What album could possibly be more metal than one directly nurtured into the flames of Hell? With all due respect to Satan worshippers – sincere or fake – this is exactly what German heavy/speed band Gamma Ray managed to do last year with their album “Empire Of The Undead” set for a 28 March release. “Dear Kai, please call back immediately, the studio is burning and this is no fucking joke!”, this is the text message lead singer Kai Hansen received in his hotel room in South America, while the majority of their album had just been recorded at Hammer Studios in Hamburg. Besides its quality of which they can be proud, this is an album that will certainly remain a vivid memory for all band members.

In the following interview, Kai Hansen himself tells us all about the conception of Empire Of the Undead, the fire in the studios and how they managed to save their music. This was also the occasion for us to get more information concerning the departure of drummer Dan Zimmerman, along with some news from Unisonic – his second band with Michael Kiske, past bandmate from Helloween – which is currently working on its second album. We also used this opportunity to ask him about some plagiarism accusations flowing over the internet concerning a few Gamma Ray songs.

Read the interview