Review by MartinDavey87 for Gamma Ray - Heading for Tomorrow (1990)

Fresh off of leaving Helloween, a band that he co-founded, guitarist and vocalist Kai Hansen would form his own band, Gamma Ray, and swiftly released their debut album, 1990’s ‘Heading For Tomorrow’. 

Featuring fast, upbeat songs, with plenty of energetic vocals and furious guitar playing, this, along with Helloween, was setting the standard for all European power metal bands to follow, and while it sounds quite generic today, it was likely a breath of fresh air back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. 

Personally though, I’m not really sure if I actually like this album or not. I’ve had this on my playlist for well over a year now, and there’s only really three tracks that I can recall from memory. ‘Space Eater’ is genuinely fantastic, and ‘Lust For Life’ and ‘Freetime’ are both fun and easy to dig, but as for the rest of it, each song just blends into the next. Nothing really stands out all that much. Kai Hansen (who usually has an amazing voice) seems a bit grating here, and the 14-minute title track drags on for ages, its duration totally unwarranted. 

Still, all criticisms aside, I am a Gamma Ray ( and Kai Hansen) fan, and I know they’ll go on to release some great albums over the years, but it just feels like he was in a rush to get the 80’s Helloween out of his system here, and as such, this isn’t a very memorable debut.