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Land of the Free (Gamma Ray album)

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This article is about the Gamma Ray album. For the Pennywise album, see Land of the Free?
Untitled

Land of the Free is the fourth studio album by German power metal band Gamma Ray, released in 1995. Continuing a trend that would conclude with the band's fifth studio release, the lineup for the album was different from the previous one, as Land of the Free was the first Gamma Ray album to be released since the departure of Ralf Scheepers, leaving Kai Hansen to take up lead vocals. While not his first stint as a vocalist (Hansen had sung lead for Helloween until 1987 and had also recorded lead vocals on "Heal Me" from Insanity and Genius), it would be the first time he had performed lead vocals exclusively in 8 years.

Additionally, bassist Jan Rubach was to swap positions with guitarist Dirk Schlächter. Rubach initially agreed, but then resisted making the move. Rubach and drummer Thomas Nack instead decided to leave Gamma Ray. Rubach left towards the tail end of Men On A Tour; Schlächter took over the bass duties and Henjo Richter took over as the second guitarist. Nack would complete the tour and then leave. Both Rubach and Nack rejoined their prior band Anesthesia.

Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) and Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) were featured on the album as guest vocalists.

The track "Afterlife" was written as a tribute to Ingo Schwichtenberg, Kai Hansen's former bandmate in Helloween, who committed suicide prior to the album's release.

Part of the solo of track 4, "All of the Damned", is taken from the Eagles song "Hotel California".[citation needed].

Along with most of the band's past catalogue, the album was re-released in 2003 with a different cover and expanded tracklist which featured three tracks that had either appeared as bonuses on various different editions of the album (namely "Heavy Metal Mania", which was a Japanese bonus track on the original release) or were unreleased tracks.

Critics praised the album, with one review stating that it served "the definition of power metal well and is indeed one of the most metal albums of the late '90s". [1]

Land of the Free is by far Gamma Ray's most successful album with the most copies sold worldwide[citation needed].

Track listing

  1. "Rebellion in Dreamland" (Hansen) – 8:44
  2. "Man on a Mission" (Hansen) – 5:49
  3. "Fairytale" (Hansen) – 0:50
  4. "All of the Damned" (Hansen) – 5:00
  5. "Rising of the Damned" (Hansen) – 0:43
  6. "Gods of Deliverance" (L:Hansen M:Rubach) – 5:01
  7. "Farewell" (Schlächter) – 5:11
  8. "Salvation's Calling" (Rubach) – 4:36
  9. "Land of the Free" (Hansen) – 4:38
  10. "The Saviour" (Hansen) – 0:40
  11. "Abyss of the Void" (Hansen) – 6:04
  12. "Time to Break Free" (Hansen) – 4:40
  13. "Afterlife" (L:Hansen M:Rubach) – 4:46

2003 Bonus Tracks

  2. "Heavy Metal Mania" (Mortimer) - 4:49 (Holocaust cover)
  3. "As Time Goes By (pre-Production version)" (Hansen/Sielck) - 4:53
  4. "The Silence '95" (Hansen) - 6:29
  • "Heavy Metal Mania" also appears on the REBELLION IN DREAMLAND EP.
  • "As Time Goes By (pre-Production version)" also appears on the REBELLION IN DREAMLAND EP.
  • "The Silence '95" also appears on the Silent Miracles EP.

Credits

Guest musicians

  • Keyboards: Sascha Paeth
  • Guest Vocals: Hansi Kürsch (additional lead vocals on "Farewell", backing vocals on "Land of the free" and "Abyss of the void")
  • Guest Vocals: Michael Kiske (all lead vocals on "Time to Break Free", backing and additional lead vocals on "Land Of The Free")
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