I missed the opening couple of numbers by Neonfly, however I did catch ‘The Revenant’ the third song in their set. They were very lively as ever on stage with vocalist Willy Norton a livewire singing, jumping around and getting the crowd on the band’s side. ‘Highways To Nowhere’ and set closer ‘Morning Star’ were the highlights for me, although the sound was not great particularly on the vocals. They won over some new fans and were a perfect opener for this night of power metal.

Serious Black are one of these ‘supergoups’ that keep popping up in the world of metal. They originally featured Roland Grapow of Helloween fame, although he has since bowed out and the current line-up features past and present members of Edenbridge, Tad Morose and Blind Guardian.

I tend to agree with fellow GRTR! reviewer Phil Berisford who reviewed the band’s debut album earlier this year in that their songs are okay, but on the whole nothing special. That said they have two real stand out songs in the power ballad ‘Listen to the Storm’ and ‘High and Low’, both show off the undoubted vocal talents of Urban Breed (a man surely with one of the coolest names in rock?). They have a little fun mid set with a couple of covers, the Kiss classic ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’ and Scorpions ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’. Enjoyable set and certainly worth catching live if you can.

Headliners Gamma Ray were celebrating 25 years of metal, quite a scary thought as I can still remember buying their debut album, ‘Heading For Tomorrow’, on cassette on its original release! The band have recently expanded adding vocalist Frank Beck (rescued from singing Mary Hopkin’s covers if Mr Hansen is to be believed!), who does the majority of the singing Kai Hansen used to do. Bassist Dirk Schlächter also added the higher end backing vocals, mainly needed on the songs from the band’s days when Ralf Scheepers was the vocalist.

The setlist was a good mix and none better than kicking off with one of their best songs ‘Heaven Can Wait’. The band kept between song banter to a minimum and kept the metal rolling with ‘Last Before the Storm’ and ‘Fight’ following in quick succession.

There was a nod to Kai Hansen’s past with Helloween’s ‘I Want Out’ which bizarrely had a reggae part midway through, not sure they quite pulled that one off though. They hit their stride again on the power ballad ‘The Silence’ from their debut album. Great emotion in the singing with Hansen and Beck trading vocals on this one.

Sadly the drum solo and bass solo I could have done without and certainly not one straight after the other. Still it was back on track with ‘Dethrone Tyranny’, again the band played the songs note perfect. Fans were treated to a medley of ‘Rebellion in Dreamland’/’Heavy Metal Universe’/’Ride the Sky’ and due to being a work night I had to bow out before the extended jamming on ‘Somewhere Out In Space’ which closed their set.

Gamma Ray certainly show no signs of metal fatigue and on tonight’s showing have plenty more years of entertaining their fans to come. Adding Frank Beck is a good move as it allowed Kai Hansen greater freedom around the stage and a chance to do a few guitar player poses with fellow guitarist Henjo Richter. A good triple bill of power metal and all three bands gave their all to a receptive and appreciative crowd.

Review by Jason Ritchie

---

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

---

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

---

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)

---

---

Popular (last 10 days)

---