FMW Atsushi Onita Retirement Commercial Tape 5/5/95 Kawasaki Stadium

Unquestionably, the biggest puroresu cult hero of the 90's was Atsushi Onita. He built this company on his own blood, sweat and tears. That was basically what people liked about Onita. Night in and night out, he displayed tremendous heart and determination. The guy had a bumb knee that robbed him of the (perhaps overrated) wrestling ability he once had, but he had so much charisma that the fans really didn't care. Onita was innovative in that he created hardcore or "garbage" wrestling, a style that was initially short on skill (and generally still is, but there are exceptions to that rule) because his group was a bunch of rejects from the Japanese big two, and always long on gore due to all the gimmicks used to bloody the combatants. Onita's wrestling was more of a spectacle of good triumphing over evil than anything else. It was one that was played out so many times, with the heel slicing and dicing him but eventually he'd make his comeback and win with his famous low impact thunder fire powerbomb, that it turned into more of a ritual. That said, even though you knew what would happen, his death matches were generally really dramatic. Toward the end, the drama was generally gone because no new ground was being broken, but the top combinations of gimmicks were protected so those matches would still be "special." There really weren't any positives to the physical side of Onita's wrestling, but mentally he was pretty good. Onita could build a match around the gimmick spots quite well, which can't be said for many of his predecesors, and the crowd was often so hot that it came off well even though it was generally poor wrestling from a technical standpoint.

Onita was supposed to retire if he couldn't beat Genichiru Tenryu on 5/5/94 at Kawasaki Stadium in the cage bomb match that he invented, but after the match he vowed to retire one year later at the same location. Onita's opponent for his retirement match was to be Tarzan Goto, who had been with FMW since their second show and was Onita's top rival at times and Onita's #2 at other points, but Goto was not happy with how FMW was set up for the future so he quit the company less than two weeks before the biggest match of his career, taking "Onita Jr." and Mr. Gannosuke with him.

The tape opened with the press conference where Goto's replacement was to be Takashi Ishikawa, who headed the small garbage league Tokyo Puroresu at the time. Ishikawa was like Onita's early opponents, washed up bumbs without much of a following, so this was even a few steps down from Scroto. Just before Ishikawa inked his name on the contract, Onita's protégé Hayabusa made his protest, saying he needed to be Onita's opponent. The idea was that Hayabusa, who was a green Luchador that really had nothing beyond a few great flying spots, needed to face Onita to not only learn the brawling style that was FMW's bread and butter, but to learn his detirmination and fighting spirit. Onita cried and tried to talk Hayabusa out of it, but Hayabusa said he was ready for the challenge and the rest is history. In retrospect, Onita was right even though he was just saying that to advance the angle. Hayabusa's body type was not made for this style, and I doubt he'd be wrestling today if he had continued doing it to carry on the FMW torch for as long as he was physically able.

The attendance for this show was amazing. At the time, this set the record attendance for a retirement match, but it's since been broken by Choshu and then Inoki. 58,250 announced for an independent league running a card that could only be described as a one match show can't be denied as incredible. Unfortunately, there was not a match on this card that was guaranteed to be good, and it can't be denied that this show stunk from a match quality standpoint. The card had so many no names that it was hard to know how bad to expect them to be. The quality of these undercard matches can only be looked at on the bright side if you go in expecting them to be beyond awful.

Rikio Ito (Tokyo Puroresu) vs. Gosaku Goshogowara. Bad indy wrestling. Even the highlights looked bad. A slow, plodding match. Ito won with a powerbomb. 10:36 (1:16 shown).

Katsuji Ueda (kickboxing) vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda. This was supposed to be a mixed match pitting a kickboxer vs. a wrestler, but it held less than no water. Kuroda was overselling Ueda's strikes to a ridiculous extent. Kuroda was totally destroyed, if you can use that word to describe offense so pathetic, during the portion that was shown. Beyond awful. Ueda KO'd Kuroda at 1;46 of round 3. (1:38 shown).

Lucha Libre Tag Match: Battle Ranger Z & Mach Hayato vs. Amigo Ultra (Damian) & Ultra Taro. This looked like standard fair for green luchadors who have some hot moves. The problem is, these guys are too experienced to still be at that level. This had no flow at all and lots of indecision. Hayato did some hot moves though, including his awesome super corkscrew quebrada,(5595fm01) so some people will like this garbage. Amigo beat Hayato with what I guess you would call a spinning fisherman shoulderbreaker.(5595fm02) 15:07 (1:15 shown).

