Cosmic Rayz: An Underground Tribute to Gamma Ray (2019)

One of my earliest metal albums was the first Nativity in Black tribute album to Black Sabbath (in fact it was my sixth or seventh as I bought Megadeth's Youthanasia at the same time and it came after I picked up the first five Metallica albums).  That album helped broaden my horizons and introduced me to a number of bands.  Ever since then, tribute albums have held a soft spot in my black heart.  I don't pick them up frequently, but I do get them once in awhile.  I recently picked up this one, which features a number of lesser-known power and speed metal bands performing covers of songs by Gamma Ray, the band formed by Kai Hansen after leaving Helloween.  I was only familiar with one band here and I am not real familiar with most of Gamma Ray's music (just Somewhere Out in Space), but I figured I would take a chance on it.  In order to do this post, I listened to each of the new songs back to back with the original Gamma Ray version.  Here we go:

"Tribute to the Past" by Steelballs

It is hard to take a band seriously that calls themselves Steelballs, but power metal is inherently cheesy.  The singer does his best interpretation of Ralf Scheepers, but comes out with a little higher register voice and the cover's riffs do not quite have the same heavy crunch and aggressive drumming.  The middle section of the cover also does not quite have the same dynamics as the original.  This is pretty decent though.  I probably prefer the Gamma Ray version, but this is not bad.

"Gardens of the Sinner" by Airborn

Airborn is a band I have heard of, but not heard.  I feel like this is a song I have heard before, but not sure where that would have been.  I do not really care for the vocals on the cover.  Unfortunately I was not able to find an original version of this song, so I had to listen to a live version.  So my comparison may not be really great.  The vocals are at least close to the live version I heard.  Tough to really tell which version is better since I did not hear the true original.  Airborn's version is decent though.

"Land of the Free" by Tritton

We have our first major change.  The vocalist of Tritton is a woman and sounds nothing like the Gamma Ray singer, but she's quite good nonetheless.  The Gamma Ray version sounds heavier, though the vocalist of Tritton sounds more aggressive.  I like the softer beginning of the Gamma Ray version a little better and the riffs are quite a bit heavier.  I prefer Gamma Ray, but Tritton is good.

"Heaven Can Wait" by Ice War

Ice War is the only band on this release for whom I previously owned any recordings.  This one is quite a bit different.  Ice War takes more of a punk approach to the song, making it sound almost as if it's covered by The Misfits or something.  His vocal approach also does not really fit the original.  I am not a big fan of the original either, but it is better than the Ice War version.  

"Send Me a Sign" by Allagash

Allagash is more of a thrash metal band, and they brought that much more aggressive style to this song.  The vocalist definitely does not have the ability to hit the higher notes that Hansen can hit and so the vocals are about an octave lower.  I can relate.  The music also does not have quite the same melody, being more of a crunchy thrash/heavy metal song.  Finally, there is no back-up vocals in the chorus.  This is the first song on the album that I might prefer the cover though, so there's that.  I'm not 100% on that, but first impressions I kind of prefer the cover.

"Fairytale" by Black Phantom

I do not see the point of this one's inclusion.  The song is less than a minute long.  There is just nothing to this one.  The vocals on the cover sound kind of out of tune.  I don't know, the Gamma Ray version is probably better, but this is just a superfluous song to appear on this release.

"Somewhere Out in Space" by Energema

Hey, I actually really know this song.  I love it too.  Energema's vocalist definitely does not have the intricate vocal style of Hansen, but he does well with what he has.  Once again, the vocals just are not there with the original.  I also think the original is faster and more dynamic.  It is one of Gamma Ray's faster songs.  Energema does their best to keep up, but Gamma Ray can really burn when they want to.  I definitely prefer Gamma Ray's version, but Energema is decent enough.

"Dethrone Tyranny" by Silent Knight

This one is pretty close.  Silent Knight sounds a lot like Gamma Ray on this song.  The only real difference is the use of blasting drums.  If you can get past the trigger sound of the drums, this is a pretty close cover.  I can get past the sound of the drums, but still prefer the Gamma Ray version.

