Ride the Sky was a progressive

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band formed by ex-

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Wei ...

Gamma Ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

, and Masterplan drummer

Uli Kusch Ulrich Kusch (born 11 March 1967) is a heavy metal drummer. He is best known for playing with Helloween, Gamma Ray, Masterplan and Holy Moses, among others. He is known for his technical style of playing, fast-paced speed metal-like rhythm, an ...

, and Tears of Anger members Bjørn Jansson and Benny Jansson.

History

The ground work for Ride the Sky began in 2006 when drummer Uli Kusch started swapping musical ideas with vocalist Bjorn Jansson. Uli left Masterplan later that year and was asked by Bjorn and Benny to do some guest work on the next Tears of Anger album. Uli was impressed with the music sent to him, and started sending some of his own compositions back to them. The three musicians decided to put all their work to play in Ride the Sky. The trio hired bassist Mathias Garnås, and keyboardist Kaspar Dahlqvist, in order to, according to them, to "Gain the highest caliber of talent to complete the band". They have so far released one album entitled '' New Protection'', on metal label

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

records. The band combines strong traits of

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

, and symphonic metal, with strong influences from 80s hard rock. On November 17, 2007, on their website they announced that Kaspar departed from the line-up due to personal reasons, and that

Ram-Zet Ram-Zet is an avant-garde metal band formed in Hamar, Norway in 1998. Genre classification Ram-Zet's music is very diverse ranging from black metal to thrash metal. It has industrial sounds, progressive structures, and traditional instrumen ...

's Henning "Zet" Ramseth was to replace him on keyboards and rhythm guitar for the rest of the tour. On April 22, 2008 the band stated in their blog on MySpace that they have officially broken up, saying "There was not much media focus and together with a minor support from the record company, we came to the point where it was just not worth the work to even try to complete a second album."

Members

Final members

*Bjørn Jansson –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

– drums *Benny Jansson –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

*Mathias Garnås –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Former members

*Kaspar Dahlqvist – keyboards

Session members

*Henning Ramseth – keyboards, rhythm guitar

Discography

The band's only album, ''New Protection'', was released through

on August 22, 2007. It was recorded at Zinkens-Studios in Stockholm. A

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

was made for the title track of the album. AllMusic said the combination of metal and hard rock made ''New Protection'' a polished and effective album. ;Track listing *The

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case ...

and US track list contains "Make the Spirit Burn". *Some Japanese versions contain both bonus tracks with "Make the Spirit Burn" as #13 and "Trial of Flame" as #14. ;Credits * Bjørn Jansson −

− drums * Benny Jansson −

* Kaspar Dahlqvist − keyboards * Mathias Garnås −

References

External links

Official website

Official MySpace
{{Authority control Swedish power metal musical groups Swedish progressive metal musical groups Swedish symphonic metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Heavy metal supergroups Nuclear Blast artists