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Dopo essermi dato un po' da fare per colmare la lacuna riguardante gli Helloween nel nostro fantastico sito, vorrei apprestarmi a far conoscere ai miei amici de-baseriani anche i Gamma Ray, grandissima band tedesca, nata da uno sfogo di Kai Hansen, probabilmente l'uomo simbolo proprio degli Helloween, che aveva lasciato la band dopo aver dato alla luce "Keeper Of The Seven Keys part II", considerato da molti il capolavoro della band.
Dopo aver sbalordito con il debut album "Land Of The Free", il buon vecchio Kai ha cercato di comporre un album che almeno arrivasse a ottenere circa lo stesso successo del precedente, e guarda i casi della vita, è riuscito a regalarci uno dei migliori album Power esistenti sulla faccia della terra, cioè "Somewhere Out In Space", grazie anche all'aiuto di Henjo Richter alla seconda chitarra, Dan Zimmerman a devastare il drum-kit e Dirk Schlachter al basso, e ovviamente Hansen, che per quelli che non lo sapessero si accinge a ricoprire il luogo di chitarrista e cantante.
Come possiamo capire dallo splendido artwork il cd fa perno sul tema fantascientifico tipo concetti spazio-temporali e incontri tra la razza umana e le forme di vita extraterrestri, come per farci capire che non siamo soli.
Si inizia con "Beyond The Black Hole", che con la sua trascinante sezione ritmica iniziale ci catapulta direttamente nello spazio per diventare una delle canzoni più belle del Power, capace di dare la carica anche alla persona più smorta esistente al mondo e poi cede il testimone a "Men, Martians And Machines", song bellissima grazie ai suoi riffs coinvolgenti. Con "No Stranger (Another Day In Life)" andiamo incontro alla prima ballad del disco, e posso dire con certezza che questa canzone possa essere ritenuta tale, una delle ballate piu belle di sempre e a mio avviso forse il miglior pezzo del disco. Dopo una breve parentesi struggente ritorniamo ai veri e propri ritmi del disco, grazie alla progressione della title track, avvincente in ogni suo passaggio dove Hansen ci fa vedere chi sia il songwriter Powermetaller! Bravo Kai, ma adesso è ora di lasciare spazio alle idee degli altri elementi della band, difatti con "The Guardians Of Mankind" è Richter a dire la sua, e ne esce un pezzo veramente niente male, anche se sicuramente non è il migliore dell'album. Alla fine della corta "The Landing" (una delle tante short-song presenti) arriva il momento di un'altra bella canzone, cioè "Valley Of The Kings", che seguita a ruota dalla ballad "Pray", la pomposa "The Winged Horse" e la all-drums "Comic Chaos" ci catapulta nella splendida "Lost In The Future", Che tra l'altro contiene un assolo che intona le note di "Oh Susanna", per dare un tocco di Happy che rende veramente unico quest'album, che si chiude in bellezza con il trio finale "Watcher In The Sky"-"Rising Star"-"Shine On"... anzi dimenticavo, nella versione rimasterizzata troviamo anche "Return To Fantasy", cover degli Urriah Heep, anch'essa molto bella, anche se non fondamentale al fine del giudizio di questo cd.
Non penso sia necessario spendere altre parole su questo capolavoro, se non affermare che sia uno dei migliori album venuti alla luce nella seconda metà degli anni novanta, per fortuna che esiste qualcuno ancora in grado di comporre un sano metal come si deve, lontano da satanismo e morte... Imperdibile per ogni fan degli Helloween e del Metal l'album che dimostra una volta per tutte la superiorità nel campo di quel grande musicista che è kai Hansen...
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Beyond the Black Hole (06:00)
I have come from so far away
From the sunlight of my home
And I have seen it's the only way
Now my sun is dead and gone
I raise my head in silent anger
Seems there is no place for me
The only way out is to go
Where no one's gone before
Fly - Beyond the gates of space and time
Another universe is mine
And I can't wait until tomorrow
Ride - There's a call from deep within
No I won't return again
`Cause I will dive into the black hole
Don't wait for me, 'cause I won't come back
Oh don't wait for me, no I won't come back
Oh don't wait for me, no I won't come back
Oh, oh, oh ...
