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File:01 no world order.jpg

Your reaction is probably; "Ghosts with laser swords, flying pyramids, UFOs and the very Earth at stake! Holy s@&%!" But for 'Ray, it's just Tuesday.

Cquote1

By moonlight there's way... FOR REBELLION!

Here, the world has gone astray... REVOLUTION!

Now, the time has come to pray... HALLELUJAH!

Deep, inside our minds we wait... FOR REBELLION!

Here in dreamland we will not obey the masters...
Rebellion in Dreamland
Cquote2


Gamma Ray is a power metal band from north Germany, founded by former Helloween guitarist, singer, and songwriter Kai Hansen.

In 1988, after four years with his former band, guitarist and songwriter Kai Hansen decided, for reasons that are still the subject of much debate, to leave the band. Hansen claimed that Helloween had become too big for him to handle, although the group's troubles with financial issues and the record company most likely played a part as well. He proceeded to do some studio work with Blind Guardian. Eventually, Hansen decided to form his own project with long-time friend Ralf Scheepers from Tyran Pace. This two-man project grew into a four-man band with the addition of Uwe Wessel (bass) and Mathias Burchard (drums). Thus was Gamma Ray born, bearing a sound understandably close to that of Hansen's former band, Helloween.

One of notable features is that their style is very non-uniform , thus sometimes, e.g. Insanity and Genius but not Power Plant will be to one's taste, or vice versa. This was especially noticeable in the first five albums, which had at least one member different from preceding album, but the style still changes with each album.

Band Members:

  • Kai Hansen - Vocals & Guitar (1989-)
  • Henjo Richter - Guitar, Keyboards (1997-)
  • Dirk Schlächter - Bass (1990-)
  • Dan Zimmermann - Drums (1997-)

Studio Albums:

  • 1990 - Heading for Tomorrow
  • 1991 - Sigh No More
  • 1993 - Insanity and Genius
  • 1995 - Land of the Free
  • 1997 - Somewhere Out in Space
  • 1999 - Power Plant
  • 2001 - No World Order
  • 2005 - Majestic
  • 2007 - Land of the Free II
  • 2010 - To The Metal

Gamma Ray songs include:

Tropes used in Gamma Ray include:


Song tropes[]

  • Audience Participation Song: "Heavy Metal Universe", from Powerplant, is transformed into pure pantomime live, with the audience being divided into thirds to sing various sections, along with a call-back section that keeps getting higher and longer until Kai is the only person in the room who can do it without dying. "Blood Religion" and "To The Metal" are following the same path.
  • Bowdlerisation: "Your Tørn Is Over", from Insanity & Genius, has the following lines in the booklet:
Cquote1

 Think I better keep an eye on you

Cause you're a liar that's what they tell

There's nothing in the world that you can do

I'm gonna take you down to hell

And I don't care just what you do or say

Cquote2
    • Yet in the song itself, these are the sung parts:
Cquote1

 Think I better keep an eye on you

On every move that you make

Cause you are motherf**king liar , uuuh

Well, everybody knows you're fake

And I don't give a sh*t on what you say

Cquote2
Cquote1

 God is an illusion and there ain't no paradise!

And there is no underworld below!

Out there is no heaven, and there ain't no Antichrist!

Cquote2
    • "Hell Is Thy Home", from Majestic:
Cquote1

 Hell is thy home!

Darkness thy destiny!

Cquote2
    • Or singing about the Apocalypse (or Rapture?) to the happy bounce of "Gardens of the Sinner", from Powerplant. They're a happy bunch.
    • "Armageddon", from Powerplant:
Cquote1

 And now, my brothers,

annihilation is foretold!

Cquote2
    • "Hold Your Ground", from Heading For Tomorrow:
Cquote1

 Come to plague me,

rape and take me,

freeze me up! Freeze me up!

Cquote2
    • Also, "Blood Religion", from Majestic, a happy bouncing with a dark vampyric lyric.
    • "Empathy", from To The Metal:
Cquote1

 Take me down to the place below

Can't you see I'm falling?

Pain has come and the world keeps going on

in empathy...

