Search - Gamma Ray :: To The Metal

Better than Land Of The Free II. Energetic but mediocre over

John | Greece | 01/29/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

""To The Metal" is Gamma Ray's latest album after the heavily criticized and IMO weak 'Land Of The Free II'. The main problem with Gamma Ray's previous album was the fact that the band borrowed numerous musical ideas from other bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, while they also recycled some of their older tunes as well. From that perspective "To The Metal" is much more original but still nothing innovative or mindblowing.



The new album is energetic, powerful and contains some of Gamma Ray's best guitar work in recent years. Several songs are fast paced double bass numbers, others are mid tempo heavy metal songs and there are a couple of ballads aswell.



There are several strong songs on offer here. "All You Need To Know" is probably the best track on the album. Fast double bass drumming, speed metal riffs, a catchy melodic metal chorus sang by Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) and some brilliant guitar solos, round off this great number. Kiske's vocals transport you to the 80's and remind you of how good he sounds when singing songs written by Kai Hansen. The second highlight is the speedy and trademark Gamma Ray song "Rise" with its epic chorus. "Shine Forever" is another good track with aggressive verses and an uplifting chorus. "Time To Live" is a mid-tempo heavy track with a catchy chorus. "Mother Angel" is a fairly good heavy ballad and "Chasing Shadows" is another strong, fast paced power metal song with some amazing guitar work.



The title track is an enjoyable heavy metal song but it unfortunately borrows too many ideas from Judas Priest's Metal Gods, while the ballad "No Need To Cry" is the second weakest track on the album.



A good album overall, but a couple of weak songs together with some borrowed ideas prevent it from receiving a higher rating. Nevertheless, "To The Metal" is a superior release when compared to Gamma Ray's two previous albums."

Unimaginative, but still better than 90% of the dreck being

Jorge Ruben | West Hempstead, NY United States | 02/26/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"And so it is with their tenth studio album, "To The Metal!" that Gamma Ray finally begins to feel old and tired. I remember having the same feeling when listening to "Majestic" for the first time, but after repeated listens, that album grew on me and now I consider it to be one of their most diverse and well-rounded albums of the last decade or so. As someone else had pointed out, "Land of the Free II" was a weak album, more of a "tribute" album to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden than it was a Gamma Ray album. And now, after numerous listens to the underwhelming "To The Metal!" dare I say it, Gamma Ray has come out with 2 consecutive subpar albums.



Not that there aren't some highlights on the album. "Empathy" the opener, is a departure from the 1000 MPH speed of your typical power metal song and is actually quite good. "All You Need to Know" is a great song, although I personally found Michael Kiske's vocals on the chorus a distraction more than the celebrated ode to classic Helloween that (I'm guessing) he's supposed to signify. I found myself listening to the song and thinking "he sounded better on 'Land Of The Free'", and indeed he sounds tired and bored on AYNTK, almost like it was a chore for him to drop whatever he was doing and lay down some vocals for Kai. "Time To Live" is more like "Time to Forget", because after you're done with it it leaves no impression. Not good, not bad, just blah. "To The Metal" sounds like a bad joke, like Kai and company dusted off their vinyl copy of "British Steel", listened to "Metal Gods" and said "let's cover this, but with our own lyrics instead!" (not like they haven't done *that* before; see Priest's "Rapid Fire" and "Solid" off "No World Order). Just plain bad. "Rise" is a gem, hearkening back to the SOIS or Power Plant era. Very good. But the next 3 songs, "Mother Angel", "Shine Forever" and "Deadlands" suffer from the same thing that "Time to Live" does: one listen and they're instantly forgettable songs. "Chasing Shadows" delights, however, with its superb guitar work (more on that later), but then we reach the end of the album, and the wretched "No Need to Cry". Good. God. Not only is the song bad, but whoever thought that letting bassist Dirk Schlächter warble in the middle of the song was a good idea should be shot. Yes, I understand that it's his song, and dedicated to his late father, but suffice it to say, if I died and my kid wrote a song like this about me, I would rise from the grave and throttle him for insulting my memory. Although to be fair to Dirk, it's not like Kai sounds all that into it on this song either. Can't say I blame him.



If there's one thing to crow about on this album, it is the unbelievable guitar work of Henjo Richter and Kai Hansen; I guess that should be expected, though, after playing together now for 13 years. Richter's solowork in particular is nothing short of stunning. Schlächter gets his chance to shine in the bass department with some slap bass on "Shine Forever", and drummer Daniel Zimmermann is his usual steady self, blindingly fast when need be, but full of groove and emotion when the song calls for it.



While the band's talent level and cohesion as a unit is at an all-time high, unfortunately the compositions are mediocre at best and really take away from what otherwise is an awesome album guitar-wise. Like I said in the header, unimaginative as it may be, it is still better than 90% of the garbage that passes for metal nowadays and is a worthy pickup to complete your Gamma Ray collection, although I'm guessing after a few listens it will be relegated to one of the unused slots in your CD changer and promptly forgotten."