GAMMA RAY

Reviewed:
- Heading for Tomorrow (1990)
- Sigh No More (1991)
- Insanity and Genius (1993)
- Land of the Free (1995)
- No World Order! (2001)


HEADING FOR TOMORROW          1990          (Cooking Vinyl)
- Standouts: 'Lust for Life', 'Heaven Can Wait', 'Space Eater', 'Money', 'Hold Your Ground'
After leaving Helloween in 1988, guitarist Kai Hansen formed Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (I'm pretty sure Kai is back with Helloween these days, while Ralf would go on to form Primal Fear later on in the '90s). Even though Helloween are pretty much the leaders of the whole German power metal scene, for one reason or another, I never got fully invested in their catalogue. I have a few of their albums, sure, and I got into both Gamma Ray and Helloween when I was in college. But I think on the whole I've spent far more time with Gamma Ray than I have Helloween, and I couldn't really give any specific reason as to why this is! And on this 1990 debut album, Gamma Ray show plenty of promise. Songs like 'Lust for Life' and 'Heaven Can Wait' are classic 'Ray - they're anthemic, upbeat and full of positivity. Comparable to Helloween of course, since Kai hadn't long left that band, but this is totally understandable and a good thing at the end of the day. And Ralf Scheepers' high-pitched, Rob Halford-esque singing combined with the gang-chant backing vocals perfectly match the soaring energy of these tracks. I really like the speed metal burner that is 'Money' - this is ridiculously happy, polished speed metal, not raw, ugly speed metal like Venom! And 'Space Eater' is a fun mid-tempo stomper with a singalong chorus. Nice! I also like 'Hold Your Ground' - this is a solid power metal number that blends a bit of speed with plenty of melody while the cover of Uriah Heep's 'Look at Yourself' works surprisingly well with Gamma Ray's formula. Many of the original organ melodies are played on guitar instead here. The original is still better of course, but this cover ain't too shabby either. 

Not everything on this CD is perfect however. I've never been much of a fan of the weird ballad/prog hybrid that is 'The Silence'. The playing and instrumentation on it is impressive, but the messy structure of the song makes it kind of a chore to sit through if I'm not in the right mood. 'Free Time' - the only number on here penned by Scheepers - isn't great either. It's kind of a generic, repetitive hard rock track. I wouldn't even call it metal, and it just feels out of place on this disc. And I hate to say it, but I'm not keen on the 14 minute title track either. I enjoy the bulk of the riffs as well as Ralf's vocals on it, but there's far too much pointless lead guitar noodling going on in places and it rubs me the wrong way. I think it could've been a great song had it been cut down to 7 or 8 minutes. As it stands though, the song 'Heading for Tomorrow' feels needlessly long.

Heading for Tomorrow is a solid start for Gamma Ray overall, but some of the fat could've been trimmed in places. A handful of the songs are great and already have that classic soaring power metal sound nailed, but they hadn't nailed the art of longer epics yet. The production is just okay too. Not enough bass on my old CD, but there's a 2015 remaster out there that sounds far better. I listened to it on Spotify and I think the low-end has been amplified and it really makes the songs sound fuller. Not one of the best power metal debuts of all time by any means, but a good album nonetheless!
Adam's rating: 7.5/10


SIGH NO MORE          1991          (Cooking Vinyl)
- Standouts: 'As Time Goes By', 'Start Running', 'Dream Healer'
Review scores on the internet seem to be all over the place for this one, but at least I think we're all in agreement that the album cover is absolutely fucking terrible! I'd guess the weird mix of reviews online is down to some of the surprising songwriting choices on this album. It's difficult to even label Sigh No More as heavy metal, let alone power metal at times here. For instance, opener 'Changes' doesn't exactly kick things off to a blazing start, and the riffs don't pick up in speed until the last minute. The bulk of it is a mid-tempo rocker that reminds me more of UFO than it does Gamma Ray (minus Ralf Scheepers' vocals of course). But hey, I kind of dig it. It's an odd way to open the album, sure, but it's a good song for what it is. 'Rich and Famous' is an annoyingly catchy number with it's simplistic chorus, but again, I sort of like it. '(We Won't) Stop the War' is another bass-driven mid-tempo hard rock song . I don't care much for 'Father and Son', not because it's a rock ballad with lots of acoustic guitars, but because it reminds me of Guns n' Roses!! Outside of Appetite for Destruction, I don't care much for Gn'R sadly - and I certainly don't want Gamma Ray to sound like them! And then you've got a seriously generic rocker in 'Countdown' - listenable, but forgettable. 'The Spirit' has a nice chorus and is not a bad way to close the album I suppose. It's one of those 'not quite a ballad, but close' kind of tracks!