Cquote2
Cquote1

 The path I've chosen now has led me to a wall

And though my mind could see I still was a blind man

Cquote2
  • Skyward Scream: "Razorblade Sigh", from Powerplant.
  • Step Up to the Microphone:
    • Dirk Schlachter is the one singing in "Your Tørn Is Over", from Insanity & Genius.
    • Prior to becoming a full-fledged vocalist, Kai sung "Heal Me", also from Insanity & Genius. Until then, he was a backing vocalist.
  • Take That:
    • The Japan exclusive "Wannabees" (one of the bonus tracks for To the Metal) parodies elitist attitudes.
    • The Rockstar Song "Rich and Famous", from Sigh No More, is one against Money Songs and similar aspects of the rock star lifestyle.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: "All Of The Damned", from Land Of The Free.
Cquote1

 I see a face in my mirror on the wall,

and I don't know what it can be.

I see a face inside the rainbow.

At the end of the dream,

the face in the rainbow is me.

Cquote2
  • Welcome to The Real World: "Real World", from Land Of The Free II, invokes the trope's name in the lyrics.
  • The X of Y: Mostly between Land Of The Free and No World Order, plenty of titles such as "Wings of Destiny", the eponymous "Land of the Free", "The Guardians of Mankind" and "The Heart of the Unicorn".


Misc tropes (videos and other stuff)[]

  • I Am the Band: Kai is the band's Dave Mustaine, as he's the one who compose almost every song of the band, and is the most recognizable member of it.
  • Futuristic Pyramid: Heading For Tomorrow, Somewhere Out In Space, No World Order and Land Of The Free II, among the examples.
  • Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Edition:
    • The digipack version of Land of the Free II subverts this, as it proudly proclaims "Limited First Edition" on the cover, yet it doesn't have anything to be limited for. Technically, it represents the first pressing of the album and is a way to tell apart the first and second/third/etc. pressings of LOTFII, despite having no functional difference.
    • To The Metal, on the other hand, plays this straight, offering up a limited hand-signed version with CD and vinyl that went out of print Short As Hell afterwards.
  • Long Title: The live album "Hell Yeah! The Awesome Foursome! (And the finnish keyboardist who didn't want to wear his Donald Duck costume) - Live In Montreal!"
  • Mascot: Fangface, who appears on their album covers, as well as the cover of the first Helloween album and EP.
  • Non-Appearing Title: Powerplant.
  • The Pete Best: Although it would be difficult for many fans to recognize every other member aside of Kai Hansen, (and Ralf Scheepers, to some extent, because he went to form Primal Fear) some members are more notorious than others, especially those who played before Land Of The Free was released:
    • Former drummer Matthias Burchardt is the best example of this trope in the band. He only played in Heading For Tomorrow and the Who Do You Think You Are? EP.
    • Former drummer Uli Kusch subverts this. Even if he only recorded an album with the band, (Sigh No More) he went later to join Helloween and record the first four studio albums with Andi Deris, (Master Of The Rings, The Time Of The Oath, Better Than Raw and The Dark Ride) before co-founding Masterplan with Roland Grapow. He's also notorious in that he's the only member of Gamma Ray, aside of Kai himself, who played with both Gamma Ray and Helloween.
    • Another example of the trope is former bassist Uwe Wessel, who played bass in the first two albums (Heading For Tomorrow and Sigh No More) before leaving and fading into the shadows.
  • Real Men Play Pink Guitars
  • Recycled in Space: To some extent, the band themselves, having started off with often very political themes to their music and then gradually transformed into sci-fi theming by the time Somewhere Out in Space was released. That continued for a few albums and then dropped away again. Considering that some members changed after each album on their first through fifth, it's not so surprising. Iron Savior could also be considered a space-themed brother band to Gamma Ray, having had fully three quarters of Gamma Ray's membership in it at one point.
  • The Rival: Helloween. Originally not on very friendly terms, the bands now tour and even play encores together.
  • Shout-Out: The booklet designer for To The Metal must be a Warcraft/World of Warcraft player, given the use of the same font as the menus and even the yellow and white scheme of such.
  • Start My Own:
    • This is how Gamma Ray started. After quitting from Helloween, Kai Hansen went to work on some other thing (such as producing Blind Guardian's first album) before forming the band.
    • Ralf Scheepers went to form Primal Fear with several members of Sinner after failing for an audition to be Judas Priest's singer.
  • The Workaholic: Kai Hansen. At some point, he was in THREE bands at the same time (working with Avantasia, Gamma Ray and Iron Savior) and spent as much work on Gamma Ray as he did in other bands!

"Heeeeere in Dreamland we will not obey... THE MASTERS!"

  1. It also doesn't help that the song is sometimes referred to as "Carry On".
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