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Band page - Gamma Ray
Latest news
| Monday, January 18, 2010 - Gamma Ray - To The Metal Video | 'To The Metal', the new video from Gamma Ray can be seen here. The clip was directed by Ronald Matthes for Berlin, Germany's Roax Films.
To The Metal will be released on January 29th via earMUSIC/Edel. Gamma Ray members Kai Hansen (vocals/guitar), Dirk Schlächter (bass), Henjo Richter (guitar) and Daniel Zimmermann (drums) recorded a total of twelve new songs at their own studio in Hamburg in autumn 2009. Ten of them will feature on the regular album release, and two additional bonus tracks can be heard on different editions of the album.
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| Monday, December 14, 2009 - Gamma Ray - Album News | Gamma Ray have announced details of their forthcoming tenth album entitled To The Metal., to be released on January 29th, 2010 via earMUSIC/Edel. The line-up consisting of Kai Hansen (vocals/guitar), Dirk Schlächter (bass), Henjo Richter (guitar) and Daniel Zimmermann (drums) recorded a total of twelve new songs at their own studio in Hamburg in autumn 2009. Ten of them will feature on the regular album release, and two additional bonus tracks can be heard on different editions of the album.
To The Metal will be made available in four versions:
- as a regular jewel case CD
- as a limited edition featuring an additional DVD (including an exciting making-of)
- as a red vinyl in gatefold packaging
- as a collectors' edition featuring CD and 7" vinyl with 2 unreleased tracks, completely hand-signed
To The Metal's album artwork was created by Herve Monjeaud, and will feature the following tracks:
'Rise'
'Deadlands'
'Mother Angel'
'No Need To Cry'
'Empathy'
'To The Metal'
'All You Need To Know'
'Time To Live'
'Shine Forever'
'Breaking Away'
An official press release describes the new Gamma Ray album as "thoroughbred and classy, fast-paced and deep, and holds a few surprises in store which distinguish the band from the mass of acts who try their hand at similar styles and sounds. The band's stylistic range including a full-throttle number such as 'Rise', the rhythmic and melodically diverse 'Time To Live', and the multi-layered anthem 'All You Need To Know' (which has given rise to speculation about a spectacular guest singer), as well as the sensitive ballad 'No Need To Cry', composer/lyricist Dirk Schlächter's attempt to come to terms with the untimely death of his father. Of course, there's also the awesome title track - first introduced at the Wacken 2009 open-air and a number of festivals in Scandinavia and considered absolutely indispensible by the fans, which Gamma Ray recorded as a classic Metal track in the midtempo range, making it a real anthem.
The atmospherically dense 'Empathy' sees Gamma Ray prove their amazing musical potential again, which keeps manifesting itself in exceptional and eminently interesting compositions. This song includes all the features of a diverse, exciting and multi-faceted number, in other words: sweeping sounds, cool grooves, a progressive touch and then - almost as if from nowhere - a chorus which seriously bowls you over. Subsequently, the band soar up to an almost oriental-sounding solo part, changing key several times within the track. "
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| Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - Gamma Ray album and tour news | Gamma Ray have revealed the tracklisting for their forthcoming new album, Land Of The Free Part II:
Rising Again
To Mother Earth
Empress
Rain
Into The Storm
When The World
From The Ashes
Leaving Hell
Real World
Hear Me Calling
Opportunity
Insurrection
The album will have a total running time of around 65 minutes. The order of the songs might not be the final one.
The following has also been released:
The rumour pot had been stirred only for a short while, now it's already official: Gamma Ray from Hamburg have signed with Steamhammer/SPV. Their latest album, Land Of The Free - II, is scheduled for release on November 19 (Germany: November 16, North America: January 2008). Band founder Kai Hansen expressed his delight at the signing: "Following our previous record company's well-documented restructuring process, we increasingly felt that it would be better to embark on a new course business-wise. The preparations for our joint tour with Helloween spawned the idea to follow Helloween's example and work with Steamhammer/SPV in future. We feel certain that this cooperation will give an extra boost to our career."
