamma Ray's style, you can probably guess, without hearing it, what a Gamma Ray cover of It's a Sin sounds like... and, yeah, that's pretty much what it sounds like here.)

On the one hand, you wouldn't want to write off an album like this based solely on one track... on the other hand, if that track is the only one which is especially memorable, that's clearly a huge problem, and I found that that's the case here, with the "Wait a minute... that's a Pet Shop Boys song!" moment being the time the album really manages to make me sit up and take notice. Gamma Ray and power metal fanatics will still enjoy it, but it's a poor starting place for any exploration of their discography.

(Also, though this doesn't affect the grade, I have to call out the cover art here. It's one of those really prize atrocities from that era when people seemed to think that cheap 3D rendering was an acceptable look for an album cover.)

siLLy puPPy And then suddenly and unexpectedly Kai Hansen left Helloween after their two triumphant metal hits comprising “The Keeper Of The Seven Keys Parts I & II,” for reasons that are still a mystery to this date. Whatever the reason, Hansen left Helloween and started his own power metal band GAMMA RAY and after some studio work with Blind Guardian, rounded up his old peeps Ralf Scheepers (vocals), Uwe Wessel (bass) and Mathias Burchardt (drums) and created an album that is extremely reminiscent of the Helloween years but due to the major heaping of other influences manages to separate itself from those albums on the debut HEADING FOR TOMORROW, which is an aptly named title for it essentially shows exactly which elements of Helloween were the product of Hansen’s involvement and also allows for some significant changes.

I would say that HEADING FOR TOMORROW has a whole range of influences on board with the majority being the predictable Helloween, but there is also a strong Judas Priest and Queen influences going on here as well. This is the first album that i noticed that Queen was a major influence on the whole power metal sub-genre with all kinds of Freddie Mercury inspired vocalizations all operatic and such with all those eclectic “A Night Of The Opera” type musical time sig changes that are quite frequently utilized in abundance here and beyond into the whole sub. There is also a strong tie to 70s heavy prog giants Uriah Heep with the most obvious being the cover “Look At Yourself” which features Mischa Gerlach as a guest keyboardist. Excellent cover of a track from one of my favorite early 70s albums.

“Welcome” is a great symphonic opener which ushers in the energetic “Lust For Life” which immediately brings Helloween to mind but not quite feeling like a clone. Kinda strange actually. Obviously lots of Helloween sounds here but there are other influences as well.

“Money” starts off kinda like a Judas Priest song but adds elements of Queen fairly soon after the two minute mark.

“The Silence” is a nice melodic ballad that has kind of an Aerosmith “Dream On” feel but is on a different level. The vocals, the symphonics and instruments all collaborate to create a very nice number that some may find cheesy but personally i find very well crafted. Of course there is that Brain May guitar thing going on in the harmony department but it is so well done that i just don’t care.

“Hold Your Ground” starts out in an energetic speed metal fashion but clearly has a classical kind of feel going. Melodic, well-paced with a Queen tinged vocal delivery. A very satisfying power metal track that ends in a Mozart-esque “Eine Kleine Nachmusik” riff.

“Freetime” glam metal kinda reminds me of Poison actually but not as irritating! Power chords, glam metal groove and Steelheart type of high vocal range. Not my fave of the album but a notch above the influences.

The title track starts out as total Queen plagiarism. Compare the intro to “The Prophet’s Song” from “A Night At The Opera” and you can only agree that there are many parts of this 14:30 length track that are taken from that song, however the saving grace is that despite these blatant ripoff parts there is plenty of innovative parts including Helloween type segments that save this from total Queen plagiarism but the few parts that sound way too much like Queen which are disheartening for sensitive ears. Although these influences are ridiculously obvious, i find this to be a very tasteful use of them and there is not one moment on this album that i am turned off.

For a debut HEADING FOR TOMORROW is actually quite well done and although is not the pinnacle of GAMMA RAY’s prowess of power metal performances is still a fine listen that i can put on any time and really enjoy hearing. Every musical aspect is at full force and as mentioned previously only the blatant borrowing of ideas from the greats of the past are the weak link here, but even so, the influences are from the best of the best and quite well executed if not well obfuscated. Enjoyable album