Land of the Free

Gamma Ray: Kai Hansen (vocals, guitar); Dirk Schlachter (guitar); Jan Rubach (bass); Thomas Nack (drums).Additional personnel: Hansi Kursch, Michael Kiske (vocals); Sascha Paeth (progamming).Producers: Charlie Bauerfeind, Kai Hansen, Dirk Schlachter.Recorded in Hamburg, Germany.The stigma of Helloween is a hard one to get rid off, as illustrated on Gamma Ray's first three LPs. Kai Hansen succeeded in creating a band of his own, but he couldn't come up with an idiosyncratic style or even implement it well. Land of the Free is, however, a complete success considering Hansen's progression. Land of the Free intriguingly breaks the basic concept that Gamma Ray's contemporaries have used so much. The opener, "Rebellion in Dreamland," for example, doesn't have a decent structure. The seven-minute piece is constructed in many different parts, instead of the verse-chorus-verse pattern that is so typical of other metal bands. Also, most importantly, their large sound is achieved by using synths