Gamma Ray - Super Happy Fun Reaper

When you think of metal in general you probably think you have a decent idea of its typical subject matter. It's not exactly light and flowery - if bands aren't writing gloomier things than Ray Bradbury then they're doing self-referential fantasy or science fiction concept albums instead. So the existence of a song about being guided through the portal to the next world by the Grim Reaper shouldn't come as a colossal surprise. But I think the fact that it sounds like this probably will. (You might want to skim over the words just to build up an impression of what this is going to be like before you dispel it all.)

Artist: Gamma Ray (transitional-type)
Song: No Return
Album: Insanity and Genius
Visuals: The album cover

This has been stuck in my head all weekend - it has to be one of the most unexpectedly addictive songs that Gamma Ray have ever written, and one that never got much recognition until they put together a live album of all the songs that had forgotten about called Skeletons in the Closet. It was originally on their third album, which was the last one in what I'd call their sort of germination phase before they really became the band that they're known for being now, and when they were evolving from being a political commentary band into a sci-fi one. You can see that coming through even in the album artwork, the first appearance of the Yin Yang symbol that they'd later use everywhere for very little reason, along with the change of their logo slightly away from The Crystal Maze. Original singer Ralf Scheepers sounds a lot closer to Michael Kiske's wailing style than Kai himself does, though he has a heavy accent and is in medium "I can do weird things with my voice" mode here (almost approaching Serj Tankian in places, but frankly nobody can really match him).

It's a lot of fun, though. We're all going to heaven, lads, wahey.