"Space Eater" by SpiritBell

This is an unusual choice for a band to appear on this album.  SpiritBell is more of a doom metal band, a polar opposite of power metal.  So they bring some extra crunch and aggressiveness to their track.  Granted, with the name of the song, one would probably expect a stoner/doom metal band.  It is one of the slower, heavier songs by Gamma Ray and SpiritBell does a great job with it.  I might check this band out.

"Rebellion in Dreamland" by Masquerage

This is probably my favorite song on the album, and I had to track down the album afterwards.  First of all, the original song is one of the best Gamma Ray songs I have ever heard.  It is incredibly dynamic, featuring some terrific riffs and solos and is one of Kai Hansen's finest vocal performances.  And if anything, Masquerage manages to do the song justice.  It is easily the best cover on the album, even if it is not quite as good as the Gamma Ray version.  

The major thing I have learned from this tribute album is that it is damn hard to replicate Kai Hansen's unique voice.  But there are some damn good covers on this thing.  It makes me want to explore both: Gamma Ray's material and many of these bands.  That's what cover albums are for.  

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 83

ARTIST:  Various
ORIGIN:  Various
TITLE:  In Memory of Celtic Frost
LABEL:  Dwell Records
YEAR:  1996
GENRE:  Black/Death Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  Opeth: "Circle of the Tyrants"
NOTES:  I had heard a couple of songs by Celtic Frost before, but not that many.  Basically I picked this album up to become familiar with not only Celtic Frost, but the bands that played on it.  The album also featured a brief bio on each of the bands, as well as Frost.  The Mayhem bio went into great length about the whole Dead/Euronymous/Varg Vikernes fiasco.  It took me a little while to get into the songs, but eventually I discovered Morgion, Grave, and Opeth on the basis of these songs.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 7

ARTIST:  Various
ORIGIN:  Various
TITLE:  Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath
LABEL:  Sony Records
YEAR:  1994
GENRE:  Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  White Zombie: "Children of the Grave"
NOTES:  I bought this at the same time as the Megadeth album of the last post.  This was my first various artists compilation and tribute album.  Featuring a variety of popular metal artists of the time such as Megadeth, White Zombie, Corrosion of Conformity, Sepultura, Faith No More, and Type O Negative, all covering classic Black Sabbath songs.  This was also my first experience with Black Sabbath material.

In Memory of Celtic Frost

I remember hearing that there would be a tribute album to Celtic Frost sometime on a summer break during high school. I was only vaguely familiar with the band, they had appeared on an earlier compilation album I had. I really enjoyed the Black Sabbath tribute albums I owned and had picked up albums by several of the bands that covered Sabbath songs. That was what I was looking for: a chance to find out more about a very important metal band, and a way to discover other new bands.

I wasn't expecting this. This album was my first exposure to several scenes: Swedish death metal, Norwegian black metal, and much more. At first, I didn't care for it much. The music was much more extreme than I was prepared to hear. But it grew on me quickly and I now own multiple albums from bands on this album. Here's a track by track look at the album.

MORGION: "INNOCENCE AND WRATH/THE USURPER"
Kicking things off with a bang is the usually much more reserved and melodic Morgion. The band proves it has plenty of metal chops still even though they focus much more on somber, moving doom metal. They tackle these two faster tracks with no signs of weakness. I bought their Cloaked by Ages, Crowned in Earth album.

ENSLAVED: "PROCREATION OF THE WICKED"
For a long time, I didn't like this song, possibly because I heard the Sepultura version first and liked it more. The vocals are just kind of gruff and the music is slow and dirge-like. I didn't really give Enslaved much of a chance for awhile. Then the song started to grow on me a little bit more and eventually I listened to the band again. Last year I saw them in concert opening for Opeth and am now a pretty big fan. I have their Isa and Below the Lights albums.

SLAUGHTER: "DETHRONED EMPEROR"
This one impressed me from the get-go. It was fast, aggressive, and it wasn't too far removed from bands I was currently listening to. Slaughter is the great Canadian band that had a big part to play in the formation of death metal. This was the last track the band recorded together. I have their Strappado album and the Tortured Souls box set.