The best songs this disc has to offer are 'Dream Healer', 'As Time Goes By' and 'Start Running'. These are all undoubtedly highlights for the simple fact they sound more like typical Gamma Ray - but the bulk of this CD certainly doesn't! Gamma Ray's hard rock album then?! Well yeah, sort of! It does do some things better, or at least as good as Heading for Tomorrow. Ralf Scheepers sings these tracks really well, Kai Hansen's guitar solos are mostly great and the production and mixing sounds a little more balanced to my ears. It's just a shame that none of the best tracks on here come close to the best tracks from the predecessor. All in all, a disappointingly lukewarm effort - and kind of a strange one too given the hard rock influences. Not bad, just not that good! Underwhelming is the word. 
Adam's rating: 6.2/10


INSANITY AND GENIUS          1993          (Noise)
- Standouts: 'Tribute to the Past, 'No Return', 'Last Before the Storm', 'Future Madhouse', 'Insanity and Genius', '18 Years', 'Heal Me'
The 3rd and final album with Ralf Scheepers, who would go on to form Primal Fear in 1997. Kai Hansen himself would take over lead vocal duties on all following Gamma Ray releases just like he did on Helloween's debut, Walls of Jericho, back in 1985. So Insanity and Genius still qualifies as 'early Gamma Ray' to me! And in my opinion, it's probably the strongest album of the first 3. I think most fans likely consider a lot of their albums from Land of the Free onward to be amongst their best, but the first couple of tracks on Insanity and Genius ('Tribute to the Past' and 'No Return') sound a lot like the prime Gamma Ray era that followed. High energy, soaring power metal to the max! As is 'Last Before the Storm', another standout. 'Future Madhouse' is a stupidly fun slab of high-adrenaline Germanic speed metal! I also like the crunchy, tasty riffage of the heavy title track, and '18 Years' is actually a really solid atmospheric ballad. Guitarist/keyboardist Dirk Schlachter sings lead vocals on 'Your Tørn is Over', and he's much more limited and gruff than Ralf... but he kind of suits the more straightforward heavy metal style of this track, so I'm cool with it! 'Heal Me' feels like an epic semi-ballad with lots of progressive songwriting and instrumentation thrown in for good measure. Kai Hansen also sings on it, making it almost feel like a taster for the forthcoming Land of the Free.

Frankly, I enjoy most of what this disc has to offer. Some of the songs are undoubtedly flawed, but there's still  something to like about nearly all of them. 'The Cave Principle' is a little overblown and repetitive overall, but it does have has some big and beefy riffs, and the slower tempo and anthemic style does at least make it somewhat memorable. The chorus to the self-titled track 'Gamma Ray' is a little silly ("Gamma ray gamma ray gamma gamma gamma ray money and our failing!!" etc., etc.), but overall it's still kind of a fun ditty. Turns out it's actually a cover of a 1972 Birth Control song, a Krautrock/prog band - I had genuinely no idea this was the case until this I started writing this review!! Just sounds like early Gamma Ray to me! 'Ya learn something new every day I guess. And then there's 'Brothers', which is something of a harmless hard rock anthem. Not the greatest way to close this album, but sort of fun at least, and also similar to what we heard on Sigh No More.

As I said earlier, this one's my favourite of the Ralf Scheepers era. I find the whole album to be a little tighter and more well-rounded than Heading for Tomorrow and certainly Sigh No More. I still think Gamma Ray would go on to record better albums than this one, but for what it's worth I think Insanity and Genius is a totally solid slice of '90s power metal. The songs are full of high-energy riffs, cool melodies and big choruses. I suppose it was kind of a shame that Scheepers left not long after, but we would have never got Primal Fear (another band I really like) had he stuck around. And anyway, it's not like Gamma Ray lost their way after Ralf's departure! Anyhow, not one of my favourite power metal albums ever, but still one I like a lot.
Adam's rating: 8/10


LAND OF THE FREE           1995          (Noise)
- Standouts: Every last track!
I think we'll all agree that this is a true power metal marvel! Ralf Scheepers is gone - kinda sad I guess - but Kai takes his place on vocals and more importantly really ups his game in the songwriting department! Land of the Free's songs and, well, overall sonic texture just feels much more finely crafted than any of the last 3 albums. The instrumentation has improved across the board, and the higher attention to detail is obvious. Instead of leaving the best track 'til last, the band stick the album's masterpiece epic 'Rebellion in Dreamland' right at the very start! This has to be one of the finest power metal songs of all time, no?! It's nearly 9 minutes in length, yet every segment of it has been finetuned so well and is enjoyable to the point where you wonder where the hell those 8 minutes and 44 seconds went once it's over! Aye, it's a proggy, dynamic and regal epic - the vocal arrangements are massive, the solos are terrific and the atmosphere is mystical. And it's not even particularly fast!

