Gamma Ray

In 1989, Kai Hansen decided to leave the band Helloween, amid tensions with his label and other band members, to start his own band, Gamma Ray. He surrounded himself with Ralf Scheepers on vocals, Uwe Wessel on bass and Mathias Burchardt on drums. On the band's first record, released in 1990, Heading for Tomorrow, Dirk Schlächter and Piet Sielck make appearances as guests. The first album is very close to Helloween's output of that period (Keeper of the Seven Keys part I & II), both musically and in terms of structure: a short musical introduction, a ballad in the middle of the album, and a long composition at the end of the album. The style would move away from Helloween's over the course of the albums.