GAMMA RAY: 'Skeletons In The Closet' Track Listing Revealed

German power metallers GAMMA RAY have finalized the track listing for their new live album, "Skeletons In The Closet", due on August 25 through Metal-Is/Sanctuary Records.

The final track listing, which was voted on by the band's fans on the Internet, is as follows:

CD 1:

01. Welcome (1:06)
02. Gardens Of The Sinner (5:48)
03. Rich And Famous (5:13)
04. All Of The Damned (5:00)
05. No Return (4:13)
06. Armageddon (9:24)
07. Heavy Metal Universe (7:43)
08. One With The World (4:51)
09. Dan's Solo (5:21)

CD 2:

01. Razorblade Sigh (4:59)
02. Heart Of The Unicorn (4:42)
03. Last Before The Storm (4:38)
04. Victim Of Fate (7:00)
05. Rising Star/Shine On (7:53)
06. The Silence (6:43)
07. Heaven Or Hell (4:17)
08. Guardians Of Mankind (5:22)
09. New World Order (8:23)

All songs were recorded live on the group's "Skeletons In The Closet" Tour 2002: at Barcelona's Razzmatazz 1 on Oct 31, 2002 and at Strasbourg's La Laiterie on November 2, 2002. The album was produced by the band themselves and was mixed and mastered by Kai Hansen and Dirk Schlächter at Hansen Studios, Hamburg. The first edition of "Skeletons In The Closet" will come as a limited-edition 2-CD digipack containing the following exclusive video bonus tracks, plus backstage footage in an enhanced section:

01. Gardens Of The Sinner (5:54)
02. Razorblade Sigh (4:43)

The album will be simultaneously released as a regular 2-CD, clear-tray pack. Both the limited and the regular package will come with a 32-page booklet containing many photographs taken on stage, off stage, backstage and elsewhere during the tour. In Japan, "Skeletons In The Closet" will be released through JVC on August 21st and will contain the bonus track "I Want Out" (HELLOWEEN),also recorded live on the 2002 tour.

Says GAMMA RAY leader Kai Hansen, "We'd like to express our sincerest thanks to all who made the 'Skeletons' come to life. Second we want to tell you that we are totally happy with the result, and third, we hope you will feel the same. The idea to do a tour with rarely or never live performed tracks was slowly born out of three facts:

"No.1 — were fans who after every show asked us why we didn't play this or that respective songs, that we did not take into consideration because they were not rated as 'GAMMA RAY Hits' by the majority.

"No. 2 — was that for our own fun and satisfaction we have again and again felt the selfish need to play something different than, for instance, 'Land Of The Free' so as not to get bored with it sooner or later... and

"No.3 - was the realization that if we felt so, some, or quite a few of our fans might feel the same.

"The next step was to find out if there was interest from the local promoters in a tour like that despite the fact that we were not presenting a new album. There was, and we just wanted to keep the tour special by limiting it to a few shows. We thought it might be a good opportunity to record this and release it as a special document for us, for all who were there and for all who couldn't make it. Especially because it's the first live recording of this GAMMA RAY line-up which has now made albums and toured the world together since '95, the reactions and outcome were beyond our expectations, so again thanks to all of you for taking part, voting for the songs on the internet and encouraging us to keep on going boldly where no man has gone before."