Land Of The Free - II, the current album release by the group surrounding guitarist/vocalist Kai Hansen, consciously refers to their 1995 classic Land Of The Free I. "Majestic presented Gamma Ray's dark side, while its predecessor, No World Order, was more of an eighties-inspired record. This time we wanted to turn our attention to a side of the band that has always been our greatest strength: positive power." Gamma Ray produced their new album themselves. All four musicians, Kai Hansen, Henjo Richter (guitar), Dirk Schlächter (bass) and Daniel Zimmermann (drums), are experienced enough to translate their ideas at the studio. But for the first time in ages, the band allowed themselves the luxury of enlisting outside support for certain stages of the recording process. "We wanted to have a clear head in some areas to be able to concentrate on the important things," Hansen explains the enlistment of Tommy Newton (HELLOWEEN, UFO, etc.) and his Area 51 studio in Celle, where the new material was mixed. Newton also took care of the drum parts as a sound engineer at Gamma Ray's own studio.
Starting at the end of November, the band will embark on the Hellish Rock 2007/08 tour, alongside Helloween. "The idea for the tour matured during a number of major festivals, where Gamma Ray and Helloween both played. As both bands' schedules are running parallel for the first time in years, we decided to put this idea into practice at last." The fans can look forward to a full Gamma Ray show, plus a nightly session together with Helloween, likely to feature a number of classics from Kai Hansen's own Helloween era.
Upcoming Helloween, Gamma Ray Hellish Rock 2007/08 tour dates include:
November
16 - Budapest, Hungary at Petofi Hall
17 - Belgrade, Serbia at Hala Sportova
18 - Sofia, Bulgaria at Festivalna Hall
19 - Bucharest, Romania at Agronomia Sport Hall
21 - Istanbul, Turkey at Venue TBA
23 - Thesaloniki, Greece at Principal
24 - Athens, Greece at Olympic Properties Arena
27 - Rome, Italy at Tendastrisce
28 - Milano, Italy at Alcatraz
29 - Dietikon, Switzerland at Stadthalle
December
1 - Lichtenfels, Germany at Stadthalle
2 - Bremen, Germany at Aladin
4 - Goteborg, Sweden at Liseberghallen
5 - Oslo, Norway at Rockefeller
7 - Lund, Sweden at Mejeriet
8 - Stockholm, Sweden at Arenan
10 - Tampere, Finland at Pakkahuone
11 - Helsinki, Finland at Kaapelitehdas
14 - Plzen, Czech Republic at Hala Lokomotiva
15 - Zlin, Czech Republic at Hala Novesta
16 - Pardubice, Czech Republic at CEZ Arena
18 - Kosice, Slovakia at Cassosport Sport Hall
19 - Bratislava, Slovakia at PKO
21 - Langen, Germany at Stadthalle
22 - Kaufbeuren, Germany at All Karthalle
January
6 - Paris, France at Elysee Montmatre
7 - Tilburg, Holland at 013
8 - London, UK at The Forum
10 - Antwerp, Belgium at Hof Ter Lo
11 - Tuttlingen, Germany at Alte Festhalle
12 - Karlsruhe, Germany at Europahalle
13 - Oberhausen, Germany at Turbinenhalle
15 - Barcelona, Spain at Razzmatazz
18 - Bilbao, Spain at Rockstar Live
20 - Madrid, Spain at La Riviera
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| Friday, March 30, 2007 - Gamma Ray Tour, DVD and Album news | An update from Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray:
Dear Friends,
...it's been a while since you've had some news from the band and since there's been a lot of questions asked by many, we thought the time is right to give you an update from the Gammaray Camp.
About the DVD: The current status is that everything is ready so far, except for the 'Home Video' part of the Bonus section. We have made our way through quite a bit of tapes,CD's,DVD's etc filmed by ourselves,friends,fans,crew and so on and there's a lot of material that had to be converted,cut and edited. Yesterday i spoke to the Videocompany and they told me that it was layed on ice for two weeks because they had two other shootings to do,but we should get a viewing copy by the end of the week....let's see.This thing seems to be turning into a never ending story...sh*t, we just want to say 'done' now and announce a release date...which hopefully is going to be before summer
About the new Album: Good stuff growing there! We already have composed many tracks by me, Henjo, Dan and even Dirk came up with something. The current status is 14, from simple Rockers to complex anthems,all with great melodies and heavyness.All Songs have a very powerfull positive Energy without being too clean and polished.
