Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Gamma Ray
Label: Noise Records
Release: 1991
Rating: 2.5/5
The year is 1991. Tough times for the power metallers of the day, or rather, the classic heavy metallers. Thrash and grunge were booming. And the German heavy metal scene? Plenty of “true” metal bands caved to label pressure. “Soft” Helloween, for example, were already sellouts, chasing the trends of the day. One of the rare few who held their ground were Blind Guardian with “Tales from The Twilight World” or Running Wild, who put the purest-blooded heavy metal on display with the album “Blazon Stone”, saving the honor of the classic scene.
The same thing happened to Gamma Ray. They started chasing trends and wanted to sound more commercial. The drumming went American. They even sounded glam (“Countdown”). Sure, Scheppers sang his way through the album at an even higher level of quality, and Kai had brought in a phenomenal drummer in Uli Kusch, plus Dirk Schlächter (rhythm guitar), who still holds down the bass in Gamma Ray to this day, but none of it helped much. The lineup was truly stellar. It just wasn’t used for anything more than recycling clichés.
And the music? Simple, open riffing. The rhythms got turned into grooving ones. They copied others too much and stopped following their own path. Just listen to “(We Won’t) Stop The War”, which, with the riff in the pre-chorus and the intro, is reminiscent of Savatage with Criss Oliva (not in sound, of course). The guitar often gets hit with funky chugging (“The Spirit” or “Changes”) and simple solos get shoved straight through a wah effect. Typical America. Yeah, the Mississippi Delta is just too far out of Gamma Ray’s reach. They sold their souls. And what’s a hard rock number like “Father And Son” doing on the record, a total imitation of the success story of the day, Bon Jovi? The middle section of “One With The World” carries the exact same sampled rhythm as Judas Priest’s “Blood Red Skies”.
Still, they squeezed out a few tracks that reached the level of the debut, namely “As Time Goes By”, “Start Running” and “Dream Healer”. But sadly, too few. The album isn’t bad at its core, but these aren’t the songs you’d expect from Kai Hansen. Gamma Ray simply forgot who they were for a moment, and that’s why they came across as unconvincing this time. This new remastered version adds, among its three bonus tracks, the Rainbow-style “Who Do You Think You Are”, which came out as a single back in the day and isn’t on the original release of “Sigh No More”.
Line-up
Ralf Sheppers – vocals
Kai Hansen – guitar
Dirk Schlächter – rhythm guitar
Uwe Wessel – bass
Uli Kusch – drums
Track list
1.Changes (5:41)
2.Rich & Famous (4:36)
3.As Time Goes By (4:39)
4.(We Won’t) Stop the War (3:44)
5.Father and Son (4:22)
6.One with the World (4:44)
7.Start Running (3:54)
8.Countdown (4:17)
9.Dream Healer (6:16)
10.The Spirit (4:16)
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 2002 REMASTERED EDITION
11. Heroes
12. Dream Healer (Dream-Production Version)
13. Who Do You Think You Are
