“Let us fly away, let us praise the days”
The joyous glory of the middle eight. Is there anything better? I’m talking about the section, usually 8-bars in length and two thirds of the way into the song, that introduces a new element and adds a new layer of feeling and meaning. One famous example would be the “looks like nothing’s gonna change” vocal part in (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay.
Metal artists will often use guitar solos, rifferamas and mosh-friendly breakdowns to get that variety and shifting intensity into their songs and we all know our favourite examples of those. But what about the classic vocal middle eights in metal? Here’s a great one: Gamma Ray’s Lust For Life. Taken from their debut album Heading For Tomorrow, it’s a definitive power metal track with all the happy hallmarks of the genre. It’s already intense stuff but, following a superb and sprawling guitar solo, vocalist Ralf Scheepers whooooaas into a middle eight that takes the track into a transcendent area of giant awesomeness. It’s the best part of the song and it just wouldn’t be the same without it. Maybe it’s that uplifting or transcendent feeling that isn’t always a great fit for metal songs, especially as you get into the more extreme echelons. But on a track called Lust For Life it’s just what the doctor ordered.
I’m instantly thinking of other great ones (like the “take my hand” section in Maiden’s Heaven Can Wait) but what are your favourites? Let me know in the comments.
[Gamma Ray – Lust For Life]
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 
Loved the guitar work on this.
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Yeah it’s brilliant stuff.
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What an awesome set of hair on these guys!
I would agree with you on Heaven Can Wait. Great track.
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A couple of power mullets going on there!
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I missed these guys back in the day. This sounds great. I hate I missed them, but better late than never.
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It’s never too late! There was just too many good bands back then. I’m still catching up…
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Who knows if we will ever get caught up.
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Never heard of these guys. Good tune.
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They were formed by an ex-Helloween guitarist. Got any of their stuff?
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Good question about the vocal middle 8s – I can’t think of any metal ones at the moment, but weezer had a couple terrific ones (Surf Wax America & Holiday) on their debut!
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Excellent. I will give them a listen. Anthrax seem to spring to mind… they have some great ones! Like Caught In A Mosh, that’s superb.
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Jesus, that man is literally wearing a big girl’s blouse!
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Hey don’t oppress him with your patriarchal gender normative tyranny!
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I wasn’t, I was actually being totally factual, he does appear to be wearing a blouse that one would normally associate with a larger lady.
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Aye, right enough.
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They just look like a bunch of guys who were playing a hair metal band on Rosanne or something.
Anyhoo, here’s some related trivia for you: these guys threatened to sue Homme after he released his first post-Kyuss music (the Gamma Ray EP) and so the band became Qu**s of the S**** A**.
I reckon he should have called them Josh Homme’s Gamma Ray when touring Germany.
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That is AWESOME. Why didn’t I know about this?
Gamma Ray can officially enter the HMO Hall Of Heroes for their valiant attempt to stop the HOMME menace. I salute them.
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Hahaha. I thought that would please you.
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