by Eduardo Rivadavia
Ride the Sky is a European heavy metal band founded by well-traveled German drummer Uli Kusch (ex-Helloween, Sinner, Gamma Ray, Holy Moses, etc.) following his exit from most recent day job, Masterplan, in 2006. After meeting Swedish musicians Bjorn Jansson (vocals) and Benny Jansson (guitar), and contributing some drum tracks to an album by their band, Tears of Anger, Kusch convinced them to collaborate on the newly hatched Ride the Sky, resulting in a debut CD entitled New Protection. This was released by Nuclear Blast in late summer 2007, also featured keyboard player Kaspar Dahlqvist and bassist Mathias Garnås, and contained melodic heavy metal with catchy songs and only infrequent visits to outright power metal terrain.