Helloween, Gamma Ray, Axxis
London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
8th January, 2008

View: centre, first tier circle

Celebrating 30 years of metal, singer/guitarist Kai Hansen made a double appearance with Gamma Ray (celebrating their 20th anniversary) and his former band, Helloween. But it was fellow Teutonic rockers Axxis (also 20 this year) that kicked off 4.5 hours of metal.

Bernhard Weiss, pounding about like a Roman galleon drum-master, led his sextet through half a dozen numbers over 40 minutes. Bolstered by Anna from Magica, the dual-vocal approach akin to Nightwish was favoured on the likes of Take My Hand, while Scorpions-style rocking was the order of the day for Little War. With plenty of raking riffs – Time Machine – and gusto delivery, a decent start.

Gamma Ray notched things up for 70 minutes, racing through 11 cuts with frenetic ease, the quintet exploding on with Gardens Of The Sinner, eliciting the first of many chantalongs. While New World Order and others have a Maiden-ish tinge (dual guitars), the likes of the hurtling Valley Of The Kings are distinctive, and Dan Zimmerman’s drumming sometimes ferocious. Singalong standouts included the preposterously pleasing Heavy Metal Universe (cue axe solo), the wailing Somewhere Out In Space (Kai on fine form) and the closing encore of Send Me A Sign.

It was left to the quintet of Helloween to follow, 15 cuts over 95 minutes including the thunderous Soul Survivor, Maiden-esque March Of Time, new hard-rocker As Long As I Fall, and uptempo The King For 1,000 Years. A hilarious interlude saw singer Andi Deris and his guitar sidekicks assume midget postures to render Smoke On The Water on helium! Then there were more flailing frets on We Got The Right, Perfect Gentleman and the closing Keeper Of The Seven Keys. The final quarter-hour saw Helloween joined by Gamma Ray (Hellray?) for a superb run through Future World and I Want Out, which no one really did!

Reviewed by Tim Jones
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