No band better exemplified this than Gamma Ray, the band helmed by Kai Hansen after his departure from Helloween, and who along with a select few other bands provided the world the counterpoint it needed to the alt, nu and industrial metal that grunge had brought about in other parts of the world.
1995’s “Land of the Free” album was a landmark for the power metal genre, a concept album that not only had Kai return full time to lead vocalist and guitarist, but also brought on board in guest roles vocalists such as Maichael Kiske and Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursh. This album was then followed by the equally terrific “Somewhere Out in Space” - the episode of which you can find in Season 4 of this podcast - which again pushed the band and the metal genre to greater heights, meshing the fast paced double kick drums with the twin guitars and punishing bass guitar that has formed the base of this band since its inception. The band’s first charted single “Valley of the Kings” showed they could create songs that found prominence in more than just the heavy metal fans bedrooms.
In between, Kai had also been involved in his friend Piet Sielk’s band as a side project. Iron Savior had brought out two albums that he had played on and also co-written some material, and while at this time there was no danger that Kai was going to switch camps away from his own band, some pondered just how full time Gamma Ray could be if he was spending time recording and touring with another band at the same time. Iron Savior’s second album “Unification”, on which both Kai and drummer Dan Zimmermann had played, and the episode on which you can find earlier here in Season 6 of this podcast, had only finished recording when Gamma Ray then went into the studio to write and record this album. It was a double shift that was not to last beyond the next two years, at which time Kai returned to concentrate full time on his number one priority – the glory of Gamma Ray.
“Power Plant” is most power metal of Gamma Ray’s albums. In general Gamma Ray utilise a combination of both speed metal and traditional heavy metal as their main focus, whereas this is more oriented in the power metal genre that Kai himself helped to define in the late 1980’s. But this album is power metal without the dominance of synths that usually comes to mind when you mention that genre of heavy metal, it still focuses on the twin guitars in the music which gives it a more powerful sound than they key and synth based sound that true power metal bands produce.
The opening track is a beauty, “Anywhere in the Galaxy” powering out of the blocks with Zimmermann’s double kick drums hammering through the opening with the guitar riff and Kai’s high-pitched scream crashing out of the speakers. The double kick runs throughout driving the song to the end, and Kai’s vocals at time become very Rob Halford-like in their screaming verses. It’s a brilliant opening track, and sets the album off on the right foot from the very beginning. This segues nicely into “Razorblade Sigh”, another automatic classic, darker in tone, opening with the phased guitar and Kai’s ominous vocals. This is an underrated classic in the Gamma Ray discography, not often thought of when it comes to best songs but is always one that when you listen to it you wonder why it isn’t considered so. The lead out bridge to the song’s conclusion is an emotionally charged highlight. “Send Me a Sign” follows, the song used as the advanced track prior to the album’s release. It has become the band’s signature song to close out their live sets and is a fan favourite to this day.
“Strangers in the Night” just has to be influenced by Judas Priest. Kai’s vocals in the verses here are so very flavoured by Rob Halford, and awesomely so. They sound brilliant. And the guitar melody and double kick drum is very much like a “Painkiller” album sound. The band has always been an influence of both music and vocals for Kai and his bands, and this song is no exception.
From here we move into one of the band’s best ever songs, “Gardens of the Sinner”. Bombastic, melodic, anthemic. Great singalong vocals, driven by the drums and guitars, everything about it screams ‘Gamma Ray classic’. It is amazing that this song did not make initial live set lists, and it wasn’t until the band gave the fans the chance to vote for the songs they wanted to hear live that this came on board, and hasn’t left since. “Short as Hell” is perhaps the most unusual song on the album, sandwiched where it is, an old fashioned jump step drum and guitar riff that bounces along rather than the double kick that dominates most other songs on the album.
The most surprising song on the album is “It’s a Sin”, a cover of the Pet Shop Boys hit single from the 1980’s. It’s a surprise in a couple of ways, firstly that the band chose to cover this particular song, as most of the cover songs they have done have been old NWoBHM bands songs, but secondly that it is done so well. Guitar replaces synth, and Kai sings it terrifically well. It is the best example of slight change in focus of this album compared to the last two that the band has done. It does polarise fans, with many believing that it diminishes the album. Personally, I have always enjoyed it. Following this comes another song that splits the fan base, the openly obvious metal anthem of “Heavy Metal Universe”. Some fans complain that this is such a cliched song looking for a fan reaction that it again lowers the whole expectation of the album. On the other side of the argument, metal bands have written anthem songs to play live forever. Judas Priest – there's that comparison again – made an artform of it in the early 1980’s, as have many other bands. Again, I like the song, I have no problem with it. “Wings of Destiny” ramps up the intensity and emotion with Kai’s harmony vocals and those terrific twin guitars of Kai and Henjo. The lead out bridge vocally is sensational, and sums up the best parts of the song in style. ”Hand of Fate” is backed back to a mid-tempo and is very much in Dirk Schlachter’s style of song, one that differs markedly from the Kai, Dan and Henjo penned tracks.
The closing epic is “Armageddon”, stretching to almost nine minutes and full of platitudes throughout, along with scintillating drumming from Dan again. While not quite on the scale of the title track of the band’s first album “Heading for Tomorrow”, this is where Kai excels, writing songs of magnitude that command your attention and become the types of tracks that drag you in to start the album all over again.
My undying love for this band has perhaps not yet filtered uninterrupted onto this podcast, given the few albums of theirs that I have so far been able to review for episodes here. That will over time be rectified. Suffice to say that from the first time I heard Kai Hansen play and sing on Helloween’s “Walls of Jericho” album I have been slightly obsessed with his music, which transferred completely to Gamma Ray when he formed the band back in 1989.
This resulted in me ensuring that I had this album in my hands on its first week of release. I had spent several years wearing out my copies of the band’s previous two albums, and I was more than ready for new material. When this album came out, I had just relocated from Sydney back to my childhood home in Kiama, living with my parents, and driving my father-in-law's taxi part time as my only source of income. So let me just say that it was a less than satisfactory time of my life. What helped to keep my spirits up was this album. I would drive the taxi around with this album on constant rotation, something that not only annoyed a few people, but also found some ready converts who enquired about who that band was, and what that album is.
For me, Gamma Ray is fun. You sing along, you air guitar, you air drum. This is what heavy metal is supposed to be, remember? Metal is supposed to lighten your mood, bring you to life, lift you above the ground. That’s why we listen to music, to improve our days. Gamma Ray for me has always done that, and this album is no exception. Helloween was known for its ‘happy guitars’ from Kai and Michael Weikath, and Kai has kept this in Gamma Ray. They are the happiest band on the planet – watch them play live. They are all grinning and smiling through the whole gig, it is amazing. And that’s what I do when I listen to this album as well.
“Power Plant” does prove to be that slightly different album in the catalogue though. The previous two albums are very much in the traditional Gamma Ray style, as are the following three albums. This one ventured down a slightly different path, perhaps through the writing being spread between all four members, with Henjo contributing two songs, Dan contributing two songs and Dirk one. Even so, I still love this album. It is an uplifter of my mood, with one particular song doing that more than most. It was also the first song I saw the band play live, on the only time they toured Australia, and it still sticks in my mind as one of the best moments of my life.
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