Search - Gamma Ray :: Land of the Free (Dig)

A true masterpiece! Considered by many Keeper part III

John | Greece | 01/06/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Gamma Ray's finest hour! One more milestone of Power Metal after Helloween's Keeper albums! Hansen blows all his competition and Helloween clones out of the water with this one.



Kai Hansen returns with his majestic riffing, crazy leads, insane-fast solos and he is also back on vocals! Don't think for a second that this is a drawback, he has improved a lot since the recording of Walls Of Jericho. His vocals are more worked, clearer and still possess the strength to produce high pitched screams! The rest of the band is in really great form especially the drummer, who almost never lifts his foot off the double bass and pounds his tombs like crazy.



The arrangements are of epic proportions reminding of past glories and at some parts even surpassing them. The guest appearances of Michael Kiske and Hansi Kursch on 3 tracks add extra points to the brilliance of this release and remind you of the classic 80's Helloween era!



"Rebellion In Dreamland" starts of the album in a ballad form picking up speed as it progresses. Mind blowing riffs and solos, tempo changes and a really powerful chorus make this track a masterpiece and the most epic song that Gamma Ray ever put out! "Man On A Mission" comes next, reaching insane speeds which bring to mind good old speed metal. It is comprised of fantasy lyrics, a smart chorus and fast soloing (the song reminds me of 'Save Us' from Keeper II). "Fairytale" follows, an incredible pounding track which only lasts for 50 seconds and leaves you wanting more! After a short instrumental break comes "Gods Of Deliverance" and is mainly maintained by it's catchy chorus and Kai's vocals, a nice track. The next two tracks are nothing special as one of them is a ballad; a field were Gamma Ray were never really good at and the other being a faster track but with nothing special to give.



"Land Of The Free" follows; which is definitely the second best masterpiece of the album (after Rebellion In Dreamland). Great riffs, one of the best choruses Hansen has ever written and the guest appearance of both Kiske and Kursch on the chorus will surely make you shiver. Add some solo battles and Kiske's vocals at the song's majestic ending and you have a classic tune! After another short instrumental comes "Abyss Of The Void", another strong track with nice vocals by Kai, followed by "Time To Break Free" which is sang entirely by Kiske and it is a catchy heavy metal track. "Afterlife" is the last track, a power ballad type song dedicated to Ingo Schwichtenberg (Helloween's drummer 1985-1993), a strange track with deep lyrics.



In my opinion this album together with Helloween's Keeper albums are a must have concerning European power metal and they are also linked together musically and lyric wise. These records paved the way for all the rest of the bands that followed and their glory and musical perfection has never been reached.



Will be love by Helloween, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius and power metal fans in general."

Best Gamma Ray album ever

M. D. Fonseca | Thunder | 11/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"LAND OF THE FREE is the best Gamma Ray album ever. They had never recorded something so good before, nor they did something so good after. Maybe, excited by the challenge of singing lead vocals again after a long time, Kai Hansen did his best.
This concept album is top of the game in the power / melodic metal genre. All the songs flow in a natural way, with speed, wight, force, dynamism, great lyrics, great solos, great drumming by Thomas Nack. The high points are the opener "Rebellion In Dreamland", followed by "Man On A Mission" and the title track. MIchael Kiske, ex-Helloween, appears as guest vocalist for "Time To Break Free". There's also a "requiem" song called "Afterlife", dedicated to ex-Helloween drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg, who comitted suicide in Germany by jumping ahead of a train.This is pretty obvious the work of an inspired band at the top of their form. Both the drummer and the bass player are no longer in the band. Kai Hansen pal and guitarist / producer Dirk Schlachter gave up on guitars and assumed bass guitar, giving room to the hiring of guitarist Henjo Richter, a very good player.LAND OF THE FREE is metal at its best, no matter the genre inside metal."

Gamma Ray's Best...Remastered!

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 09/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The crown jewel in the Gamma Ray catalog is undoubtedly 1995's Land of the Free.



After the departure of vocalist Ralf Scheepers (now in Primal Fear), Gamma Ray founder Kai Hansen assumed vocal duties, which he hadn't tried in quite some time. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed his vocals here as much as Scheepers' performance. It didn't hurt that Hansen's vocal return happened to occur on what is probably the strongest album he has written since the legendary Keeper of the Seven Keys albums. Land of the Free is a powerful album from start to finish, and while it is still very much in the melodic power metal style that Kai Hansen practically invented, it is unique enough to truly break free of Helloween's shadow. Even without the concept tying the songs together, they have a very cohesive feel. There isn't any sense of unevenness like you might find on earlier Gamma Ray albums. Standout tracks include...well, all of them really. There are no duds here. The album's highlights are the guest appearances by former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske and Blind Guardian's Hansi Kurisch, who was returning the favor for Hansen's string of guest appearances on Blind Guardian's early albums.



I suppose it goes without saying that Gamma Ray would appeal to Helloween fans. Fans of the more recent power metal bands like Sonata Arctica, Freedom Call, Edguy and Hammerfall also owe it to themselves to check out Gamma Ray, and Land of the Free is the perfect album to start with.



Edition Notes: The 2003 reissue of Land of the Free features digitally remastered sound and three bonus tracks (a cover of Holocaust's "Heavy Metal Mania," "As Time Goes By" and a new version of "The Silence"). It comes in a pretty cheap-looking digipack, but aside from that it's a nice upgrade of an already classic album.



PS - If you can find one, there is a very cool (but very limited) box set that collects all six of the remastered Gamma Ray albums."