When GAmma RAy began to replace musicians at will as somekind of modern BLACK SABBATH, I realized that thing would never be the same again. This album is clearly inferior to LAND OF THE FREE.

This is the album that really sold me on German power metal. I'd heard and liked Helloween(still do), but I must admit I was blown away after buying this on a whim. To newcomers, this won't sound all that extraordinary since you're probably already desensitized by the countless number of power metal clones out there. I consider this the real deal(along with Helloween and Blind Guardian....Grave Digger too I suppose) coz the grandaddy of this sound(Kai Hansen) is the leader of the group. Gamma Ray aren't the originators of this sound, Blind Guardian and Helloween existed long before, but this album is of personal significance because it was the one that really grabbed me. I think it had something to do with the intense energy and speed. I had always been a huge fan of thrash, but most of those groups(though I still love them) were always about Satan, death, disease, hate, etc. In the sleeve for this album, the band is smiling in their pictures! Very un-speed metal-like. I wish more people knew about this group in a world of extremely lame metal bands. It's scary that these guys are big in many other countries, but virtually unknown in the U.S. The ability to play instruments isn't really a necessity here.

Some really incredible stuff on this album. 'Beyond The Black Hole' and 'Somewhere Out In Space' are, in my opinion, among the best metal songs ever recorded. Other notables are 'Valley Of The Kings', 'Men, Martians and Machines', and 'Pray', but there's more goodies to be found here. Unfortunately, the last few songs feel a little forced. It's nice to get a CD with 14 songs, but quality is better than quantity, and there are a couple of real boners in there that kept me from giving this CD a '5'. But the good ones make it worth having in your collection. You'll never get enough of them.