The good old Hamburg Jaws are shining through all the way.
There might be even more to come and maybe we're put into the situation where we have to make a choice of what's gonna be on the Album. We are constantly rehearsing and working on the Demos to get the songs to our (and your..) total satisfaction. It might be a nice idea to organize a Fan club meeting at that time, play you the Demos and get some feedback.....hmmm, what do you think? When we think we're ready, we'll start the production. We have pulled Tommy Newton aboard the ship to record the drums, bass and Rhythm Guitars. Dubs, Solos etc we'll do ourselves, vocals I normally prefer to do just on my own firstly and then go over it again with someone else to make adjustments or decide between alternatives. The mix will be done by Tommy. He did a great job on the mix for the DVD and we totally trust him. The good thing is that this allows us to be just musicians and not worry about engineering,haha!
Anyhow, we plan to release the Album in Autumn, which leads us to ......
The next Tour: Yes, there are negotiations about a Tour with Helloween,but we can't give out too much now. It would start in November, take us through all countries, incl.Europe,Japan, USA,Canada,and South America. We would play before Helloween with approx.75 min( even in places where we had more people on the last tour than they had; switching is not practicable), and there will be 1 or 2 Supportbands ,in some places maybe even more, as a kind of Festivalthing. We all like the Idea of united powers here and of cause the opportunity for some worldwide jams, but still this might aswell not happen, as i said....we're negotiating.
About Kiske,Hansen,Grapow: Another yes with a 'but'. We have met and want to do something together, so Roland and me will have to find time to write some good songs that are not too agressive for Michi,(.... you all know about his Metal-Phobia:). Musically it should be a bit out of the ordinary, which is good, i wouldn't want to write songs for this which i'd rather have for Gammaray. The 'when' is still open and of course we can only get into detail when we have the first tracks and are sure it's gonna be a great thing, or some project that ends up in eternal discussions about musical direction.
For now, there is only GAMMARAY on my 'to do' list (okay,okay except for a week of skiing i will allow myself, ....of course only to fill my lungs with fresh mountain air to sing even better :)
It's nine thirty in the morning, a nice sunny day in Hamburg and I'm off to the Studio now to work on the end of a long Track called 'Insurrection'. ( Who says musicians are lazy Bastards that sleep until afternoon....)
Big Cheeeeeerrzzzzz and Greeeeetzzzz from all The Rays
Yours,
Kai
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2006 - Gamma Ray to release LAnd of the Free - Part II | At a press conference held at Wacken Open Air Kai Hansen revealed that Gamma Ray's next album will be titled "Land Of The Free - Part II", a concept album continuing where 1995's Land of the Free left off. Kai answered this to a journalist who asked the band if they would ever release a concept album...
We also saw a preview of Gamma Ray's forthcoming DVD "Hell Yeah" which consists of a Live concert in Montreal and several extras including some funny behind the scenes glimpses. A release date has not been confirmed yet.
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| Monday, February 6, 2006 - Gamma Ray guitarist recovering | Gamma Ray guitarist Henjo Richter was badly injured during a ferry ride from Stockholm to Helsinki a couple weeks ago after taking a fall down a set of stairs. Here is an update from the official Gamma Ray website:
"Hi everybody!
I've been asked to say something about my injury 'cause I was still missing at the shows in Russia, where again Kasperi from Guardians of Mankind helped us out and played the guitar beside Kai. First, I want to thank Kasperi for making all shows happen and not bringing me, the band and of course the fans (not to forget the promoters, ehe) in trouble. Sure, I'm very sad that I had to stay at home, thinking 'guess now they go on stage rocking', but it was absolutely impossible, otherwise I would have done it. On the other hand I'm happy for the fans, getting a very special Gamma Ray show, and Kasperi, who might have had a good experience at all playing with the originals.