Women's Street Fight Texas Death Match: Combat Toyoda & Miwa Sato & Yukari Ishikura vs. Crusher Maedomari & Shark Tsuchiya & Kaori Nakayama. All kinds of pin falls because unlike the US promotions, they actually follow the stipulations of their gimmick matches (except Onita staying retired). Anyway, these pins fell flat because there was no reaction to the wrestlers getting up in time to beat the 10 count. The match itself may have been decent, but it was too chopped up to tell. The finish was like the Tyson vs. Trevor Berbeck match with Miwa trying to beat the 10 count after the lowest form of life's Tsuchiya bomb, but falling back to down twice. 16:27 (2:00 shown).

Judge Dredd & Koji Nakagawa vs. Dunk Tanny (?) & Ryo Miyake (Tokyo Puroresu team). Judge Dredd tried a lot of stuff, but his execution was about as good as Stallone's would have been. Still, his lame suicida to both opponents was the "highlight" of the match. The Tokyo Puroresu guys were undoubtedly stiffs, but they didn't get do show any offense in this version of the match. Dredd pinned Miyake following a reverse body press. 14:26 (2:21 shown).

Arabia no Kaijin (mystery man) vs. Mexico no 666: The Sheik vs. Damian. Damian pulled double duty here, well, that is if you can call this a disgracefully mockery a match. Sheik, who was 69 friggin' years old, weighed more than ever and was nearly immobile. You'd think that Sabu might be lucky to be in this "good" of shape when he's in his 60's. The fans reacted to Sheik's act, but I have to wonder if it wasn't just out of respect for the legeng because this really wasn't entertaining, even for nostalgic purposes.

Sheik walked to the ring at full speed, about one mile per hour, carrying his torch, but Damian jumped him. Sheik cut Damian up. I guess the "highlight" of the match was Sheik lighting his cigarrette by putting his hand in the fire then touching it.(5595fm05) The finish of this match was as bad as any I can remember. Judge Dredd hit Damian with a chair. Damian sells it, but then sits up. However, he sees the Sheik plodding over to him, so he lays down on his back and Sheik holds onto the rope and kneels on him with one knee. Damian was practically in the ropes, but was unable to move the inch or two necessary to get his knee on the ropes.(5595fm08) Damian did not execute one offensive manuever (a punch does not count) because Sheik was in no condition to take even one bump. Sheik may have been cool back in the day when he was running his promotion in Detroit, but this match gives new meaning to the term exposing the business. Sheik had a heart attack the next day, ending his 44 year career as a wrestler. 1:47. -****

Takashi Ishikawa & Apollo Sugawara & Kishin Kawabata (Tokyo Puroresu) vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Hikeki Hosaka & Hido. This looked like a pre Nitro rush job American match because there was so much slow-paced wrestling with mainly kicks and punches back and forth. Matsunaga & Ishikawa's wrestling was really deliberate. The execution could have been better, and it's not like they were trying anything difficult or really trying much of anything. Ishikawa made Hido submit to the sasorigatame (scorpion). Yet another poor match. 12:45 (3:40 shown).

WWA World Women's & Independent World Women's Title Match: Bad Nurse Nakamura vs. Megumi Kudo. Nurse is so incredibly Bad. Kudo did about as good a job of carrying her to probably the best singles match of her career. Even though the match itself is pretty weak in points due to Nurse, and overall is only average, it stands out for Kudo's work. It's one of those matches where Kudo deserves ****, but Nurse is well in the negatives.

Aside from Kudo's work, the match is also notable for being one of the first hardcore women's matches in FMW. The reason they started doing this style in the women's matches is that with Onita gone, someone had to carry on the torch and deliver the gimmicks. Most of the FMW women couldn't wrestle anyway, so they could be passable by FMW standards just as Masanobu Kurisu & Kendo Nagasaki were passable by FMW standards when they were swinging their chairs back in the early days. Since this was one of their first experiments with the gimmick spots they didn't really have them down and didn't look particularly good. Then again, being that Nurse was involved, the result may have been similar even if they had been doing these spots all their lives. Anyway, given Nurse's ability in a straight match, the brawling between her and Kudo as well as the participation of the seconds added more to the match than it took away. Overall, moving to brawling was a plus as far as giving Kudo her own niche. She always rated highly on the looks list, but now there was a list that related to wrestling that she also rated high on. The brawling also considerably increased her drawing power. The problem was that, like everything involving the FMW women's division, the match quality was limited by the fact that the only other worker who was even decent was Combat.

