Fangface follies

Last weekend's Minnesota jaunt was pleasant. It took seven hours to drive up, six back, and I stayed there a total of thirteen hours. So the travel time equaled the time I spent at the destination. And despite another instance of a hard-to-find Minnesota hotel with a fucked up room heater, it was completely worth the effort.

As a proud Helloween fan since the age of 12, I have loved, loved, LOVED Kai Hansen's splinter group Gamma Ray since I found their debut in late 1990. It was the day I bought my first CD player, when I got five albums to go in each of the player's slots: Iron Maiden's No Prayer for the Dying, S.O.D.'s Speak English or Die, Testament's Practice What You Preach, AC/DC's The Razors Edge (since sold) and Gamma Ray's Heading for Tomorrow. All three Gamma Ray albums with Ralf Scheepers on vocals were a major part of my high school and college years, all the more special because the band was so obscure in America. They were like a secret, the sort of thing you play for people who don't follow heavy metal and they can't believe it exists. After sixteen years as a recording and touring entity, they're still pretty unknown over here. This Minnesota show was the end of their very first North American tour, added after the obnoxious Twin Cities raconteur known as The SwordLord insisted on having a Midwest date added to their paltry schedule of six U.S. performances. Since I'd already traveled to Germany (Wacken 2000) and Georgia (ProgPower USA III) to see Gamma Ray, a seven hour drive to the east suburbs of St. Paul wasn't such a hassle. Some random memories:

-Driving up, I saw a crazy sign painted on a barn roof talking about some huge number of family farmland acres being "MUTILATED" by some local official or bill. I was going too fast to really read it, but it was certainly jarring. By the way, Wisconsin construction along I-90 and I-94 really blows.

-Since I couldn't find the damned Best Western (it was hidden behind a mall, the light on the sign was out and it was pouring rain), I stopped at the other nearby hotel to find out where I was supposed to go. The lobby was deserted except for one guest, who I quickly recognized under his baseball cap as Gamma Ray guitarist Henjo Richter. Of course I said hello, introduced myself, thanked him for coming, asked how the tour was going, etc. I told him this show was a big one for us fans in the middle of the States, and he said it was big for them, too. I'm sure he was just being nice, since they were playing at the smallest venue I've ever seen them in. Then the hotel guy told me how to get to the Best Western, and I said goodbye to Henjo, who was all like, "See you at the show!" Awesome. I hope I was friendly enough to negate his memory of the inebriated American I saw down in Hotlanta, telling a perplexed Mr. Richter how much he loved "Ramma Gay."

-I timed the arrival at the venue perfectly. The band immediately preceding Gamma Ray, Avian, were making their live debut. Their record has ex-Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson on it, but he wasn't there; Avian's semi-celebrity draw was limited to singer Lance King, known to a few from bands like Balance of Power and Pyramaze. Avian was nothing special unless you like bland proggish metal, like a heavied up Fates Warning without many hooks. I spent most of that set guzzling beer and talking with Chris Lotesto from Ion Vein, who told me the next Chicago Powerfest might take an intriguing new direction. Then I ran into Chris Black of Dawnbringer/Pharaoh/Superchrist fame, and he delivered some curious info about the forthcoming album by his untouchable labelmates Hammers of Misfortune. I must commend his sweet Helloween "Pumpkins Fly Free" shirt. I can always go to metal shows alone and run into cool people I know, so maybe I should make like Whoopi and get back in the habit...

-Some gripes. I really didn't appreciate the medley approach Gamma Ray used for "Rebellion In Dreamland"/"Land of the Free" and the inevitable Helloween hit trio "Ride the Sky"/"Future World"/"I Want Out." They've done those before, but I would have preferred a couple of whole songs to a bunch of song parts. It's too Vegas. I also would have preferred something in place of the silly Manowar rip "Heavy Metal Universe," which they of course dragged out foreeeever with a bunch of call-and-response nonsense. I appreciate that the old "on the count of four, I need you to scream 'HEAVY METAL UNIVERSE!!!' at the top of your fucking lungs, OK?" is a staple of power metal concerts, but Gamma Ray really goes overboard with it. It's fine when a call-and-response is built into the song, like on "Blood Religion." But every time I've seen Gamma Ray, "Heavy Metal Universe" and "Somewhere Out In Space" always get dragged out for long enough that they could have gotten in a whole other song ("Man On A Mission"? "Heaven or Hell"?). I stopped yelling along with these after a while, because it only encourages them.

-On the plus side, Gamma Ray, as always, put on a loud and powerful set. They stayed mostly on the last four records, the ones by the current line-up, which made for a fine show regardless of its predictability. The bombastic Queen-worship ballad "The Silence" was a very nice surprise nod to the old records, however, and after that drive and four beers, I admit to getting a little misty in its stein-hoisting crescendos. The brand new ones totally destroyed; "Fight" is a melodic speed metal masterpiece, while "Blood Religion" was effectively pounding and, um, Majestic, despite its played-out vampire lyrics. Kai always reminds me of James Brown - they both appear to be having such a kick-ass time on stage, you can't be sure if it's for real, but it's certainly infectious. Dirk Schlächter has a great stone face for onstage mugging, and I came to the grudging realization during the show that Daniel Zimmermann is the best drummer Gamma Ray has ever employed. Too short a set with a bit too much filler, but I'll be damned if I would miss the chance to see them again. Thanks to many, many different factors, I have become a considerably jaded guy over the years. But I can always count on Kai Hansen.