Last week I underwent another examination at my orthopedist in Hamburg because of strong pain. And, by the way, my left forearm looked like the one from Popeye. The result is a fracture on the left forearm. I've bruised my ribs and pulled my back. But I already can eat solid food again, ehe... ;) The healing process will take a few weeks and I will start with rehabilitation training soon, hoping everything will cure well, not to play only slide-guitar in the future. ;)
And beside picking my nose for bogeys I could use the free time for writing a new song for the next album, very classic Gamma Ray melodic speed metal...
Thanx to all of your best wishes and support, and... ...stay away from the towers, eh, frozen steps on ferry boats."
Cheeerrzz!
Henjo
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| Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - Gamma Ray announce new album. | The title of the new Gamma Ray album will be Majestic. According to the band, it will "represent all of the characteristic strengths of the band's musical career to date"!
The band went through several problems during the recordings, a.m.o. they had to move to a new studio, as their old studio complex was sold by new owners. The mastering of Majestic is now completed, and the albums is scheduled for release in late September, and after that a huge world tour is planned!
For the full story, visit www.metal-rules.com
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| Thursday, July 17, 2003 - Gamma Ray live album details | Gamma Ray have finalized the track listing for their new live album, "Skeletons In The Closet", due on August 25 through Metal-Is/Sanctuary Records.
The final track listing, which was voted on by the band's fans on the Internet, is as follows:
CD 1:
01. Welcome (1:06)
02. Gardens Of The Sinner (5:48)
03. Rich And Famous (5:13)
04. All Of The Damned (5:00)
05. No Return (4:13)
06. Armageddon (9:24)
07. Heavy Metal Universe (7:43)
08. One With The World (4:51)
09. Dan's Solo (5:21)
CD 2:
01. Razorblade Sigh (4:59)
02. Heart Of The Unicorn (4:42)
03. Last Before The Storm (4:38)
04. Victim Of Fate (7:00)
05. Rising Star/Shine On (7:53)
06. The Silence (6:43)
07. Heaven Or Hell (4:17)
08. Guardians Of Mankind (5:22)
09. New World Order (8:23)
All songs were recorded live on the group's "Skeletons In The Closet" Tour 2002: at Barcelona's Razzmatazz 1 on Oct 31, 2002 and at Strasbourg's La Laiterie on November 2, 2002. The album was produced by the band themselves and was mixed and mastered by Kai Hansen and Dirk Schlächter at Hansen Studios, Hamburg. The first edition of "Skeletons In The Closet" will come as a limited-edition 2-CD digipack containing the following exclusive video bonus tracks, plus backstage footage in an enhanced section:
01. Gardens Of The Sinner (5:54)
02. Razorblade Sigh (4:43)
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| Thursday, April 3, 2003 - Gamma Ray live album problems | The live Gamma Ray album, entitled Skeletons In The Closet, has been pushed from it's original end of May release date to August 25th. Turns out that the equipment used to record the Skeletons gigs in Spain wasn't sychronized properly for a large portion of the show, resulting in what would have been a sub-par quality album after mixing. To top things off, one audio file was lost in the process of sorting out the mess. Two sound engineers have been enlisted to try and reconstruct the missing audio file and synchronize the recordings for an un-mixed master. The band is understandably disappointed by the technical problems and apologizes to their fans for the unexpected delay.
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Other information
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Information like history, special memories and other things will be added when we get the time.
It will be possible to add comments when we have added more information. | Articles on this site
Album Review - No World Order
(Tommy)
Album Review - Somewhere Out In Space
(Tommy)
Event - Live at Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany - October 20th, 2005
(Nina)
Album Review - Majestic
(Tommy)
Album Review - Land of the Free
(Steen)
Album Review - Land of The Free II
(Stuart)
Album Review - Heading For Tomorrow / Sigh No More (2CD Set, Reissue)
(Brian)
Event - Gamma Ray and special guests: Freedom Call - Live at Kulturbolaget, Malmö, Sweden - February 25th, 2010.
(Nina)
Related Links
Gamma Ray - Official Website |
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