Customer Reviews

Somewhere out in Space

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The greatest hard rock/heavy metal album of all time and space has been unleashed upon mankind...Gamma Ray's "Somewhere Out in Space." The otherworldly potential of musical thinktank Kai Hansen and his post-Pumpkin cohorts has finally been realized. NO comparisons to any other recorded output can do justice to the sheer brilliance that belies this work of art, but I'll try anyway. O.K. To try to fathom the beauty of "Somewhere Out in Space," imagine a combination of the following ingredients: the best Thin Lizzy harmony guitar and lyrics, the heaviest Black Sabbath-ian stomps from the '70's, intense galloping speed a-la early ('83- '84) Metallica, Queen-like anthemic choruses, and enchanting keyboard interludes akin to late '70's Michael Schenker-era UFO. Simply stated, this record is the perfect blend of speed, power, intelligence, beauty, atmosphere, harmony, melody, and musicianship. I am sorry to confirm that "Somewhere Out in Space" has supplanted Black Sabbath's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" as my favorite disc of all-time. If there is an adjective that describes something that surpasses perfection, please alert me, because no word in my vocabulary adequately conveys the unrivaled splendor that is "SOMEWHERE OUT IN SPACE." -David Newman 1998

This is actually a progressive power metal concept album based on Arthur C Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey (That's the author, the guy who directed the movie version was Stanley Kubrick). This is really good music and good vocals and just plain fun to listen to.

It's incredible. There are atill great metal bands around!!! Gamma Ray, the German band, is one of them.!! Great stuff. There were changes in the band formation, after Land of the Freee. Ex-guitarrist Dirk Schlachter assumed bass in this record, while they hired another man to play guitar alongside Kai Hansen. The drummer was also changed. But the sound kept great!!!

This album is not so bad, but Gamma Ray (GR) is repeating and repeating and repeating the same formula again and again and again... While Kai Hansen playing skills are notable, his solos and riffs are not very different from piece to piece, and even from album to album. Musically speaking, this CD has nothing new to offer. I own "Heading For Tomorrow", "Land Of The Free" and "Blast From The Past"; and I should say that at least these three albums are far better than "Somewhere Out In Space" in every aspect. I'd say that this album is some kind of part II of the "Land Of The Free", but with a weaker songwriting, since melodies are not so powerful and lyrics are rather silly and puerile.

One positive point, however: though Hansen's voice doesn't match the Ralf Scheepers' one, again he (and the production!) gets the job fairly well done. Nevertheless, I really missed Ralf this time in the power ballad "Pray": I understand now why Kai Hansen likes to put the microphone in the hands of someone else! In spite of this, Hansen sounds great in "Beyond The Black Hole", "Valley Of The Kings" and "Shine On", which are the more fortunate pieces contained in this release. The cover "Return To Fantasy" is also a nice present to our ears.

I see this album as a not transcendent one in the GR history, but good enough to please their fans and those that are unconditional to the power metal style. Three stars is a fair score, I think. Go on, GR!

This is an album between ok and good. Its very similar to their previous album Land of the free and if you liked this one then you will probably like this album too. Its clasic power metal, aand i think that with Helloween they are the best in this gentre. A nice effort.

Dude, if you like that catchy heavy 80s fantasy metal with brilliantly fast solos, I know these guys won't disappoint you. There's no screaming in here. Just fast jams. This is an amazing album. They just can't go wrong

It can't have been easy for Gamma Ray to follow up their epic 1995 album Land of the Free, but with 1997's Somewhere Out in Space, the band delivered another dose of high quality power metal.

Somewhere Out in Space might not be as majestic as Land of the Free, but it's not that far behind it either. This is a very good power metal album, and definitely has that epic and melodic sound that Kai Hansen practically invented. The whole album is solid, but there are some standout tracks. The title track is a high-speed metal anthem worthy of Helloween, Valley of the Kings and Lost in the Future are epics song despite their relatively short length, Watcher in the Sky could have come from Judas Priest's Painkiller album, and Shine On is a majestic anthem. Future Freedom Call drummer Dan Zimmermann was on board for this album, and you can definitely hear elements of what would become the Freedom Call sound here.

Gamma Ray would continue their series of excellent albums with 1999's Power Plant.

I suppose it goes without saying that Gamma Ray would appeal to Helloween fans. Fans of the more recent power metal bands like Sonata Arctica, Freedom Call, Edguy and Hammerfall also owe it to themselves to check out Gamma Ray, and Somewhere Out in Space is a great album to start with.

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.

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.

forget anything bad you heard about this cd. it's VERY good. the band is very good, kai hansen sings very well and it has good compositions. very good, i recommend it.