Random Album #2

Well, it was good to rediscover Anarchy Club yesterday and write about them. So good, in fact, that it's time for another random album review! So, I'll hit play and get...

...Somewhere Out In Space, by Gamma Ray. Power metal time!

The album starts off with a triple-bass (bass guitar and double bass pedal) intro on "Beyond the Black Hole" This is my favorite song from the album with its fast pace, high, energy, and hilariously absurd lyrics about a wanderer of the stars who has nothing to live for in this galaxy and decides to seek another through the eponymous black hole. Only a power metal band could make such a lighthearted, heroic song about suicide. Fantastic, energetic solo and an extremely catchy chorus make this song a power metal classic.

"Men, Martians, and Machines" starts with a tune that will be instantly familiar for anyone who has seen a certain alien film classic...hey, wait a minute, it has the same riff as Electric Eye! What the heck!? My opinion of Gamma Ray just dropped slightly. Oh well, the album is still young. "No Stranger (Another Day In Life)" doesn't seem to remarkable at first, but it has a pretty intense solo. With my new headphones (which I didn't have the first time), the 'muddy'-sounding mixing of Gamma Ray's songs is more clear, but the it does complement the reverb of their guitars nicely.

The title track is definitely more thrashy and gets right to business with the double guitars and double-bass drumming. Excellent, significantly more varied vocals make this a surprise hit, almost as good as "Beyond the Black Hole". It also displays excellent songwriting, with more sections than many a prog metal song. Epic. "Pray" is the obligatory slower-paced ballad, nothing spectacular. "The Winged Horse" is progressive in length, but less so in structure than "Somewhere Out in Space", and is more like an extended version of their other songs with a lengthy instrumental section.

"Lost in the Future" blends heavy, pounding guitars with an "Oh! Susanna" solo (believe it). That was awesome. "Shine on" blends the length of "Winged Horse" with the progginess of the title track, and the result is fairly majestic. It seems a more appropriate album send-off than the final track, "Return to Fantasy." Overall, Somewhere Out In Space is a great listen, but Gamma Ray isn't exactly my favorite power metal band, and I'd more highly recommend their next album Power Plant, their 2005 release Majestic, or Land of the Free II.