Kudo, who had a different (although not in a positive way) look with the street fighting attire, initiated the brawling. However, Bad gave her a stiff chair shot that Kudo probably juiced on (I say probably because they edited a portion out after the chair shot so you couldn't tell if the chair caused it or something that they skipped caused it). Bad stood on a table and did her choke with the psycho look, which was cool here because this time she was standing on a table so Kudo's legs weren't touching the ground.(5595fm09) Nurse worked Kudo's cut forehead, and Kudo was screaming in pain.(5595fm12) The one good thing I can say about Nurse is that she plays a heel well, particularly when it comes to making "scary" faces.

Kudo finally came back with a swinging sleeper, and the pace picked up considerably from here. The problem was, the faster Bad tries to do things, the more she screws up. Kudo made the mistake, as sad as it is to call it that, of trying to work sequences with Bad. They actually had to stop once one had a move set up, so Nurse wouldn't get lost. Kudo's offense looked really good, but Nurse's counters were fast as a Sheik.

Shark interfered after a lame ref bump, lariating Kudo, so Nurse could schoolboy her for a nice near fall. Bad did some lame destiny hammers, including one with a chair in front of her knee, for a near fall. The crowd was popping for the near falls, and they were kicking out as late as they possibly could to make them more dramatic. Nurse did a disgraceful (or should I just say Calloway- esque?) tombstone on a chair. She continued getting near falls until Kudo threw powder in her eyes. Kudo did an uraken with a chain then Kudo Drivered Nurse to regain the titles. After the match, Shark & Crusher attacked Kudo and Combat and some of the other girls made the save to set up future matches. 14:32 (8:32 shown). **1/4

Keith: This match showed that Kudo was one of those "miracle worker" type of women. She did all she could against the limited Nakamura to make BAD look good. In my opinion, she carried her to her best FMW match, if not the best match of her career.

I didn't like the use of the can. It came off really weak. Work-wise, Nurse's stuff was better when she wrestled Ozaki on the Oz Academy show. That match seemed better from a pure work viewpoint, being that I remember more blown spots in the Kudo match. The Kudo match was better though due to the drama of her confronting and beating all the odds to regain the WWA titles.

Keith: A predictable pre-retirement Onita death match. He'd work his way to the edge of the ring to build the tension and the crowd would be agasp. This tension was finally lifted when he actually hit the barbed wire and got exploded. Without a doubt, the ring work here wasn't good. The stupid electrified cage prevented the smaller Hayabusa from performing his flying spots, even though he eventually was able to do an impressive moonsault from the top of the cage. It was good for an Onita match, but severely disappointing, even from a Hayabusa spotfest viewpoint. I would've preferred Hayabusa doing a spotfest against Onita in a normal cage match because, while more intriguing from the Onita gimmick match perspective, the electrified cage took away Hayabusa's only strength. Hayabusa needed to win this one, so it didn't really do much for his career.

Street Fight Tag Match: Katsutoshi Niiyama & Masato Tanaka vs. The Gladiator & Horace Boulder (Hogan). A four way juice spot brawl, not surprisingly dominated by the gaijins. You could see the roots of Tanaka & Gladiator working well together, in so far as Tanaka taking the big bumps to make Mike look Awesome. Unfortunately, Gladiator wasn't too awesome here, although he's always been better than Horace. In particular, Gladiator's slipped off the top rope when trying to powerbomb Tanaka through a table, so they had to redo it. One kind of cool thing was that Gladiator and Tanaka climbed up to where the camera men and some lights were and brawled up there. The problem was that they didn't really do anything when they got up there. It was kind of like it's cool when someone gets hung over the Korakuen balcony, except it's so dangerous that they take so many precautions to prevent a wrestler from getting injured, and rightfully so, that it comes off really weak.(5595fm13) Tanaka did do a dive off the rig, which drop wise was about the same as doing a plancha. However, it didn't really work perfectly, so instead of Gladiator catching him, he mainly landed on his feet. Surprisingly, the natives pulled this out with Niiyama pinning Horace in a German suplex. 10:25 (7:36 shown). *1/2

World Brass Knuckle Tag Titles: Mr. Pogo & Yukihiro Kanemura vs. Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji. Pogo was just awful here. This was not a death match, yet all he did was slice and dice. Even in spite of Pogo's best efforts to not do any actual wrestling, the match wasn't bad because the other three are all capable. Pogo was running the blade up and down Fuji's arm, basically carving lines on it.(5595fm19) Kanemura then did his best rendidition of Judas Priest's Eat Me Alive.(5595fm24) Too bad the song smokes this match so badly even though it's far from one of their best. Kanemura did some brawling early, but mainly he picked up the wrestling wise. He did a helicopter that was really nasty. Fuji did a moonsault attack off the 2nd, but Kanemura immediately cut his comeback off and fireballed Fuji. Pogo beat

imo. Instead of concentrating on flying in FMW, he worked more garbage style

matches.

