GAMMA RAY

Reviewed:
- Heading for Tomorrow (1990)
- Sigh No More (1991)
- Insanity and Genius (1993)
- Land of the Free (1995)
- Power Plant (1999)
- No World Order! (2001)
- Land of the Free II (2007)
- To the Metal! (2010)


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


POWER PLANT          1999          (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: Everything apart from 'It's a Sin'.
Yep, this is awesome too. Power Plant isn't a huge departure from Land of the Free, but it doesn't need to be. They really nailed their formula to a tee on Land of the Free after all, so it makes perfect sense to keep that style alive on this classic follow-up. The production is pretty similar here as well, but the guitar tones stood out as being just a tad more crunchy on Power Plant, so that's a plus. Musicianship and performances are at an all-time high, as is the songwriting. 'Anywhere in the Galaxy' has all the high-octane, soaring vocal arrangements you could want from an opening Gamma Ray track, but it also packs a lot of punch. The riffs are fast and pummelling, and this track is just a perfect blend of melody and heaviness. It's how power metal should sound. The mid-section to 'Razorblade Sigh' - aside from Kai Hansen's vocals - musically sounds exactly like prime '80s Iron Maiden! From the dual guitar harmonies and storming riffs, this track is melodic metal perfection. 'Send Me a Sign' is also stupidly melodic in the best way possible, and the melodies in question throughout it are so intricate that I genuinely think this song has some mainstream appeal. The way the vocals are arranged and all the little the guitar licks have been crafted so well. Simply put, this is just great songwriting - it's a super catchy and polished song without selling out as pop music. Ahh man, and then there's 'Strangers in the Night' - it sounds like blend of Gamma Ray's thunderous power metal and Judas Priest, specifically 'Metal Meltdown' from Painkiller!

The strength of this album rarely wanes. 'Gardens of the Sinner' is a galloping power metal monster, 'Heavy Metal Universe' is a fun anthem and even the more simplistic 'Short as Hell' is solid - it's riffs are still memorable and kind of groovy. 'Wings of Destiny' is a killer slab of tight Germanic speed metal and 'Hand of Fate' is a triumphant semi-ballad. The closing number, 'Armageddon' is the longest at nearly 9 minutes. Again, it's a well-crafted whirlpool of melodic speed, power and epic heavy metal. Gamma Ray in a nutshell, although it does make nice use of pianos too. It's quite impressive how well they've been integrated. The worst song on this disc is easily the questionable cover of the Pet Shop Boys' 'It's a Sin'. It's really not a bad cover of the pop classic - Kai does it justice vocally and the band arranged all the melodies to suit being played on the guitar really well. But it's such a recognisable song that it still sounds like an obvious cover, and for that reason I find it doesn't flow that well with the rest of the album. If it'd been stuck on the end of the album as a bonus track instead of in the middle, I'd probably be more accepting of it. 

I only got my hands on Power Plant recently because a fair chunk of Gamma Ray's back catalogue seems to be out of print right now and it's kind of hard to find cheap copies of their albums. As it stands, I'm still in the process of obtaining the rest of their studio albums (though admittedly I'm in no rush). I found a used 2002 Sanctuary reissue on Ebay a couple of months ago, and the seller sent me a reasonable offer of £12.41. I snapped it up immediately since it's difficult to find this disc in the UK at all right now. I had heard it was a classic of the genre, but I wasn't expecting it to be almost interchangeable with Land of the Free in terms of quality. Even the Pet Shop Boys cover is still good for what it is! So choosing which one I prefer is really hard, and for that reason I'm settling with the matching score of 9.2/10!
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 as well as 1999's Power Plant, 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 and Power Plant out of the one's I do actually 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


LAND OF THE FREE II          2007          (SPV)
- Standouts: 'Into the Storm', 'From the Ashes', 'To Mother Earth', 'Rain', 'Leaving Hell', 'When the World', 'Insurrection'
I'm fully aware that this sequel to Land of the Free is generally not regarded as one of Gamma Ray's best... but it is just that - a sequel to an absolute classic! I couldn't not buy it! To be honest, I paid a little more than I would've liked for this disc. It seems to be out of print and hard to find here in the UK. So I bought a copy from an Irish seller on Discogs, and mine is apparently a 'Limited First Edition' copy. As far as I can tell, the only thing that makes it limited edition is the fact it literally says so above the band logo (did I ever mention how cool the Gamma Ray logo from Land of the Free onward is? Well, it is!) and that it comes in a digipak case. There aren't any bonus tracks or other goodies to be found. Worst limited edition ever!