MAYHEM: "VISUAL AGGRESSION
Usually there were short band bios of each band in the booklet accompanying this album. Mayhem's was several paragraphs, covering the suicide of vocalist Dead, the consumption of his brain and use of his skull fragments as ornamentation, the murder of guitarist Euronymous by bassist Varg, and the potential involvement of Euronymous in the Dead's death. Holy shit. The song itself was almost as extreme as the band bio, featuring Maniac on vocals, the only Mayhem song I have heard with him singing (or shrieking more likely). One of my friends heard this once and immediately turned it off. He never listened to any of my music again. I have their Live in Leipzig album with the classic lineup, pre-deaths, De Mysteriis Dom. Satanas, and Ordo ad Chao.

INNER THOUGHT: "MORBID TALES"
The first thing I thought about was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with the drums. Of course, now I know they used a drum machine. It gave the song an inhuman, mechanical feel to it. Fairly effective really. Inner Thought is a band formed by one of the members of Slaughter after that band called it a day. I have Perspectives.

SADISTIC INTENT: "RETURN TO THE EVE"
Former members of the seminal death/thrash metal band Possessed. This was my favorite track off of the album at first, it probably still is now. Unfortunately, Sadistic Intent material is nearly impossible to find. The band has never released a full length album. Too bad, because they are awesome.

CIANIDE: "DAWN OF MEGGIDO"
The death/doom metal band from Chicago slows things down significantly, but still remains heavier than hell. Celtic Frost has influenced several styles of metal, death/doom is one of them. I have Divide and Conquer.

DIVINE EVE: "VISIONS OF MORTALITY"
This is the only band from the metal bands on the album that I had to look up. They are a death/doom metal band from Plano, TX, the same area as the black metal band Absu. The band does a great job with their cover, even pulling off the same type of guitar tone. Divine Eve has also never released a full length album.

GRAVE: "MESMERIZED"
The Swedish death metal band took a bit of a risk covering this song. This was one of the stranger vocal performances from Tom Warrior's history. It's surprising that Grave decided to chance it. They pull it off quite well. It's one of the more interesting tracks on the album. I have Into the Grave, Hating Life, As Rapture Comes, and Dominion VIII.

APOLLYON SUN: "BABYLON FELL"
This is Tom Warrior's band after Celtic Frost broke up the first time. I don't really understand the point of a former member paying tribute to his old band with a new one. The Black Sabbath tribute albums have this same problem. Because he was in the band, he knows exactly how to play the song, and other than a little increased distortion, there's not much different about this version. Still good though.

OPETH: "CIRCLE OF THE TYRANTS"
This song quickly became my favorite on the album. Opeth does a masterful job of covering this song. The band does not really adapt its own sound to this song. Instead, they focus on the aggression of the original track. This is the best song on the album. I have Orchid, My Arms, Your Hearse, Still Life, Blackwater Park, Deliverance, Damnation, and Ghost Reveries and have seen the band in concert.

CLOSEDOWN: "DANSE MACABRE"
This is one of the worst songs on the album. The original version is mostly ambient noise with some screams attached. This version subtracted the screams and is just ambient noise. It's long, slow, and doesn't go anywhere. So no, I don't care for it.

EMPEROR: "MASSACRA"
I don't really understand what happened here. Emperor is one of the greatest black metal bands of all time. They couple their particular brand of blackened ferocity with beautiful symphonic melodies. They have even done great covers before: Bathory's "A Fine Day to Die" and Mercyful Fate's "Gypsy". So why this cover is so bad is beyond me. I have In the Nightside Eclipse and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk.

13: "TRIUMPH OF DEATH"
13 didn't last long. They played mostly lo-fi sludge/doom metal. They were also made up of three women, although you can't tell from listening to them. This track is slow and harsh. It's a shame the band didn't last, although one of the band members, Liz Buckingham did. She's currently in the stoner/doom metal band Electric Wizard.