> Yeah, he didn't really try to many flying moves. The problem with this match

> was obviously that it didn't put him over much at all.

That's why I didn't like it. It was good for an Onita match, but bad for

Hayabusa.

> I think part of this was Onita trying to teach Hayabusa a different style

> because that was the style he would be doing as the top star in Onita's place.

> Well, until he broke down physically and had to go back to flying.

Yeah, Hayabusa just didn't have the body beef that Onita did to endure those

matches. You could hear him on the 5/5/96 show where he does an interview saying

that his body really couldn't take it anymore.

Helloween

Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1 1987

Helloween's first album was more a compination of mainly speed with some thrash elements. Kai Hansen did the lead vocals. Kai sings now for Gamma Ray and is good, but here his voice was really rough. With Michael Kiske taking over on vocals, Helloween set new standards for music. This is the album that started it all for power metal, combining traditional speed metal with heavy melodic riffs and vocals. This album spawned so many immitators overseas and also some in the U.S. Really, it set the tone for German metal for the next decade plus.

A Little Time (Michael Kiske): Kiske is my favorite singer. He has an excellent vocal range and his voice is always so smooth. To me, this song stands out for his vocals. Most of the words are so elongated, but his voice remains smooth and even throughout, as if he never runs out of breath, just moves forward to the next verse when necessary.

A Tale That Wasn't Right (Michael Weikath): This is one of my favorite depressing songs. Kiske's vocals here are incredible. His emotion seems so genuine. Most of the music is very different for Helloween, slower and almost bluesy, but the intent is for it to be moving, and it is that.

Halloween (Kai Hansen): This could well be the best long song ever recorded, unless it's Keeper Of The Seven Keys. This song really showcases Helloween's musical talents. The solos are really strong, but the most impressive thing to me is how tight and focused the song remains despite clocking in at 13:18. I love how Kiske holds the word paradise.

Future World (Hansen): This is basically vintage Helloween firing on all cylinders. Excellent melodic and driving guitar work to go along with the typical strong vocals.

Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2 1988

This album continued the struggle against good and evil concept, and was very similarly stylistically to part one because Helloween wanted to do them as a double album but Noise made them split it into two. I find this one to be the better of the two, but I'm sure some people would argue Part 1 was better because it was the landmark album.

Eagle Fly Free (Weikath): I picked this one for the music. I'm sure there are others, but off the top of my head, I can't think of another studio song where you have a solo by both league guitarists separate and together, as well as a solo by the bass player and the drummer. I think this song is a little lacking in energy vocally, but the end is cool.

You Always Walk Alone (Kiske): Excellent lyrics to this one. Basically it's a justification for pursuing the career of your choice despite what others may say. I like the solos in this song a lot, particularly Kai's second solo (right before the last chorus) is pretty choice, IMO.

I Want Out (Hansen): Helloween's biggest commercial hit in the U.S. Although certainly not the most complicated Helloween has done, the riffs are great throughout. I particularly love the intro to this song. The song sounds better with headphones because they use a stereo effect on the "out out out" part.

Keeper Of The Seven Keys (Weikath): This 13:38 song ties up the two concept albums. Epic good triumphs over evil song. For music, Halloween is easily superior, but lyrically this song is easily superior. I like them about evenly.

The Best, The Rest, The Rare (compilation) 1991

Victim Of Fate (Hansen): This song is on the first full length Helloween album, Walls Of Jericho, with Kai's vocals. This version was taken from the Dr. Stein CD single, and the song really comes alive due to the substitution of Kiske on vocals, much like Dickinson doing Di'Anno. This is an incredible song with the exception of the background vocals. This is not an uplifting song, but it's incredibly effective at what it is. The last verse is particularly powerful, especially satan's laugh and the way Kiske sings you will burn in hell. The music is really hard to describe, it's kind of a cross between melodic and speed metal. At one point right before the last verse, there's a really cool which is probably layered that's basically the same rhythm one over the other but with a little delay.

