Clash of the album covers

It is...


Helloween-Keeper of the seven keys

vs.


Gamma Ray-Majestic

***Which cover do you prefer?

Gamma Ray-Skeletons and Majesties

Armoury/Eagle Rock
2011

I guess when Helloween released "Unarmed" last year I should have known that Gamma Ray would have to also do an album oddly updated versions of some of their songs. This is called a mini-album not an EP for some reason. We get seven tracks, but two tracks are repeated in differing versions. I have not been as big on the last couple of Gamma Ray albums as they have been alright, but the band seems lost some of the creativity they once had and this mini-album actually just re-enforces that point. So the idea is the band wanted to revive some of their older tracks and do different versions of others. The first two songs are "Hold your ground" originally from "Heading from tomorrow" and Brothers originally from "Insanity and genius". The versions here are likable updates and worth hearing. Then the album's mood changes as we get a washed out, quirky and very mellow version of "Send me sign". This is just sad because the original is a fantastic song and this take offers nothing appealing at all. Just a lame space filler. Next up is an acoustic version of "Rebellion in dreamland" that just drags on forever. I felt myself nodding off several times. Then we get "Wannabees" which was originally on the Japanese version of "To the metal". It's just alright music wise but the annoying vocals sink it. Then for some strange reason we get and extended version of "Brothers" that runs a little over a minute longer than the earlier one. It's a fine song, but did we need two versions of it? I don't see the point. Last up is the Karaoke version of "Rebellion in dreamland". You know in case you were throwing a big fancy party and felt that what would really add to the mood is to have some Karaoke power metal to sing a long to. Probably not and again I don't see the point to including this version here. So almost half the songs are likable and a little more than half made my skin crawl. Here's hoping they put more time and thought into their next studio album.

Gamma Ray-To the metal!

earMusic/Edel
2010

When a band has been active for a long time there are different roads that they can head in. Some stay the course and do pretty much the same style while others may try reaching out or experimenting with different sounds. Now which one is better depends on the band and exactly what they do. Staying the course isn't anything new to metal because hey it works for Motorhead so it's not a bad option. So what does all this have to do with Gamma Ray and their new release? Quite a bit actually. To their credit this band has certainly been one of the pillars of power metal. Along with the like Helloween, Brainstorm and a few others they helped to develop
and define this whole sub-genre as well be a major influence on a number of up and coming bands. By this point in their career we know to expect the fast, melodic tracks as well as the medium paced outings and we know there is likely to be a layered ballad stuck in there somewhere. That's all fine with me because they have done this in the past and it has worked out. However there is a part of me that hopes that somewhere during the course of this disc that they push a little harder to do something more. I think the challenge that a number of veteran bands face is continuing to find a way to push ahead. For Kai Hansen and his band they excel with the speedy anthem "Shine Forever" and the bouncing yet punchy "Deadlands". They do these kind of songs as good as anyone else. Hell, they probably do it better than anyone going except for maybe Helloween. It's some of the other tracks here that have me using the dreaded "f word", that's right "f" as in filler. The title track sounds like a pale imitation Judas Priest music-wise with lyrics that sound like a pimply faced teen aged metal fan wrote them down on a napkin at Burger King back in 1986 because they thought they sounded like real heavy metal lyrics. "Mother Angel" has a bit more of a backbone behind it but it suffers from more lack of creativity. Ballads can work in power metal and there is no doubt that this band has the talent to do it, but "No need to cry" is mostly a dried out space taker. Now that doesn't mean this isn't an overall decent album because it is. Diehard fans might take to it completely. There are more hits than misses, but after a listen or two it definitely becomes an album where there are songs you want to listen to over and over but there are also tracks where you will be reaching for the skip button because one or two plays will have been more than enough.

Battle of the bands

It's two wacky German power metal bands who have both had Kai Hansen in their ranks. It is...



Gamma Ray

vs.



Helloween

***Which band do you prefer?