Gamma Ray – To The Metal! (2010)

“To The Metal!” marks the band’s 10th full length release in over 21 years of existence of Gamma Ray. So far the band’s journey has been very solid, filled with epic releases like “Land Of The Free” and “Somewhere Out in Space”. This new album, while pretty solid, is not near the quality of those releases.

With ten songs and around 50 minutes of music, these Germans show that they still have what it takes to create a good release. The album feels a bit disconnected at some times and half the songs are short from memorable, but still very good compared to other bands in the genre.

Kai Hansen’s vocal and guitar work is excellent as always. The band’s ability to keep their ‘old’ style and incorporate modern elements into the music is something that really stands out in this release. You still get the ‘old school’ feeling with this album, but with the addition of fresh elements that allow Gamma Ray to not sound like time froze around them.

Some songs are very epic and feature impressive guitar solos, just like you would expect from Gamma Ray. There are definitely some great power ballads like “To The Metal” that will surely transcend the test of time and be remembered for years to come. But it’s the rest of the filler songs that bring down the overall score of this release. There are a few uninspired songs that should have not been included on this release, they are just ‘standard’, nothing out of the ordinary (“All You Need To Know” and 'Chasing Shadows”). Also “No Need To Cry” is downright terrible.

However, not everything is completely bad in this album. There are legendary solos like on “Mother Angel” , interesting synth intros (and solos) like on “Deadlands”. The vocals are top notch and the overall guitar work is excellent. If we have more good songs it would be an excellent release. This album will surely get slammed by the rest of the press and will disappoint a few listeners, but after a few spins it grows on you and you will start to enjoy it for what it is.

Overall the album possesses enough quality to justify it’s purchase and while it’s not impressive, its good enough to be a worthy addition to Gamma Ray’s discography. If you are a hardcore fan of the band, this album is not a complete must have. But like we mentioned before, it will slowly grow on you and will serve as a good Power Metal release this 2010.

Release: March 16th, 2010

Country: Germany