So, the rest of the songs aren't as great as 'Rebellion in Dreamland' then, but no matter - they're basically all still prime Gamma Ray. Putting the best song first just shows how confident the band were in the rest of the record. And so they should be - 'Man on a Mission' and it's small outro 'Fairytale' are peak speedy power metal Gamma Ray, and why is that little keyboard jingle in the background to the mid-paced 'All of the Damned' so goddamn catchy?! You know the one I mean! It's little things like that which make all the difference. 'Gods of Deliverance' - this is another stellar speed metal-influenced slab of Teutonic power metal, while 'Farewell' is a surprisingly pretty, almost Queen-like piano-driven ballad with guest vocals from Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursch. There's also some great guitar soloing going on with this one, lots of emotion. It's followed-up by an appropriately upbeat, Helloween-y type of happy metaller, 'Salvation's Calling'. Again, great stuff. And I love the way the title track kind of blends the speed metal side of the band with the melodic, soaring epic side so effortlessly. 'Time to Break Free' is one of the heaviest tracks on here but still manages to fit in the levels of melody you'd expect from Gamma Ray. Lastly, 'Afterlife'

I can't really find a whole lot wrong with Land of the Free. Even the production holds up perfectly well to this day. I don't find myself listening to many of these tracks individually within a playlist (except for maybe 'Rebellion in Dreamland'), but that's not a bad thing. I'm a fan of Ralf Scheepers, so it's pretty impressive that him leaving really didn't have much of an effect on Gamma Ray. Turns out they didn't rely on him to bring the epic vocals since Kai is more than capable of that... moreover, the music as a whole is a huge leap in quality over Insanity and Genius! So all I can really do is compare Land of the Free to some of my other favourite power metal records, and it certainly ranks among the best of 'em. Maybe not one of my absolute all-time favourite metal albums (top 20 or 30), but a real winner for sure. If you're new to power metal or even on the fence with the genre in general, this is certainly one of those prime albums that I think could potentially win you over. 
Adam's rating: 9.2/10


NO WORLD ORDER!          2001          (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'Dethrone Tyranny', 'The Heart of the Unicorn', 'Heaven or Hell', 'New World Order', 'Damn the Machine', 'Solid', 'Follow Me', 'Eagle', 'Lake of Tears'
Just like their classic Land of the Free, 2001's No World Order! delivers exactly what I want to hear from Gamma Ray - high-energy, soaring, melodic German power metal! Call it a concept album if you want - it doesn't follow a specific story, but pretty much all the songs revolve around conspiracy, illuminati, unsolved mysteries and the like. Total corkers like the blistering opener 'Dethrone Tyranny', and the fist-pumping 'The Heart of the Unicorn' exemplify what this band do best. 'Heaven or Hell' is catchy and anthemic, and while the superb 'New World Order' and punchy 'Damn the Machine' don't do anything especially fancy, they give me strong Judas Priest/Accept metallic vibes, mixed with Gamma Ray's sense of melody. That can only be a good thing! Pure metal, 'nuff said. Speaking of the Priest, the riffage and structure of speed metal number 'Solid' reminds me a lot of 'Rapid Fire'... this has to be intentional, surely! 'Solid' is... solid! The last few tracks keep me on my toes - there's some really nice bass work to be found in 'Follow Me', 'Eagle' is full of killer Iron Maiden-esque guitar harmonies and 'Lake of Tears' is a fine ballad that serves as the album's climax.

I don't own every single Gamma Ray album, but No World Order! is easily my favourite behind Land of the Free out of the one's I do have in my collection. I'd argue that Kai Hansen's vocals on this particular album are among his best performances. Sure, he still has that nasally tone, but some of the highs he hits on this CD are mighty impressive. The guitar solos are swish, the riffs are varied and fresh and the production is clean yet organic. And there's no filler to speak of either - I like some tracks better than others ('Fire Below' for example lacks the oomph of the rest of this album, but is still decent enough), but this is certainly not an album with any obvious duffers on it. Not a whole lot else to say about this one. A classy slice of true power metal!
Adam's rating: 9/10