To the Metal!

Gamma Ray | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 16, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Earmusic
• ASIN: B0034C24OG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,372 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Gamma Ray! Undoubtedly one of the most important names in contemporary, classic Heavy Metal, and thee most respected and influential German band in the genre. Fronted by Kai Hansen, following his departure from Helloween, Gamma Ray has become one of the most prominent bands in European Heavy Metal. "To The Metal" is the 10th studio album in 21 years of worldwide success and a new diamond in their never-ending experimental creativity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre offering from a great band, August 30, 2010

By 

Wallet Boy (Gaithersburg, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To The Metal (Audio CD)

Oh man, this is depressing. One of my favorite bands is back with a new album, and it's borderline amateurish. The songwriting and the production leaves much to be desired. How did this happen? Why was this released? I haven't seen the "making of" DVD on some of the other editions of this album, but it would definitely be interesting to see how they put this album together.

First of all, the songs. They are generic. They are stock. They have been done before, both by Gamma Ray and by other bands. I'm assuming that the title track, "To The Metal", is an homage to Judas Priest's "Metal Gods" (it even references the song in the lyrics), but I don't understand why. Why would you take an established song, rearrange the riff and the words, and pass it off as something new? And on top of that, make it the centerpiece of your new album?? It's mind-boggling.

The rest of the songs have some good ideas, but their organization is all over the place. Sometimes a really fast aggressive song will veer off the road directly into an over the top poppy, light chorus. Sometimes a slow song will suddenly speed up, and Zimmerman can't settle on what style drum beat he wants to do, so he just throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Sometimes Kai will throw in some crazy scream between two verses, for absolutely no reason, when the song isn't calling for something like that at all. At other times, he sounds like he's phoning in a verse - he just doesn't sound that interested. And then there are the guest vocals of Michael Kiske, which sound like a chorus was written for him, and then the band realized that they had to come up with verses and the like to go around it. I could go on.

Second, on top of the wishy-washy songwriting, the album suffers from the worst production of Gamma Ray's career. Think Death Magnetic. Think annoying trebly digital noise on top of Kai's vocals and many of the instruments. It might sound ok on an ipod, but I'm not listening on an ipod. I'm listening on my home stereo, and in my car, and it actually hurts my ears. I'm not exaggerating on this either. I was in the car today and I had to turn the volume way down because it was so abrasive. Again, what happened here? The band has always had good production - why suddenly has this changed?

Finally, since this is the Japanese review (yes, I did buy the Japanese release - I did not illegally download it) there are two bonus tracks - One Life and Wannabes. Wannabes is a fun song that pokes fun at people who say they're into the band but aren't - hangers-on, VIPs, etc. The production hurts this track as well, but it's not a bad bonus track. 'One Life' is like the album itself. A fairly generic metal song that I would expect out of a metal band that I have no interest in listening to. But this is Gamma Ray, and I expect better.

Let me just say, I LOVE this band and what they've done over the years, so I am completely baffled by this release. I just wish someone would have had the stones to say "let's start over" upon hearing this. It gets two stars because many of the songs have good ideas in them. But I can't claim that even one of the songs is great from start to finish.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just shy of being excellent, March 28, 2010

By 

John Cintorino (Queens, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To The Metal! (CD + DVD) (Audio CD)

The only reason that I didn't give this disc 5 stars is for 3 reasons. First, I think that the conscious effort to write shorter, more compact songs takes away from Gamma Ray's strength. It's missing that one big epic song.
Second, I think that No Need To Cry should have been a bonus track at best, with either One Life or Wannabees(both bonus tracks from the Japanese version)making the final album track listing. I understand that this is a very personal song to Dirk, but sometimes some songs should either be bonus tracks or left out entirely. Sadly this is one of those songs that I feel completely misses the mark.
And third, for the life of me I can't understand why Edel/EarMusic decided to change the track order from the original version that was released in Japan. When I listened to it the first few times I thought it was only an ok album. Then I listened to it in the original sequence, the way the band meant for it to be heard, and it sounds like a completely different album. It just flows so much better this way.

1.Rise
2.Deadlands
3.Mother Angel
4.No Need To Cry
5.Empathy
6.To The Metal
7.All You Need To Know
8.Time To Live
9.Shine Forever
10.Chasing Shadows

I won't detail every track, but it's safe to say that it's what you would expect from Gamma Ray considering their progression over the last few albums. If you already have this album and were disappointed with it, try listening to it in the above sequence. I think you'll see it in a new light. If you don't already own it, pick it up. It's another solid album by the masters of power metal.

Hail To The Metal. All Hail Kai.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judas Priest meets Iron Maiden meets Motorhead!, May 13, 2010

By 

Thin Timmy "Bela Drake" (New Orleans, La.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: To The Metal! (CD + DVD) (Audio CD)

Note to all Gamma Ray fans that I was not a fan
before this album so I don't know why you don't
like it. I bought this cause I heard To the Metal!
& I loved it! It reminds me of Metal Gods by Priest
& bands like Saxon, Motorhead & Maiden from the
early 80's! But it is not but I love it. I'm not
a fan of thrash or cookie monster vocals but this
is an incredible album. The songs are well written
& melodic but fast paced & played extremely well.
Every song is a killer. I may get into more Gamma
Ray later but this should last me. I loved the DVD
bonus also. Great insight to the band. I can say to
any NWBM fan from 80's this is good stuff. I still
love the other metal bands like UFO, Y&T & the ones
above & surprised I like this but I admit I'm hooked.
I think new fans and old fans should give it a listen.