after owning this album for maybe 4 years now, i look at it and try to console myself while wiping the thick dust off it, that we're all human after all and we're bound to make errors. this error of an album cost me 16 bucks at that time. have i started telling you anything about the album's music yet? i think not. cos i cant remember how the music on this record sounded like... i just remember that after a few spins, i've had enough of stupid double bass drums that were present on every second of the album, where there could have been some meaningful passage instead...oh yes, there's "send me a sign" (among gamma ray's best, i think) which is a really nice tune and earns this album's 2 stars rating, and ...well it has a nice cover too! otherwise, it was a black day when this release came out and an even blacker one, when i bought it.

Kai Hansen is no doubt a phenomonal guitarist, and one has to admire his technical skill and energy. That being said, I think he did his best work with Helloween and has broken very little new ground since. I came to Gamma Ray through Helloween and I love the Keeper albums, as well as Walls of Jericho. However, I like the Keeper albums more because, as I have realized, The trio ofKiske/Weitach(sp?/Hansen created a sound that was simultaneously aggressive (Hansen), melodic (Weitach), and fun (Kiske). When Hansen left they lost thier aggressive edge and almost became a pop band with the Pink Bubbles & Chamellion albums. Hansen, in turn, went off to write pounding metal ridden with teenage angst (what is this guy, pushing 40 by now?) and he hasn't changed a bit. Gamma ray is O.K. if you are a thrash fanatic and are looking for some full-out metal. If you are a fan of melodic metal, This is not the album. New World Order is better, but Powerplant will not satisfy the discerning metal fan.

To tell you the truth, this type of metal stinks. Is antiquated, boring, outdated and most of all very very repetitive. A word of advice if you want a library collection of this type of metal just try to buy a single from what ever random band of power matal, it can be either stratovarius, blind guardian whatever, and listen to just one song, and there is your power metal library, in other words it all sounds the same: melody, repetitive double bass drum.... and terrible 80's vocals.

There was only one band that could truly play this type of metal to perfection, and that band was Helloween.