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██▌ Artist...: Gamma Ray ░▐██▌
░▐██ Album....: Sigh No More ░██▌░
▓▐██ Year.....: 2015 ▓▐██▓
▓▐██ Rel. Date: 2025-03-31 ░▐██▓
▐██ Genre....: Heavy Metal ██▌░
░ ██▌ Label....: earMUSIC ██▌
▐██ Source...: CD ▐██
░▐██▌ Type.....: Remastered ▐██▌░
▓▄████ Quality..: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo ████▌░
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1. Changes 5:43
2. Rich and Famous 4:35
3. As Time Goes By 4:41
4. (We Won't) Stop the War 3:44
5. Father and Son 4:23
6. One with the World 4:46
7. Start Running 3:56
8. Countdown 4:17
9. Dream Healer 6:17
10. The Spirit 4:19
11. Sail On (Live) 5:26
12. Changes (Live) 5:14
13. Changes (Blast from the Past Version) 4:41
14. Rich and Famous (Blast from the Past Version) 3:44
15. One with the World (Blast from the Past Version) 4:23
16. Dream Healer (Blast from the Past Version) 4:46
74:55
They'll give you quite a fright.
---
With that out of the way, ôSigh No Moreö has caused quite a stir among
listeners. It tangibly departs from the clearly-identifiable power metal
sound that Kai Hansen was primarily known for during most of his career
and which was re-established on a portion of ôHeading for Tomorrowö. On
Gamma Ray's website, it was mentioned that the Gulf War which was raging
had placed a damper on the band's spirits, which directly influenced
their musical direction on this album to a less cheerful, more old
school heavy metal sound with a somewhat dreary tone (at least on the
first half). As a result, ôSigh No Moreö may sound rather jarring if you
approach it either from the material with Kai Hansen on vocals or
directly after listening to ôHeading for Tomorrowö and might not click
from the get-go. However, this is one album in my collection that I have
learned to appreciate as a grower and I find that many are too quick to
dismiss it as either too radical a shift in style or the Gloomy Gus of
Gamma Ray's discography. But all is not as morose as the skeletons
putting on the Ritz might suggest.
As per the above, the war in Iraq was being fought at the time and it
had a tangible effect on both the mood and lyrical content of this LP,
as heard on tracks like ôAs Time Goes Byö and ô(We Won't) Stop the Warö.
Of those two Gulf War songs, ôAs Time Goes Byö is clearly the stronger
one with Kai and Ralf delivering the goods (ôThe guns are blazing, the
sky turns black!ö has a nice little Judas Priest ring to it, thanks
Ralf), but the background vocals could've used some more love in the
production department as they sound somewhat muffled. If one takes a
look at the lineup tab, it becomes apparent that ôSigh No Moreö was more
of a team effort; Kai isn't writing everything, people like Ralf
Scheepers and Uwe Wessel are contributing to the songwriting and lyrical
work on more tracks, which might explain how for instance ôFather and
Sonö has a hard rock, Guns N' Roses sound. Ralf didn't have much input
on the last album but he contributes better material here: ôChangesö is
a solid, introspective composition with some quality guitar work from
Kai and a less conventional song structure towards the end (thought it
was already over, guess again). On the flip side, ôRich and Famousö is a
pretty transparent attempt by Kai at recreating ôI Want Outö, this one
dealing with the music industry promising you the Moon and the excesses
of the rock & roll lifestyle (subject matter once again tackled on the
more monotonous ôCountdownö, which sounds like something Scorpions
might've written on a bad day). The song quality has a tendency to
fluctuate, with one great track being followed by a weaker one, thus
giving the impression that a lot more work was put into some songs
compared to others.
The second half is where the real meat of this release is found, gone
are the days when an album's leftovers were shoved to the B-side. ôOne
with the Worldö is the undisputed highlight of the album, thundering
forth with its rousing drum intro courtesy of Uli Kusch and guest
drummer Fritz Randow, before delivering the most optimistic song thus
far. Kai also puts his guitar chops to notably better use than on the
previous tracks, about time inspiration hit. It does actually feel like
the album has progressed from the pessimism of the first half towards
the optimism tempered with realism of ôOne with the Worldö. ôStart
Runningö keeps a good thing going as the one track closest to the power
metal aesthetic on here, giving bassist Uwe Wessel a chance to come to
the forefront during the intro and showcasing a kick-ass guitar solo
from Kai. We're treated to an experimental track in ôDream Healerö,
darker and more mysterious than what the Rays have gotten us used to,
once again aiming for the dream-like atmosphere from the slower portion
of the song ôHeading for Tomorrowö. Gamma Ray take a walk on the
psychedelic side with this one, not an unwelcome addition however. To
end things on a high note, ôThe Spiritö again lightens the mood with
what I like to consider the heavy metal spiritual successor to ôRockin'
in the Free Worldö, an uplifting anthem with a hopeful atmosphere.
When I look at ôSigh No Moreö, the feeling I get is that while it does
not soar to the heights of ôHeading for Tomorrowö, nothing on here is a
downright bad song either. Sure, some songs are obviously more average
than others, but the overall feel for this album is that of a decent
transitional effort, with some buried treasure that often goes
undiscovered. A band could certainly do worse when it comes to an
ôexperimental albumö, and holy hell did that ever prove true for Gamma
Ray when ôInsanity and Geniusö dropped...but never mind that for the
time being. Bottom line, this isn't a conventional Kai Hansen opus, it
is a product of its time (and might I add rather topical as of writing
these lines). But worth listening to? I certainly think so.
Ripper's note: this seems to be Russian bootleg that lacks 8 tracks from
the official 2CD-release.
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