Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Gamma Ray
Label: Metal-Is Records
Released: 2003
Rating: 4/5
Imagine a miracle. After a short tour featuring songs they’ve never played live before, or only rarely on stage, Iron Maiden decide to put out a new live album. The setlist would include goodies like Alexander The Great, Sea Of Madness, Flash Of The Blade, The Duellists, The Prophecy, To Tame A Land, Mother Russia, and it would open with the killer Invaders. What do you say? Well, time to wake up from that wild dream, because somehow it has come true. Only it wasn’t the legends who made this revolutionary move, it was Gamma Ray!
The moment Kai Hansen committed the original sin in 1985 with “Walls Of Jericho”, we got to watch a phenomenon unfold: the heart of classic heavy metal slowly migrating from its cradle on the British Isles to German soil. Of course, over the course of its evolution the form of stiff, old-school heavy metal got “styled” and polished to perfection. As such, it didn’t just survive, it became an impenetrable fortress on the wings of bands like Helloween, Rage, Sinner, Running Wild, Grave Digger and later Blind Guardian, Primal Fear and, of course, Gamma Ray.
Gamma Ray did a short tour in October and November ’02 to present the music crowd with a stunning selection of special treats. Axel Mackenrott, keyboardist of this year’s big power metal sensation Masterplan, kept Gamma Ray company on stage as a special guest. The setlist of the latest tour is almost entirely different from the one the band used to promote their last album, “No World Order”, in the fall of ’01. That one was packed with Gamma Ray hits (Valley Of The Kings, Man On A Mission, Land Of The Free, Somewhere Out In Space,…), with the exception of New World Order, which Gamma Ray kept in. The small halls of Strasbourg and Barcelona are made for recording live albums, boasting enviable acoustics thanks to their superb resonance. The wild Spanish temperament contributed the lion’s share to the overall vibe. Gamma Ray attacked the stage with everything they had, and the battle was practically won before it began. Molten steel blazes and scorches everything in sight! The sound the band radiates from the stage simply bursts with mighty, eruptive energy. The album is a total metal “blitzkrieg” from the opening beat to the very last!
Kai switches up his one-of-a-kind voice like there’s a bet on it (Heart Of The Unicorn). The seasoned, battle-hardened Gamma Ray boss sings with feeling and with everything he’s got, which makes it impossible for the major-key choruses of Guardians Of Mankind, No Return and Gardens Of The Sinner to come off as cheerful. No chance! Kai screams furious and angry. Hungry for blood, he once again injects crystalline ice into the verses in his own inimitable style. In the pre-chorus of All Of The Damned the vocal is flat-out insane. Razorblade Sigh is also cranked to the max, and the original studio version can’t hold a candle to it in terms of atmosphere. Hansen’s guitar counterpart, Henjo Richter, plugged in on the right monitor, also handles some of the trickier transitional or intro guitar flourishes, so Kai can throw himself even more into the singing.
Even the more intricately built passages sound like they’re played with unbelievable ease. It’s hard to single out songs that stand out in particular. If I have to, on the first disc it’s undoubtedly Armageddon, with the crowd going absolutely wild, and on the second disc it’s even harder to pick a highlight. I’d weigh up the more complex Rising Star/Shine On, The Silence and, of course, Victim Of Fate. That last one will split your skull and rip the spinal cord right out of your living body. A maximally sped-up burst of screeching guitar riffing, napalm-like drum pounding, full of wild twists and a raging vocal, it only proves that the current Gamma Ray lineup has far more in common with the first Helloween album than today’s Helloween does.
Gamma Ray are a band that, in contact with the audience, convincingly conjures up something close to the stage magic and metal electricity of the almighty Judas Priest (live recordings from the “Painkiller” era to today), and that’s no small feat! It’s hard to find a band that burns with the kind of balls Judas Priest still have today. This only confirms the exceptional quality of the gamma radiation, which works flawlessly, with maximum commitment and, thanks to outstanding stage chemistry, comes off perfect. Of course, one of the main culprits behind this magic, and one I absolutely can’t skip, is the killer “drive” of the rhythm section. I’m talking about the unstoppable rumble of Zimmermann’s double bass pedal! The beefed-up drumming, together with Schlächter’s thick bass line, uses every inch of sonic freedom, and live the sound is even bolder, deeper and fuller. As such, it truly creates a collapsing nuclear atmosphere that will send electric shivers down your spine, no joke!
This is a live album that no true heavy metal fan can simply afford to miss in their CD collection. It’s a direct document and a real bible of how proper heavy metal should roar live. Among the tracks I haven’t mentioned are the little treats, or rather “bomb-lets”, One With The World, Last Before The Storm, Heaven Or Hell, Rich And Famous and Heavy Metal Universe. What a fury of almost unbrutalized vocals, what a voltage of torpedoing double bass pedal, and how precise and tight the jabbing of both guitars over the riffs is, something you just can’t miss with Gamma Ray! The band’s performance radiates a sincere love of music, and “Skeletons In The Closet” is an album that’s a long way from being the product of profit-driven ambitions. A true headbanger simply can’t ask for more!
Lineup
Kai Hansen – guitar & vocals
Henjo Richter – guitars & keyboards
Dirk Schlächter – bass
Daniel Zimmermann – drums
Tracklist
CD 1:
1.Welcome (01:06)
2.Gardens Of The Sinner (05:48)
3.Rich And Famous (05:13)
4.All Of The Damned (05:00)
5.No Return (04:13)
6.Armageddon (09:24)
7.Heavy Metal Universe (07:43)
8.One With The World (04:51)
9.Dan’s Solo (05:21)
CD 2:
1.Razorblade Sigh (04:59)
2.Heart Of The Unicorn (04:42)
3.Last Before The Storm (04:38)
4.Victim Of Fate (07:00)
5.Rising star/Shine On (07:53)
6.The Silence (06:43)
7.Heaven Or Hell (04:17)
8.Guardians Of Mankind (05:22)
9.New World Order (08:23)
