GAMMA RAY's KAI HANSEN: 'XXX - Three Decades In Metal' Audio Samples

Kai Hansen, earMUSIC and Wacken Foundation are gearing up for the release of "XXX - Three Decades In Metal", the first solo album by Hansen, one of the most influential guitarists and singers to emerge from Germany during the first part of the '80s.

Hansen first made his name with the ground-breaking band HELLOWEEN (of which he is one of the founding members) and later with GAMMA RAY, one of the bands that contributed to define the genre power metal, bringing it to generation of devoted fans worldwide since its first album.

"XXX" is, in pure Hansen tongue-in-cheek style, a reference to over 30 years of involvement in the world of heavy rock, as explained with the album's sub-title, "Three Decades In Metal".

The album will be released tomorrow, September 16, via earMUSIC as 1CD, 2CD Special Edition including all 11 songs with Hansen on vocals, 2LP and digital.

"XXX - Three Decades In Metal" track listing:

01. Born Free
02. Enemies Of Fun (featuring Ralf Scheepers & Piet Sielck)
03. Contract Sun (featuring Dee Snider & Steve McT as The Manger)
04. Making Headlines (featuring Tobias Sammet)
05. Stranger In Time (featuring Michael Kiske, Frank Beck, Tobias Sammet & Roland Grapow - guitar solo)
06. Fire And Ice (featuring Clémentine Delauney, Marcus Bischoff, Richard Sjunnesson & Michael Weikath - guitar solo)
07. Left Behind (featuring Alexander Dietz & Clémentine Delauney)
08. All Or Nothing (featuring Clémentine Delauney)
09. Burning Bridges (featuring Eike Freese)
10. Follow The Sun (featuring Hansi Kürsch & Tim Hansen - guitar solo)

Check out audio samples below.

Shot at Chameleon Studio in Hamburg where the album also was recorded, the video for "Born Free" perfectly captures the essence of the song. Starting with the line "Born in the city of Hamburg, in 1963…," Kai sets the direction for his solo debut — a reference, a bow to his home town which is also represented in the images. Hansen roars into the mic like his life depends on it — like a wild, unleashed beast — and breaks free with liberating screams. Add explosive guitar solos, heavy riffs and the stellar line up that is Alex Dietz (guitar player of HEAVEN SHALL BURN) on bass, Eike Freese on guitar and phenomenal drummer Daniel Wilding (CARCASS) to the mix, and you get everything you ever searched for in metal/hard rock.

Or as Hansen puts it in "Born Free": "It made me feel so groovy — it gave me instant heat."

"XXX - Three Decades In Metal" is a magical journey. It is the story of how powerful dreams can be. Dreams and passions big enough to bring a teenager from Hamburg who is in love with rock music, glam rock and the first heavy metal sounds from the practicing space in his bedroom and rehearsal rooms to the biggest stages in the world practicing, and ending up influencing and sharing the stage with the very same bands he admired in the first place.

Not strictly autobiographical, "XXX - Three Decades In Metal" is without doubt the story of Kai Hansen but it could very well represent the story of anybody who is not afraid to believe in dreams, with passion and dedication. It is the story of the ups and downs that everybody faces at some point during the journey of life: the lost-and-found-again friends, the glory, the tragedies and the joys.

After the achievements enjoyed by Hansen lately with UNISONIC and especially GAMMA RAY's recent work "Empire Of The Undead", Kai Hansen started working on the album with no precise commercial masterplan — just playing music with the same spirit as in the very beginning. This certainly was the reason for Hansen to communicate to his label the intention of donating the first advance payment he will receive for "XXX" — which in the meantime has shaped into a proper album — to the Wacken Foundation, a foundation which helps and supports young hard rock and heavy metal bands for over seven years now: musicians full of hopes and dreams, exactly as Hansen had in the beginning of the thirty years story told on this album... in the hope that one day, somebody could tell another thirty years long magic story, also thanks to this album.