GammaRay – Alive ’95 (Remastered & Expanded 2017)

Free at Last . . . and on tour . . .

Reviewed by Brian McGowan

Released by EarMUSIC on 29 September, 2017

Recorded at multiple venues across Europe during the band’s Land Of The Free (Men On Tour) tour, Alive ’95 is not so much a memento of those moments in time, but more a celebration of the band’s arrival in a post-Helloween promised land. It is now remastered, repackaged and reissued as a double disc set in a slick digipack.

Having thrown away the songwriter’s guide book to heavy metal, and with Kai Hansen now handling vocals, you can hear the band enjoying every moment of their new found freedom. Hansen’s unconventionally structured songs come tumbling out onto the stage and into the audience, one after the other, with Hansen and Schlatter’s sandblasting riffs revealing rich melodies as the songs zoom past. It’s all so tight and punchy. You would swear some of these songs, perhaps most notably ‘Abyss Of The Void’, ‘Saviour’ and ‘Tribute To The Past’ are the studio versions, taut and wiry, pumped up into larger than life, stadium friendly proportions. Part performance, part remaster.

Disc two’s hidden secret is a genuine bonus, as it includes material recorded with original vocalist and human siren, Ralf Scheepers. Once you have adjusted to the Hansen vocalised band, it’s so easy to forget that Scheeper’s formidable range and power helped hugely to shape the band’s sound and cement its reputation in those early days. Six immense tracks. A bonus indeed.

Track List:

CD1:gammaray_alive95_anniversary_cd_500

  1. Land Of The Free
  2. Man On A Mission
  3. Rebellion In Dreamland
  4. Space Eater
  5. Fairytale
  6. Tribute To The Past
  7. Heal Me
  8. The Saviour
  9. Abyss Of The Void
  10. Ride The Sky (Helloween cover)
  11. Future World (Helloween cover)
  12. Heavy Metal Mania (Holocaust cover)
  13. Lust For Life (Japanese bonus track)

CD2:

  1. No Return
  2. Changes
  3. Insanity And Genius
  4. Last Before The Storm
  5. Future Madhouse
  6. Heading For Tomorrow

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