Happy birthday to HELLOWEEN guitarist Sascha Gerstner!

The Metal Archives shows that Sascha was born on April 2, 1977. I like Sascha's work with the German power metal band Freedom Call. He was with them from 1998 until 2001. Freedom Call came to the attention of the world during the power metal revival era of the 1990s. He has been with the legenday Helloween since 2002!! To get a sense of the context in which Sascha began to make his name in the world of metal music, I think this brief summary by a Freedom Call reviewer over at The Metal Archives is helpful:

"It was an exciting time to be a power metal enthusiast, the time span from around 1997 up until 20002, provided that one either lived in Europe, Japan or key parts of South America or was otherwise diligent enough to seek out imported albums if one was relegated to the USA as the author of this review happened to have been. While credit is mostly due to first wave veterans like Helloween, Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray on the German front, there was a curious phenomenon where studio engineers working in said scene through the 90s and having connections with one or more of said bands in Piet Sielck and Freedom Call's front man and mastermind Chris Bay provided a sort of missing link between the older guard and a newer generation. Though all of these bands shared a somewhat similar affinity for chorus-oriented, fast paced power metal with a speed metal edge, Freedom Call stood apart from the pack by taking the light-hearted and heroic aspects of Helloween's formative sound and exaggerated them to the ninth degree."

The Metal Archives biography: "Gerstner started playing keyboards at the age of 6, and then switched to guitar when he was 13 years old. At the age of 17 he started to work as a studio guitarist in his home town and became well known around the area. In 1996 he joined the cover band scene in Southern Germany, where he met his former band mates from Freedom Call, where he performed as lead guitarist until 2001. He recorded the first two albums with the band and did three big tours in Europe. When he left Freedom Call he started to produce other young artists and worked as a songwriter for several acts. In 2002 Charlie Bauerfeind got him connected with Michael Weikath of Helloween, and in that year Gerstner joined the band replacing Roland Grapow. He also runs his own recording and mixing studio G-Tracks since 2006."

Freedom Call - "Freedom Call" (from the 2001 Crystal Empire)

HELLOWEEN - Open Your Life (from the 2003 album Rabbit Don't Come Easy)

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