All Reviews
Gamma Ray - Majestic
Release: 2005Label: Mayan Records
By: Deek
Posted: Oct 28, 2005
Power metal has been a touchy metal genre for me. Besides the hair metal scene from the 1980ties (ugh...), this is my least liked style by far. Not too sure why, it just never really did much for me. That changed when I first heard Gamma Ray. They quickly became favorites of mine with songs like 'Heading For Tomorrow', 'Somewhere Out In Space', and 'Rebellion In Dreamland'. I actually used to listen to these guys constantly. It is now almost four years after I first heard them, and they are now out with eighth studio album, "Majestic". Unfortunately, this new one is lackluster at best.
'My Temple' has a section that sounds like it was ripped off from Black Sabbath's song 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' (right after 3:00) (still a strong song, though). Actually, a lot of the album just sounds like rehashed riffs from other albums, and not necessarilly originally from them. This doesn't keep my attention at all, to be honest. It really sound like they recorded it just for the sake of recording. It's almost as if there's no life at all in the album. There's no hooks, nothing real catchy, no substance. 'Fight' and 'Condemned To Hell' are your typical "nothing can stop me" songs found all too often, and not just in power metal, while 'How Long' is pure filler "Save the world" material. 'Strange World', 'Hell Is Thy Home', 'Revelation', and 'Majesty' are the best songs on here, with 'Majesty' being the only one that holds up to their past. Still, those songs don't have the redeeming quality to cover the blandness of the album.
This virtually failed effort gets a 4/10 mainly for those songs that don't suck, mainly because if those songs were on a stand alone EP release, it'd be a lot better. Note to the die-hard fans of the band, you will most probably like this album. Power metalheads will like it. If you're not in that group, then steer clear. If you want to check out Gamma Ray, "Land Of The Free" and "Somewhere Out In Space" are your best bets. Hopefully they can retrieve the glory days of the past, if not I believe they will fall out of existence.
'My Temple' has a section that sounds like it was ripped off from Black Sabbath's song 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' (right after 3:00) (still a strong song, though). Actually, a lot of the album just sounds like rehashed riffs from other albums, and not necessarilly originally from them. This doesn't keep my attention at all, to be honest. It really sound like they recorded it just for the sake of recording. It's almost as if there's no life at all in the album. There's no hooks, nothing real catchy, no substance. 'Fight' and 'Condemned To Hell' are your typical "nothing can stop me" songs found all too often, and not just in power metal, while 'How Long' is pure filler "Save the world" material. 'Strange World', 'Hell Is Thy Home', 'Revelation', and 'Majesty' are the best songs on here, with 'Majesty' being the only one that holds up to their past. Still, those songs don't have the redeeming quality to cover the blandness of the album.
This virtually failed effort gets a 4/10 mainly for those songs that don't suck, mainly because if those songs were on a stand alone EP release, it'd be a lot better. Note to the die-hard fans of the band, you will most probably like this album. Power metalheads will like it. If you're not in that group, then steer clear. If you want to check out Gamma Ray, "Land Of The Free" and "Somewhere Out In Space" are your best bets. Hopefully they can retrieve the glory days of the past, if not I believe they will fall out of existence.
Rating: 4/10
Gamma Ray website
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