lTrack Listing:
1) My Temple
2) Fight
3) Strange World
4) Hell Is My Home
5) Blood Religion
6) Condemned to Hell
7) Spiritual Dictator
8) Majesty
9) How Long
10) Revelation

Kai Hansen - Vocals & Guitar
Dirk Schlδchter - Bass
Henjo Richter - Guitar & Keyboards
Daniel Zimmerman - Drums

abel:Mayan Records

We live in dark times. The economy might be on a slight uprise, the state of the world is still uncertain. While in most European countries politicians try to convince us that every bearded man possesses a terrorist threat, most people in America still don't know what to think about what's happening in their country - let alone outside of it. Furthermore nuclear threats, global warming and international terrorism are not the least of things to we worried about. Somehow this uncertainty has resulted in a number of sombre albums this Fall. Last month Stratovarius released quite a dark album, this month followed by Bon Jovi and Gamma Ray who both release dark and moody albums - both lyrics-wise as well as packaging-wise. Not entirely strange, for all three bands - all once the premier band in their specific genre of melodic rock or metal - have toured every corner of the world in the last years.

'Majestic' is the first studio recording of Kai Hansen's band since the release of their best album so far, the 2001-release 'No World Order'. Just like on that record, Kai manages to bring forth a sound that is very conscious of the world we're living in at the moment. Of course the band still grosses in melodic heavy metal, but its undertones are dark and mysterious, resulting in desolate lyrics on songs such as 'Fight', 'Strange World' and 'Blood Religion'.

Still, it sounds unmistakably like Gamma Ray. After all, wasn't 'I Want Out' at the time Kai's contemporary reply to his position in Helloween? And didn't 'Powerplant' include multiple songs containing Kai's view on the world around it? 'Majesty', in that respect, underlines that truly great metal songs never age. Add to that the great production, the strong guitar playing by Kai and Henjo and the powerful drums of Dan Zimmerman and you end up with once again an excellent Gamma Ray-cd. The album might not be as varied or melodic as 'Powerplant' and 'No World Order', but that's a small price to pay. 'Majesty' is an excellent cd that'll easily carry the band forward in time for another two or three years.