Pink Bubbles Go Ape 1991

This album marked a lot of change for Helloween. They switched to EMI for better distrubution (Noise distribution is just disgraceful), but Noise sued them for breach of contract and it was ruled they couldn't release any material in Noise territory until it was settled. Subsequently this album and Chameleon have never been released in the US. Kai Hansen left and formed Gamma Ray, so he was replaced by Roland Grapow. This album was much more experimental for Helloween. It's a heavy metal album, but it's not power metal. It's more toward Kiske's tastes. The frustrating thing about Kiske is that he's not into heavy music even though it fits his vocal style the best.

Mankind (Kiske/Roland Grapow): This is not an all time favorites or anything, but I put it on because it's the only Helloween song that reminds me of Dream Theatre. I think this song keeps much better focus than they do, and has strong transitions out of the solos. The final solo sounds like it's going to go off on a tangent, but Roland Grapow, who has now replaced Kai Hansen, brings it back to the main theme in time.

The Chance (Grapow): Lyrically, this is my favorite Helloween song. I find the message very uplifting, probably because that's the style I work in. I've never been quick to say I'm done with things because they can always be improved upon. I actually wrote my final paper for Ethics In Journalism on this song. The intro to this song is short, but very cool catchy guitar, IMO.

Chameleon 1993

For the most part, this is not a heavy metal album. It's steeped in Kiske's direction, and very experimental. There all kinds of instuments you wouldn't normally hear in heavy metal, with some songs being a bit jazzy. This is really disappointing for a Helloween album. It's not bad, but it's no better than good. The problems between band members got worse and Ingo got hooked on drugs.

Giants (Weikath): Michael Weikath wrote the two heaviest songs on this CD (First Time being the other one, and it's one of the other strong ones). Weikath's solo (the second one) really smokes Grapow's.

Longing (Kiske): A very slow Kiske song. It stands out to me because it's so incredibly emotional. Normally, I'm not a fan of acoustic, but the music really works here, especially how it creates the aura and builds.

Master Of The Rings

This was the first Helloween CD released in the US since The Best compilation. The lineup was much different as got involved in some weird religion that lead to more creative differences so he was dismissed. Kiske was replaced by Andi Deris of Pink Cream 69. Drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg was asked to take time off to clean up his drug problems, but he fell ill so they reluctantly replaced him full time until he could get clean. Unfortunately, in 1995, Ingo committed suicide by stepping in front of a train. He was replaced by Uli Kusch, who ironically had been in Kai's Gamma Ray. I think Kusch is a more talented drummer than Ingo was, but Deris will never be Kiske.

Tommy Hansen, who had worked with them up to Pink Bubbles, was back producing this, which helped. This CD is heavier than the previous two Helloween efforts, but not as heavy as their 80's stuff. It's is more melodic than their past stuff though, so this is not necessary a bad thing. These songs have more of a pop metal sound, but the music is incredibly polished, so I have no problem with that. Weikath in particular has really grown as a musician. This was really the album that got Helloween back on track.

Sole Survivor (Weikath/Deris): This is one of my favorite Helloween songs even though Deris' vocals are a little rough around the edges. I like that this song knows when to be straight forward and when to be flashy. Excellent opening, particularly how Uli's short burts on the drums are worked in.

Where The Rain Grows (Weikath/Deris): I think this is probably the best song on the CD from a technical standpoint.

The Time of the Oath 1996

Helloween returned to power metal with this album. It's still diverse and catchy, but musically it's heavier than any of their albums since Keeper 2.

Steel Tormentor (Weikath/Deris): I think this is the best song on the album as far as showcasing their playing ability. Deris' vocals leave something to be desired in comparison to how Kiske would have done the song.

Forever and One (Neverland) (Deris): Deris was originally a rock singer, and this is more the kind of song he excels at singing. Very emotional vocals.

Mission Motherland (Weikath): This is the epic of the album. Powerful well written song with a lot of mood swings. I have a few problems with it, the solo going off on a little bit of a tangent and at one point they have noises in the background that I guess are supposed to be aliens, but they just sound cheesy. It's not Halloween or Keeper, but still excellent, IMO.

Better Than Raw 1998

Helloween took a big step forward here, making their best album ever. An awesome album lyrically and musically, combining all that was good from previous albums with some experimentation that worked. Every song is at least strong, and each song sounds different from the next.

Push (Kusch/Deris/Weikath): This may be the heaviest song Helloween has done. At first I didn't like it because Deris' vocals are so much different from anything he's done in the past, but if you can get by the opening verse being hard to understand, it's an awesome song that kicks serious ass.

Falling Higher (Weikath/Deris): This is one of the two best songs on the CD. It's really what power metal is all about. This song is so fast and driving, yet it's melodic and catchy at the same time. Roland's solo (solo #2) is great, but the thing that makes Helloween stand above most medal bands is how they can work the solos into the song, going back to the regular rhythm at the appropriate times so it's just not someone going off on a tangent or trying to be flashy. One of Deris' best vocal jobs on fast song.

