Artist: Gamma Ray
Title: 30 Years Live Anniversary
Genre: Power Metal
Release Date: 10th September 2021
Label: earMusic
Album Review
GAMMA RAY was founded in Hamburg Germany more than 30 years ago and released 11 studio albums during 1989 and 2015. But their real strength were their live shows and they headlined nearly all well-known Metal festivals around the world. To celebrate their 30th anniversary, they had planned live performances, but due to the pandemic situation, this became impossible. So, the band rented ISS Dome in Düsseldorf and played a very dedicated livestream for their fans around the world on August 27th 2020. The event was recorded and now the recorded and mastered version of the show is released in various physical formats and in digital ones as well.
A look at the setlist shows, that the band tried to select songs from most of their releases and since Ralf Scheepers (vocals 1989 - 1994) had a guest appearance, songs from the first album were kind of mandatory while no songs from ‘Insanity and Genius’ made it on the setlist. The show starts with ‘Induction’ from the album ‘No World Order’ and GAMMA RAY fans might feel a shiver down their spine, ‘Dethrone Tyranny’ is the perfect song to follow. Compared to the original live-stream, the sound is better, so I guess the album was newly mixed and mastered before being pressed. The guest appearance of Ralf Scheepers of course is a great addition to the show and his powerful voice was one of the reasons for GAMMA RAY’s success when the band was founded, but compared to his performance, the live vocals of Kai Hansen always sounded a lot weaker. By adding Frank Beck to the band, the whole improved a lot vocal-wise.
When the band announced their live stream, they asked their fans to send them audio-files with all the sounds of emotions the band would have evoked during a real live show. If you watch the show, you feel like attending a real GAMMA RAY show and these are always perfect, the band did not slow down an inch because there was no visible audience standing in front of the stage. Combined with the audio-files from the fans, the recorded album gives you nearly a “real” live-show feeling in your living room. To choose ‘Send Me a Sign’ as the closing song, was the perfect choice and GAMMA RAY fans fight feel inclined, to start listening to the album once again.
GAMMA RAY’s releases are all classics of Power Metal and the album is a must for every fan. If you’d ask me, if anything is missing , the reply would be “Not on this album. But fans would love to see his show, with Ralf Scheepers as a special guest live on stage in a large venue”. Since Kai Hansen has duties in HELOWEEN and the band just released a fantastic and very well received album, we have to wait and hope, that GAMMA RAY will be back on stage for their fans, when large shows in even larger venues will be possible again. Meanwhile, we have a fantastic live album, to help us keeping the faith.
Tracklist CD
01. Induction
02. Dethrone Tyranny
03. New World Order
04. Avalon
05. Master Of Confusion
06. Empathy
07. Rebellion In Dreamland
08. Land Of The Free
09. Lust For Life
10. One With The World
11. The Silence
12. Armageddon
13. Heading For Tomorrow
14. Send Me A Sign
Line-up
Kai Hansen – vocals / guitar
Frank Beck – vocals
Dirk Schlächter– bass
Henjo Richter – guitar
Michael Ehré – drums
Website
https://www.gammaray.org/en/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
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