GAMMA RAY
Master Of Confusion
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Aiiieee!!! It’s the discount rate Helloween back for another crack at the heavy metal with a stopgap release designed to fleece the fans / enrich their fans lives / see if people buy Iron Saviour records, until the next proper release comes out, so that no-one forgets who they are.
Three years on from their last album, Gamma Ray are testing the water with a couple of new tunes while filling out the rest of the hour with some covers and some live material. The new songs are ‘Empire Of The Undead’ which is brain crushingly brilliant as it blasts out like a lost eighties classic, destroying all in its path. It is, actually, awesome. So it’s no surprise that ‘Master Of Confusion’ doesn’t quite match up to it. It’s still good and both show that the break may have regurgitated Kai Hansen as a metal force.
The EP also has two cover songs, ‘Death or Glory’ as originally recorded by my homies, Holocaust and a surprise take on the latter day Sweet tune, ‘Lost Angels’. It’s a return visit to Holocaust territory, but the Sweet track is a real surprise. Of course, “Off the Record” was a flop in their UK homeland, but both album and single were Top 20 hits in Germany, and Gamma Ray metal it up rather nicely.
Finally there are half a dozen tracks recorded for the “Skeletons & Majesties Live” Blu-ray that didn’t fit on to the audio CD. ‘Time To Break Free’ is the highlight of these songs, but all the live songs show a band firing on full metal cylinders. Out at a bargain price, this is essential for Gamma Ray fans and desirable for power metal fans of all distinctions.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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