Hey Lord! (Deris): Powerful song lyrically about the choices you have to make in your life and how they effect you. Thought provoking material.

A Handful Of Pain (Deris/Kusch): What stands out to me about this song are the transitions. This song knows when and how to be intense and when and how to be soothing and melodic.

Midnight Sun (Weikath): Just an incredible intense song about problems in a relationship with another person. Great intro, great solos, great rhythm, etc.

A Game We Shouldn't Play: I think this shows a logical progression from the song The Game Is On that's on the Master Of The Rings CD. That was a very good song, but it was kind of goofy. This song has video game type noises mixed in as a way to pick up the pace for the fastest sections of the song. They sound really cool, but don't overshadow the rest of the music.

Gamma Ray

Heading For Tomorrow 1990

After leaving Helloween, Kai Hansen hooked up with Ralf Scheepers, a great vocalist with tremendous diversity, and made an album very much like the stuff he penned with Helloween. The main difference is album is more diverse than the Helloween stuff, even containing operatic elements. I wasn't thrilled with this CD the first few times I heard it, especially since a few of the songs are goofy, but the more you hear it the more you appreciate just how great it is.

Lust For Life (Hansen): This song features some vintage speedy guitar by Kai. Scheepers can sing like Kiske as far as holding a note and getting high without screaming or sounding like a wuss, but what impresses me about him is how many different sounds he'll give you in a given song. If only King Diamond's regular voice was as good as Scheepers...

Heaven Can Wait (Hansen): This is the first Gamma Ray song I ever heard, so it's kind of special to me. Cool uptempo feel good song about not being in any hurry to die.

The Silence (Hansen): This is such a moving song. The music sets the tone for the emotion and Scheepers does an incredible job.

Heading For Tomorrow (Hansen): A 14:30 Kai epic. This song takes so many forms and goes in so many directions that I can easily listen to it twice in a row even though there are not that many different lyrics. Check out the part where it gets really slow with the bass and tapping cymbols. The finish also stands out.

Sigh No More 1991

This CD is kind of cause for sighing. It's a good CD, but a far cry from the quality Kai typically delivers. Uli Kusch joined the band for this one.

Father And Son: Emotional song about problems between a father and a son. Ralf's vocals are rough in points, which normally I wouldn't like, but I think that it adds to the emotion of the song. I could live without the final solo because it doesn't add anything to the song. Otherwise, the songs builds well.

Insanity And Genius 1993

Once again, this failed to recapture the magic of Heading For Tomorrow. However, it is a **** disk that is a lot better than Sign No More.

18 Years: This is my favorite Gamma Ray song from the Scheepers years. His vocals are incredible, and I like the way the song always builds to the chorus. This song really draws you in and makes you feel the emotion.

Tribute To The Past: This isn't a brillant song lyrically, but I think it's an overall good song and it fit at the end of the tape. I think the best part is right around when the say "too late, too late..."

Heal Me: You'll either like this song a lot or think it's kind of goofy. The song is very diverse and I think the operatic style works well in this song.

Land Of The Free 1995

Uli & Scheepers are gone. Scheepers mainly because he wouldn't move to Hamburg where everyone else lived and Kai has his studio, making it hard for them to practice. He was also very interested in hooking up with Judas Priest, but they made the mistake of selecting Ripper Owens over him. It seemed like the band would be reduced, but this was actually their best disk, and one of the better CD's I own. Kai got behind the mic for the first time since Helloween's Walls Of Jericho. While he doesn't sing on the level of Scheepers, his vocals on this album are more than servicable. The songs on this album are all very good or better. The music and song writting is just better. The music is also more melodic than on previous Gamma Ray efforts.

Rebellion In Dreamland (Hansen): This is a truly awesome song. It's so well written and diverse, at times it's a ballad and at times it's really fast and melodic. The intro opening is really calm and soothing, slowly building up to the point when the song takes off for the chorus. From here the music isn't overpowering, but it's driving, which fits the song as he's talking about how he's on the way. Both solos sound really good, although the match would rule without them.

Man On A Mission (Hansen): I like how this goes back and forth between the classic speedy Helloween sound and the opera metal sound.

Farewell (Dirk Schlachter): The first time I heard this song I just said WOW. Really emotional song.

Time To Break Free: Kiske makes a guest appearance on lead vocals, the first thing he recorded since Chameleon in 1993. Vocally, this puts the rest of the album to shame, but it's nearly as well written as some of the other songs.

