GAMMA RAY — Majestic (review)

Album · 2005 · Power Metal

3/5 · 2012-05-04
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)