The album itself is really good though. Even if it's rare to see it near the top of peoples' ranking lists, this is still a strong Gamma Ray album that ticks most of the boxes for me. I can't really fault either 'Into the Storm' or 'From the Ashes' - both of these tracks get the album off to a strong start indeed, and deliver Kai Hansen's usual brand of high-octane melodic power metal. 'To Mother Earth' is a fine speed metal-infused power number too with some scorching lead guitar work... maybe Kai's vocals are strained a little, but the music is great. 'Rain' comes with a spectacular, epic chorus, 'Leaving Hell' packs a bit more punch and there's guitar parts in 'When the World' that remind me a little of Iron Maiden in their heyday. I feel like 'Real World' should suck with all it's cheesy synthy melodies, but goddamn it, it's catchy! And the more straightforward 'Hear Me Calling' sounds like something from Heading for Tomorrow. The 11 and a half minute 'Insurrection' is the album's finale... still not as epic as 'Rebellion in Dreamland', but it's still a damn fine epic with all the dynamic transitions, progressive songwriting and memorable arrangements you could want!

I'm not opposed to 'album sequels', generally speaking. Part 2 of Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys is just as strong as it's first half, Queen's A Day at the Races is a classic companion to A Night at the Opera and Metallica's Reload is... erm... a somewhat competent follow-up to Load! Am I right folks?! Anyway, Land of the Free II may not live up to the same levels of greatness as the original, but it's still a damn solid Gamma Ray album. The songwriting, playing, melodies and riff-work throughout this CD are all more than acceptable in my books. I won't call it a classic, but none of these tracks are skippable either ('Opportunity' is the most faceless of the lot to me for some reason, but still far from bad). To be honest, the weakest aspect of this record for me would have to be Kai's vocals. He's still good, but I do feel like his singing was starting to dip a little at this point in time. His highs just don't sound as 'clean' to me anymore... I'm not saying he sounds weak, more like he's 70% of the singer he was on past albums. Still decent, just a little tired-sounding. A bit like Bruce Dickinson on No Prayer for the Dying. Also, the album is probably a little longer than it needs to be. If they'd cut a song or 2 from the tracklisting, I wouldn't be surprised if the album still carried the same momentum.

In conclusion, still a very respectable attempt at following up to a genuinely seminal album of the power metal genre.
Adam's rating: 8.2/10


TO THE METAL!          2010          (Ear Music)
- Standouts: 'Empathy', 'All You Need to Know', 'Time to Live', 'Rise', 'Shine Forever', 'Chasing Shadows', 'No Need to Cry'
I may have some slight bias towards this album. It's not one of Gamma Ray's highest-rated albums on the internet (although it's still considered to be 'good' by most from the looks of things), but I'm personally very fond of it because I bought it as a new release when it first came out way back in 2010. I was in my second and final year of college, and I honestly think it was one of the first power metal CDs I ever picked up. I was already massively into thrash and death metal at that point - I hadn't deliberately avoided power metal, I was just too busy indulging extreme metal at the time (I think the only power metal band I was into was Iced Earth then) and hadn't made room for much else. So I'm not entirely sure what made me pick up Gamma Ray's To the Metal! when I saw it in my local HMV in 2010. But I did! Still, I can't fully credit To the Metal! for my fondness of power metal; it certainly did make me pick up albums from bands like Helloween, Rage, Blind Guardian, even Sabaton etc. soon after, but it wasn't until my 30s (!!) that power metal became one of my favourite metal subgenres!

Great record though. The first 3 tracks are golden - 'Empathy' is just a total old-school metaller, the hugely speedy and melodic 'All You Need to Know' has made my gym playlists year after year (and the guest vocals from Helloween's Michael Kiske is great), while 'Time to Live' has a massively catchy groove-based riff and a singalong chorus to die for. The title track is a big arena metal anthem that sounds like it takes inspiration from classic Saxon or Accept. The intro to 'Rise' sounds alarmingly like Iron Maiden's 'Mother of Mercy' (also from 2010 - The Final Frontier album)! But when this one picks up, it's more of the same fast melodic power metal you've come to expect from Gamma Ray. The guitar soloing in 'Mother Angel' is just spectacular, while 'Shine Forever' combines Judas Priest-style speed metal/vocals with a soaring, uplifting chorus that Kai Hansen does so well. The adrenaline still surges with the fiery 'Chasing Shadows', and 'No Need to Cry' is a solid ballad to conclude the album with. The second half of this track even has acoustic guitars.

I think this is a pretty consistent effort from start to finish, but for some reason I find 'Deadlands' to not be as exciting as most of the other tracks. It still has lots of energy however. And there's no epic-length tracks to speak of here, which is a little disappointing I guess. Not that the album needed a lengthy number to be great, it's just something I felt was worth noting. Also, like Land of the Free II, Kai Hansen's vocals are definitely weaker here than they were on albums like No World Order!. Still good, and certainly not distracting, but I do think the Kai of the '90s/early 2000s is an ever-so-slightly more powerful beast than he is here. Hey-ho.

To the Metal! is another winner for me. Like I said in the beginning of this review, I probably enjoy it a bit more than the average fan, but even so I'd be amazed if I didn't score this disc a high-ranging 7/10 or low-ranging 8/10 if I'd bought it yesterday. It's another fine effort from the Gamma Ray lads. I've got the deluxe version which comes with a bonus DVD which documents the making of the album. I've had my copy for 16 years now and I still haven't watched it! 
Adam's rating: 8.4/10