Afterlife: There's nothing exceptional about this song, but both the vocals and guitars are strong.

Somwhere Out In Space 1997

Another great CD, although not quite as good as LOTF. This is a concept album about outer space, but it's not a continuing story and a few songs are unrelated.

Beyond The Black Hole (lyrics: Hansen, music: Hansen/Zimmerman/Schlachter)

No Stranger (Another Day In Life) (Hansen)

Somewhere Out In Space (Hansen)

Pray (lyrics: Hansen, music: Schlachter)

Shine On (lyrics: Hansen, music: Schlachter)

Michael Kiske

Somebody Somewhere

Andi Deris

Goodbye Jenny

Blue Murder

We All Fall Down

Runaway

Yngwie Malmsteen

Crash & Burn

Dokken

The Maze

Fates Warning

The Apparition

Through Different Eyes

Guardian

Silent Cries

Quietus

Point of View

Eye To Eye

Circles

Ratt

Givin' Yourself All Away

Blind Guardian

Black Chamber

Theatre of Pain

The Scripts For My Requim

Bright Eyes

Another Holy War

And The Story Ends

Nightfall

Mirror Mirror

Noldar (Dead Winter Reigns)

Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)

Warlock

All We Are

Stratovarius

Distant Skies

Galaxies

We Hold The Key

Twilight Symphony

Father Time

Will The Sun Rise?

Black Diamond

Before The Winter

Legions

Paradise

Visions

Nocturnal Rites

Ring of Steel

Test of Time

Change The World

Eye of the Demon

Rhapsody

Warrior of Ice

Rage of the Winter

Land of Immortals

Lord of the Thunder

Eldritch

Lord of an Empty Place

Rage

Solitary Man

Refuge

Raw Caress

Lost In The Ice

Changes-Sign of Heaven, Incomplete, Turn the Page

Over and Over

In Vain (I Won't Go Down)

Leatherwolf

Wicked Ways

Iced Earth

Melancholy (Holy Martyr)

Here it it the updated info about Gamma Ray, as made for the Power Metal

mailing list by Pedro Timoteo:

Gamma Ray (Gernany) 1989-Present

MUSIC DESCRIPTION:

Having been formed by the former main songwriter of Helloween, it's no

surprise that the two bands have similarities. Gamma Ray, however, draws a

lot from other influences, such as Judas Priest (mainly in their first

albums). While Helloween "defined" PM, one could say that Gamma Ray "leads"

it, taking it further than ever before - they're heavier and faster than

Helloween (except for Helloween's "Better Than Raw", an incredibly heavy

and powerful album), but they're also extremely melodic, with very catchy

songs. They are also more focused, while Helloween has had some... identity

problems during their career. :) Both singers - Ralf Scheepers, one of the

most powerful voices of PM, and Kai Hansen, very emotional and with a great

voice are excellent, and Kai's guitar playing needs no introduction.

DISCOGRAPHY

Heading for Tomorrow (1990)

Heaven can Wait (EP) (1991)

Sigh No More (1991)

Insanity & Genius (1993)

Land of the Free (1994)

Silent Miracles (EP) (1995)

Alive '95 (1995)

Valley of the Kings (EP) (1997)

Somewhere Out in Space (1997)

Powerplant (1999)

The Karaoke Album (Japan-only release) (1997)

LINE UP:

Vocals: 1989 to 1993: Ralf Scheepers

1994 to now : Kai Hansen

Guitars 1: Kai Hansen

Guitars 2: 1989 to 1990: none (it was just Kai)

1991 to 1995: Dirk Schlächter

1997 to now : Henjo Richter

Drums: 1989 to 1990: Mathias Burchardt

1991	: Uli Küsch

1993 to 1995: Thomas Nack

1997 to now : Dan Zimmermann

Bass: 1989 to 1991: Uwe Wessel

1993 to 1995: Jan Rubach

1997 to now: Dirk Schlächter

SHORT BAND HISTORY

Kai Hansen, who's probably THE God of Power Metal, left Helloween, the band

he founded, for several reasons, including conflicts with Michael Weikath

and the fact that he was tired of constant touring and promoting albums,

while he wanted to concentrate on the music. He got a group of musicians

and friends to record an album, and later decided to make a permanent band,

Gamma Ray. There's not much else to say about their history - they have

released brilliant album after brilliant album during this decade, and Kai

also finds time to help other bands like Blind Guardian, Angra, Michael

Kiske, Heavenwood... and even become a member of another great band, Iron

Savior!

