Well, believe it or not, but I underwent the ordeal to listen to those links. Although I already knew them, and although I made my opinion on these bands
absolutely clear.
1.: The intro is nice, but Kai Hansen kills the song. When I was a kid, there was a cartoon show on TV that I watched regularly, because there was nothing else on at the time, but I really hated the show. In fact, I think it was what turned me off TV. And there was a particularly annoying character which had a voice that sounded a lot like Hansen's. He sounds like a mixture of a raped muppet and a squealing piglet, and then had his balls cut off. Not to mention that he always tries to sound mysterious and gloomy, but just ends up sounding hoarse. No appeal at all to me. Anyway, back to the song. The chorus is a standard clichéd power metal chorus. What on earth does this have to do with Queen?
I suggest you listen to that band again. There couldn't be less similarity.The guitar solo is disjointed and messy. Believe it or not, but the number one thing I hate about Gamma Ray is not the singer, but that ugly, high-pitched guitar sound. It always makes me think of pink plastic. I can't really find any words to describe what I dislike about it, I just do. Not to mention that the song evidently tries to build up atmosphere, but is just played way too fast for that.
2.: Starts out great until the second guitar kicks in. Then it sounds like fairground music. Which, incidentally, anything by Helloween sounds like. It's their sort of melody. And then in comes Hansen. See above. The chorus is ridiculous. Just ridiculous. It's the sort of table-pounding "I WANT MY DESSERT!" kind of squeal that I'd feel ashamed of singing that while drunk. The guitar solo is nice. The shredding in the second part is a bit annoying, but other than that, I'd say it's a good solo. What a waste.
3. Terrible song. It's rushed and way too fast, and the singer sounds awful (I don't really understand, it's noted everywhere this is Kiske singing, but it sounds just like Hansen). At 1:29, he wants to do a powerful scream, but it sounds more like he's puking. The "fight for freedom..." part doesn't fit in at all. The solo is nice until the harmonies kick in. I don't understand why Helloween keep trying to do harmonies, they fail so bitterly at it. It sounds everything BUT harmonic. The "Judas! Judas!" part sounds so ridiculous because it's sung by such a weak voice, that I have to laugh at it every time (I would like to remind you of the fact that I know the song well).
4. The intro is a poor fairground harmony, and the song just drops from there. Seriously, do you really think the "Wanted from law but they'll never catch me" part is good? It's a fucking kindergarten melody! Yes, I sang stuff like that when I was 4! The chorus is awful. At first it just sounds like Hansen is babbling, but it gets worse when he shrieks. This has no aesthetic appeal to me, it's just ugly. The intstrumental section would be nice if it wouldn't feel so out of place because it's in the middle of such a fast song. Oh, and the whisper ruins it. Hansen can't whisper hauntingly either. The way he says "Lucifer" just sounds ridiculous. The "you will burn in hell" part is, admittedly, delivered pretty cool. The solo is good until the fucking fairground harmonies kick in again and brutally butcher what started to become a pretty good song. The shredding after the last chorus makes no sense at all and sounds stupid and aimless. The second guitar makes it absolutely cacophonic.
Helloween in a nutshell to me: Fairground atmosphere, cacophonic harmonies, messy shredding, ugly singers (you know how much I hate Kiske, and Deris is not any different to me), disjointed songwriting .
