Kai
Hansen is back with a new album and he uses influences of various bands that
made the style heavy metal big. With every album I find that Kai his singing
impoves, not that he ever will be a real nightingale and still it is a matter of
taste if you like his style and sound.
"Avalon"
starts with a typical Dio riff and rhytmn and has a part half-way, which sounds
exactly like Metallica covering the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy". Next song "Hellbent"
will be described as a typical Judas Priest kind of song in their 'Painkiller'-era by many reviewers, but I think it deprives the band Gamma Ray. If you listen
closer the song sounds like a track that could have been on the first Helloween
album
'Walls of Jericho', only with a better production.
"Pale
Rider" is a mid-tempo track and sounds a bit like Accept. "Master of Confusion"
is a track that sounds a lot like Helloween's "I Want Out", but who cares if it
sounds as great as this? With the song "Time For Deliverance" you can hear that
Kai is a big fan of Queen. Just before that the most fast and heavy
song on the album, "Empire of the Undead" is brightened up with some early
Metallica riffs. "Demonseed" is again a midtempo track with Dio and Accept
influences, but because of Kai's voice still typical Gamma Ray.
Although there are many recognizible riffs and influences on this new album,
they succeed every time in making it real Gamma Ray songs. The last track is a
real epic track that we can expect from them, it has the typical beautiful
melodies and catchiness every fan of Gamma Ray likes. There will not be a fan of
the band that will dislike this new album.