MOST SIGNIFICANT ALBUM

Land of the Free - one of the best albums of all time, from any band, in

any style of music

WEB LINKS:

http://home.sol.no/~molyngar/gamma/

I was given this list, if you have similar information of other bands

that aren't mentioned here please share it with me.

ABRAXAS-Semi-technical excellent German power metal.

ANGRA-Folklore metal from Brazil.

ARENA- Great English band for you prog fans.

ATHENA -Italian power metal perfection.

AVALON-Diverse German prog/power metal.

ARTENSION-Classic style prog. metal combined with a 90's

sound.

CENTAUR- Conception/Crimson Glory style melodic power mix.

CONCEPTION-Norwegian band with excelent vocals and catchy

riffs.

DIGITAL RUIN-Unique Dream Theater type band with an

electronic twist.

DIVINE REGALE-Very progressive mix of all the best!

DREAMSCAPE-Conception/Crimson Glory sound with awesome

vocals.

EDGUY-New German power metal with a Helloween sound and a

progressive touch.

ENIAC REQUIEM- Conception meets Symphony X.

EMPTY TREMOR-Excellent Italian Progressive band.

ELEGY-Awesome melodic Dutch power metal.

ETERNITY X-If you like progressive metal than don't miss

this, Unbelievable!!

FORESEEN-US power prog metal.

GAMMA RAY-One of the best in the business, check out their

new one.

HAMMERFALL-New Swedish power metal, Riot meets Manowar.

HEAVENS GATE-Yes, once again another cool German band.

HEADSTONE- German melodic power at it finest.

HOLLOW-Swedish band in the style of Conception.

ICED EARTH-The very definition of American Power metal.

IRON SAVIOR-Project band featuring Gamma Ray and Blind

Guardian members!

IVANHOE-Great Queensryche/Dream Theater inspired band.

JAG PANZER-U.S. power metal in the vein of Iron Maiden and

Manowar.

KAMELOT- American medevial progressive/power metal.

KENZINER- New powerful neoclassical from US/Finland.

LABYRINTH -The best in Italian powermetal. Featured band

for October.

LETHAL-Great older Queensryche sound from the US.

LEVIATHAN-Fresh progressive sound from Colorado, USA.

MADSWORD-Dream Theater/Fates Warning inspired Italian

band.

MEMORY GARDEN-Powerful Swedish band with strong vocals.

MERCURY RISING-Interesting vocals and unique style of

songwriting.

MIND ODYSSEY-Cool sounding German power metal.

MYSTERE DE NOTRE DAME-Dont mind the name, this band is

great!

NATION-Swedish neo-classical/progressive metal.

NARNIA-Very good melodic neoclassical band from Sweden.

PATHOS-Technical power metal from Sweden.

POWER OF OMENS-The direction Queensryche should have

taken.

PRIMAL FEAR-Ralf Scheepers new band, Priest-like power

metal!

PRIME TIME-Melodic power metal feat. members of Elegy,

Narita and Royal Hunt.

RHAPSODY-The BEST medeival style power metal I've ever

heard.

ROUGH SILK-Symphonic Savatage/Queen sounding band from

Germany.

ROYAL HUNT-Great prog metal in the Stratovarius vein.

SANVOISEN-Awesome Helloween/Queensryche inspired band.

SAVATAGE-A rundown of their new one and a live show

review.

SEA OF DREAMS-One of my favs, thrashy, progressive very

different!

SEASONS OF THE WOLF- They call themselves New Age Metal.

SEVEN SIGNS-Very diverse technical power metal.

SHADOW GALLERY-Some great old school prog stuff.

SKYLARK-Italian medieval power metal, like Rhapsody.

SOUL CAGES- Fates Warning inspired moody, melodic prog.

metal.

STRATOVARIUS-Awesome band, Yngwie Malmsteen meets

Helloween.

SUPERIOR-Great power/prog mix.

SYMPHONY X-Move over Yngwie, Mike Romeo is the man.

TAD MOROSE-Great Swedish progressive/power metal.

THERION-Haunting operatic epic metal.

TIMESCAPE- Swedish melodic prog metal.

TREASURE LAND-Tight progressive/neo-classical band from

Sweden.

TRIVIAL ACT-Norwegian power/prog. band with awesome

vocals.

VANDEN PLAS-New German progressive metal.

VIRGIN STEELE-One of the best mythological songwriters

metal history.

VOICE-Iron Maiden, Accept influenced German prog metal.

ZEN-Angra style power with Dream Theater technicality.