Thunder and lightning and fire
Are guiding the trip of my life
Insatiable burning desire
As into the unknown I dive
I raise my head in silent anger
Seems there is no place for me
The only way out is to go
Where no one's gone before
Fly - Beyond the gates of space and time
Another universe is mine
And I can't wait until tomorrow
Ride - There is a call from deep within
I know I won't return again
`Cause I will dive into the black hole
Don't wait for me, 'cause I won't come back
Oh don't wait for me, no I won't come back
Oh don't wait for me, no I won't come back
Oh, oh, oh, don't wait
There was a trigger, for my decision
It's right behind my eyes
Into the darkness of my vision
I let my spirit rise
I wanna see the black hole, into the dark
I wanna dive into the black hole, down into the dark
Into the black hole, into the dark
Into the spiral, Into the dark, the dark, the dark
If there's a possible chance for something that can be
Called future behind the spiral
The only way to find out, is to leave the final frontier
To eternity and fly
I will fly - Beyond the gates of space and time
I leave the universe behind
And I can't wait until tomorrow
Fly - Beyond the gates of space and time
I know the universe is mine
`Cause I will dive into the black hole
Ride - And there's a call from deep within
I know I won't return again
`Cause I will dive into the black hole
Don't wait for me, 'cause I won't come back
Oh don't wait for me, no I won't come back
Oh don't wait for me, no I won't come back
Oh, oh, oh, don't wait
04 Somewhere Out in Space (05:27)
I'm trapped in a castle of illusions out in space, - no more illusions -
Out on a journey, on a mission for the human race
Terrified, I had to realize that I've been talkin' to the gods of fire
I got nowhere to stand, 'cause I'm a running man... to get away
All that I see is the years... somewhere out in space
And it's time for deliverance
Tomorrow, I'll see it, another day's rise ... right before my eyes
Been sinking in sorrow, but now I'm gonna rise
No more reasons why
I'm a watcher in the dark, I'm so cold inside my heart
I'm a temple in the storm, and I'm bound to be reborn
Take me down to the underground, let me see the gods of fire
'Cause I know where they live and I know where they stand,
Another reason there to leave
Take me down, take me down, take me to the underground
I wanna meet the gods of fire
And all of their intention is the center of it all
All that I see is the years ... somewhere out in space
and it's time for deliverance
Now that I know I've got to get away
Time for deliverance now
And as the sun appeared, up in the sky
I saw another day, that's drifting by
I saw my people cry, a million tears
Into eternity they disappeared
Now it's time to say goodbye, or we will sink in sorrow
No, we don't know the reason why, another day, tomorrow
Oh, I thank you for giving me hope
Oh, follow me into a new life
All that I see is the years, all that I see is the tears
All that I see is the years... somewhere out in space
And it's time for deliverance
All that I see is the fear... somewhere out in space
And it's time for deliverance
I wanna know how to get away, I wanna know how to get away
Come set me free, just set me free, just let me go
I wanna get away, get away
Somewhere out in space
05 The Guardians of Mankind (05:01)
For no one to see for no one to hear
They fight for our souls without any fear
When injustice done they open their gates
To maintain balance between good and bad
And as the winds of freedom blow they vanish into haze
The mighty shadow turns away and wisdom conquers hate
The guardians of Mankind
Are losin' their faith
'Cause malice and falseness
Spread over the human race
If guardians of mankind
Won't shelter our souls
The rulers of darkness
Will soon gain control
Don't try to deceive them don't try to play false
'Cause losing their favour will be the end of shelter
And as the winds of freedom blow they vanish into haze
The mighty shadow turns away and wisdom conquers hate
The guardians of Mankind
Are losin' their faith
'Cause malice and falseness
Spread over the human race
If guardians of mankind
Won't shelter our souls
The rulers of darkness
Will soon gain control
And as the winds of freedom blow they vanish into haze
The mighty shadow turns away and wisdom conquers hate
The guardians of Mankind
Are losin' their faith
'Cause malice and falseness
Spread over the human race
Guardians of Mankind
Are losin' their faith
'Cause malice and falseness
Spread over the human race
If guardians of mankind
Won't shelter our souls
The rulers of darkness
Will soon gain control
07 Valley of the Kings (03:50)
Father can you hear me, did you talk to mother earth
what did she say, what did you see, now ...is it time for our rebirth?
open up the silent center of your mind,
I now want to know the future of our kind
in the valley of the kings, when the storm breaks loose again
then the gods return to fight, for the future of their lives
in the valley of the kings
oh mother do you hear me, did you talk to father moon
I don't want to leave my brothers in this temple of their doom
open up the silent center of your mind
I now want to know the future of our kind
in the valley of the kings, when the storm breaks loose again
then the gods will spread their wings, In the valley of the kings
ra vite, deus sanktus, ra vite
ra vite, revertate, ra vite
Solo (... for those who care )
Kai, Both, Kai, Henjo
oh mother earth do you believe there is a place for us to go
come set us free again and let us fly away and give us hope
there'll be a time for us to fly to our thrones up in the sky
in the valley of the kings, when the storm breaks loose again
then the gods will spread their wings, In the valley of the kings
08 Pray (04:45)
So here we stand again
Like dust on mother earth
And we hide our faces in our dreams
Only emptiness where angels flew - high on golden wings
And the voice of god has vanished now - lost inside our dreams
But the only way to go is heaven
All we can do is pray
In the darkness we stand with the world in our hands
And we pray
For a better tomorrow
We wait
Far beyond the horizon
There's a sound in the sky
The voice of glory I hear a silent cry
When the heroes of yesterday are gone
All we can do is pray
In the darkness we hide and we wait for the light
And we pray
Oh we pray
Let us pray
I've seen the darkside of the moon in my dreams
Now I know it ain't a place to live for us all
All our gods creation is dead an gone
Now we stand like children all alone forever
All we can do is pray
Forever and forever and forever more
For a better tomorrow - we wait
Pray
There's a light in the dark
And it's shining so bright on our way
Still there is hope on our way
And we pray
Oh, pray
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