GAMMA RAY — No World Order (review)

GAMMA RAY — No World Order album cover Album · 2001 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Mjöllnir
My first experience with power metal, actually, which I became quickly became obsessed with in the summer to winter 2002. Ah, those were the days... Looking back now of course things are different, with countless albums listened to with increasingly stale bands. I still enjoy this one, Gamma Ray strip things down a bit, pay tribute to their heroes (a little too much on Solid) with an evident NWOBHM streak to their polished sound. They weren't quite in the habit of annoyingly "quoting" Maiden and Priest everywhere yet which makes the unoriginality forgivable.

If you've read my other reviews for this band, then the drill remains largely the same. There's more sameness to the songs than usual but with the quality songwriting making up for it. I should also mention that drummer Dan Zimmerman is also very accomplished in his writing duties, penning eye-popping opener Dethrone Tyranny and the crushing Damn the Machine. Heart of the Unicorn, Heaven or Hell and New World Order are typical Kai Hansen tracks, very good but nothing he hasn't come up with before. Solid is adapted (sounds more accurate that labelling it "lifted") from Judas Priest's Rapid Fire although the pre-chorus/chorus section is original. Some will hate this but others will see it as a nice tribute. I've come to really loathe it when bands do this but for some reason I continue to enjoy this one.

From here on out, the last four tracks lose a bit of energy although it's not total crash and burn except for the "evil" weepy ballad Lake of Tears. For an album I bought based on the cover art alone, this was something quite special and it's held up when I wouldn't have expected it to. Got to give it serious credit for the great stuff I went on to find.
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