The first three records from Kai Hansen's band tried to follow a certain innovation/evolution within German power metal's restricted scene. Sigh No More, the second of them, does not escape to this noble intention of the former Helloween guitarist. The record shows a band finding its identity through 11 cuts where various influences mark the route all along its path. It takes a series of bumps, where the peaks mark the creative apex of the group and the low ones border the dullest mediocrity. Pr   [ read more ]

CD $43.68

CD $58.88

CD $9.48

The first three records from Kai Hansen's band tried to follow a certain innovation/evolution within German power metal's restricted scene. Sigh No More, the second of these, does not escape this noble intention of the former Helloween guitarist. The record shows a band finding its identity through 11 cuts where various influences mark the route all along its path. It takes a series of bumps, where the peaks mark the creative apex of the group and the valleys border the dullest mediocrity. Proba   [ read more ]

CD $13.28

German guitarist Kai Hansen shocked the heavy metal establishment when he threw in the proverbial towel -- quitting power metal legends Helloween at the height of their fame for greener pastures. Of course, Hansen was merely tired of the giant machinery that had enveloped his one-time baby, and promptly put his efforts into a new group called Gamma Ray, which, to no one's surprise, sounded a lot like Helloween. Indeed, Gamma Ray's fine 1989 debut, Heading for Tomorrow, represented   [ read more ]

CD $9.48

Much like 1997's Somewhere out in Space, this is a concept album. This time out, former Helloween leader Kai Hansen's band buys into the themes presented by author Mark Brauneis, a conspiracy nut whose tales of the all-powerful Illuminati go directly into No World Order. Musically, the band gets back to Hansen's NWOBHM roots a shade more than in the past, eschewing ornate prog metal for basic riffing and songwriting that evokes ancient Queensr che and primal Judas Priest ({&"Solid   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

The members of Gamma Ray are caught in a timewarp, and if one is a die-hard fan of old-school '70s and '80s power metal, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Throughout the '90s, the German headbangers offered no acknowledgment of post-'80s alternative metal trends -- and when the early 2000s arrived, they were still partying like it was 1984. This live double-CD was recorded at concerts in Barcelona, Spain and Strasbourg, Germany during Gamma Ray's European tour of 2002, but stylistically, {^Ske   [ read more ]

CD $23.73

CD $27.53

German guitarist Kai Hansen shocked the heavy metal establishment when he threw in the proverbial towel -- quitting power metal legends Helloween at the height of their fame for greener pastures. Of course, Hansen was merely tired of the giant machinery that had enveloped his one-time baby, and promptly put his efforts into a new group called Gamma Ray, which, to no one's surprise, sounded a lot like Helloween. Indeed, Gamma Ray's fine 1989 debut, Heading for Tomorrow, represented   [ read more ]

CD $43.68

The stigma of Helloween is a hard one to get rid off, as illustrated on Gamma Ray's first three LPs. Kai Hansen succeeded in creating a band of his own, but he couldn't come up with an idiosyncratic style or even implement it well. Land of the Free is, however, a complete success considering Hansen's progression, and intriguingly breaks the basic concept that Gamma Ray's contemporaries have used so much. The opener, "Rebellion in Dreamland," for example, doesn't have a decent structure.   [ read more ]

CD $43.68

CD $27.53

Much like 1997's Somewhere out in Space, this is a concept album. This time out, former Helloween leader Kai Hansen's band buys into the themes presented by author Mark Brauneis, a conspiracy nut whose tales of the all-powerful Illuminati go directly into No World Order. Musically, the band gets back to Hansen's NWOBHM roots a shade more than in the past, eschewing ornate prog metal for basic riffing and songwriting that evokes ancient Queensr che and primal Judas Priest ({&"Solid   [ read more ]

CD $43.68