Skeleton in the Closet [live]

by Alex HendersonThe members of Gamma Ray are caught in a timewarp, and if one is a die-hard fan of old-school '70s and '80s power metal, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Throughout the '90s, the German headbangers offered no acknowledgment of post-'80s alternative metal trends -- and when the early 2000s arrived, they were still partying like it was 1984. This live double-CD was recorded at concerts in Barcelona, Spain and Strasbourg, Germany during Gamma Ray's European tour of 2002, but stylistically, Skeleton in the Closet might as well have been recorded 18 or 20 years earlier -- the performances are right out the classic Iron Maiden/Judas Priest/Queensrÿche/King Diamond school of power metal, and Gamma Ray is totally oblivious to punk-influenced styles such as metalcore, grunge, death metal/black metal, grindcore, doom metal, stoner rock and rap-metal. But if Wynton Marsalis and the derivative Young Lions of hard bop and post-bop can be praised for their retro outlook, there is no reason why Gamma Ray should feel obligated to change with the metal times if they don't want to -- and judging from the roaring applause that one hears throughout Skeleton in the Closet, the headbangers' European followers seem to agree that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. In fact, Kai "Helloween" Hansen and friends bring so much conviction and passion to these performances that one is glad to see them sticking with the type of aggressive yet melodic power metal that they do best. No one will accuse Gamma Ray of being the most groundbreaking or distinctive band in the world, but for those who never lost their love of old-school power metal, Skeleton in the Closet is an exciting, if predictable, document of the German metalheads on-stage in 2002.