adg211288 Often overlooked next to the albums released between 1995 – 2001, Majestic (2005) is the eighth full-length studio album by German power metal act Gamma Ray. Bringing to a close what had been the Kai Hansen led group's longest stretch between studio albums, it is probably fair to say that Majestic isn't quite the genre classic that Land of the Free (1995), Somewhere Out in Space (1997), Power Plant (1999) and No World Order (2001) are, but it's easily the band's next best album.

Hansen and co get the album going full throttle right off the bat with My Temple. Fast, heavy power metal riffs that are well produced and full of energy; just the thing that fans of the genre expect to hear. Like many power metal albums there are some heavy metal elements too that add some variation to the tempo, but overall Majestic is close to being a pure power metal release. Hansen's distinctive vocals are instantly recognisable, as usual perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but by this point it really wouldn't be Gamma Ray without his signature style, no disrespect meant to the work of Ralf Scheepers on the first three Gamma Ray albums of course. And he serves up many memorable choruses on Majestic that keep the album's tracks stuck in your head upon its conclusion. My Temple is just the first of these. There's also Hell is Thy Home and Condemned to Hell, to name a couple.

It's definitely a fair conclusion to call Majestic a typical sounding Gamma Ray album, but why try to fix a winning formula that isn't broken? That's right, there is no point. It's also true that this album doesn't serve up tracks that will go down alongside the likes of Rebellion in Dreamland, Beyond the Black Hole, Land of the Free and Anywhere in the Galaxy as Gamma Ray's very best songs, but what the album does have is ten very good songs that consistently deliver all the classic Gamma Ray elements for about fifty-five minutes. What more to you really want from a power metal album? More to the point, at the time of Majestic's release it had been fifteen years since the debut Gamma Ray album Heading for Tomorrow (1990) and twenty years since Kai Hansen fronted the first Helloween album Walls of Jericho (1985) yet here he is turning out hard hitting power metal with his group in such a fashion that most young bands can only hope to match. He's not called the Godfather of Power Metal for nothing!

Stephen Gamma Ray returned to the metal realm after four years since their last album, "No World Order". A set of ten high-octane tracks ready to blow your speaker starting from "My Temple" that opens the door with a full frontal assaulting rhythm top with Hansen's raging scream standing proud on top of an ever-changing tempo platform. "Fight" is not slowing down a bit, they pumped up the tempo and taking off high with the beautiful classic riffs. "Strange World" is a slower attempt with an atmospheric keyboard at the front and a Judas Priest-influenced groove.

Some tracks did tightly grab my interest especially those that's played in the veins of traditional power metal. "Hell Is Thy Home", "Blood Religion", and "How Long" are the perfect examples of a whirling twin guitars, high-pitch shouter, and highway-speed double-bass drumming that was common in the Helloween early days.However, it's a shame that some other tracks are turning off the mood with an unbalanced and tiring composition such as the nu-metal wannabe "Condemned To Hell", the six frustrating minutes of "Majesty", and the exhausting closer, "Revelation", that should have been downsized to 4 minutes to avoid boredom.

"Majestic" got its own strength and weakness, probably lacks a little originality, nothing's extra ordinary, but if you're just looking for another headbanging record, Gamma Ray did a good solid job here.

RuneWalsh2112 After taking Scandinavia by storm with "No World Order" there was definitely a hope on my part that Gamma Ray would be able to achieve a streak of strong releases. In retrospect it seems that this hope was not fulfilled by the band as "Majestic" was a completely different beast that, in reality, was a wolf in sheep's clothes!

I vividly remember being excited after reading the announcement of the new Gamma Ray album and I pretty much bought the record on its release date. Unfortunately I felt quite disappointed after my first spin of the album since I didn't feel like any of the compositions felt powerful nor memorable enough. The heavy metal sound of the previous album was no longer there and what we've got instead was a heavier and less melodic power metal album that was trying to play on both fronts without actually achieving success in any of the departments.

What I didn't realize back then was the fact that this record was closer to the style presented on the "Powerplant" record and this was actually a return to the band's Power Metal roots. At the same time, there was a certain heaviness to these compositions that made them stand out in comparison to the past material but the overall sound was still lacking a punch to it. The first three tracks ("My Temple", "Fight" and "Strange World") are all pretty decent Power Metal tracks that fit in with the expectations that a casual Power Metal fan can have on his/her brew of the genre but this is certainly far from the excellence that Gamma Ray have been capable of in the past!

"Hell Is Thy Home" is where this record begins to truly lose me since the chorus melody reminds me too much of the U2 anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday", even though Kai Hansen does his best to hide this notion in his vocal delivery. "Blood Religion" is considered somewhat of a fan favorite but I'm not that enthusiastic about the track since it's pretty much a reprise of every anthem from every previous Gamma Ray album presented in a new shining package. Luckily all hope is not lost since "Majestic" actually has one unique asset that has been absent on all the previous Gamma Ray records, namely an excellent mid album section! "Condemned To Hell" and especially "Spiritual Dictator" are easily the biggest highlights that the record has to offer, the latter is the closest this album comes to the sound of "No World Order"! Incidentally, I just noticed that both songs are composed by Dan Zimmermann, making it another triumph on his part.

The final three tracks are the weakest of the bunch where "Majesty" sees the band trying to replicate the Iron Maiden formula from "Powerslave", but instead sound forced and uninspired. "How Long" really begs the question of how much more there is left of this album and how soon will we get something interesting to sink our teeth into? "Revelation" finally closes the album on a pleasant but somewhat tedious note due to the fact that the track is 8+ minutes long without actually having a purpose for being this long.

"Majestic" is, in my opinion, the weakest of the Kai Hansen-fronted recordings so far! I place the blame on Hansen's inability to deliver the goods in the song writing department. Having said that, I still think that even a weak Gamma Ray album is better than any of the average albums that are produced by their peers. Let's just hope that the band can get some new muse that would inspire then to write new quality material in the future.

**** star songs: My Temple (4:58) Fight (3:25) Strange World (5:03) Blood Religion (6:55) Condemned To Hell (4:56) Spiritual Dictator (5:41) Revelation (8:30)

*** star songs: Hell Is Thy Home (4:45) Majesty (6:25) How Long (4:06)