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UDO
T.A. 7,5/10 |
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UFO
A.S. 7,5/10 |
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UFO
A.S. 7/10 |
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U.S. ROUGHNECKS
A.S. 5/10 |
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UNCHAINED
T.A. 6,5/10 |
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UNRULY CHILD
T.A. 7/10 K.P. 7,5/10 |
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URBAN TALE
T.A. 9/10 K P. 9/10 |
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UDO is a band that always likes to provide good heavy metal music in order to satisfy the loyal fans of this genre. So, this time they have achieved that and the result is even better that you can imagine. “Thunderball” is full of power, heavy riffs, and good heavy metal songs, nothing more or less. Udo is truly a great singer and performer and he is true to his ideas about heavy metal music. I do not believe that there is a single fan out there that is listening to this kind of music and will not like songs like “Thunderball”, “Pull The Trigger”, “The Land Of The Midnight Sun”, “The Bullet And The Bomb”, Magic Mirror” and my beloved “Blind Eyes”. I left for the end the most “weird” song that UDO has ever released and it is called “Trainride In Russia”. This is a Russia-like song and it combines perfectly the folk music along with the metal power. We need more songs like that cause they show how open minded are bands like UDO… and heavy metal bands must always be open-minded if they want to survive in our times. The production is as heavy and good as it should be for an album like this. I do not have many more things to say about “Thundreraball”. The fans of the band have already bought it. As for the other heavy metal fans… I believe that they will give a chance to this very good new album of UDO. “Thunderball” could have been very easily the new Accept album. These are not only my words but also Udo’s words. More you will ready in the interview that UDO gave us. Till then good heavy metal music will always make us feel nice.
This is a crossroad album for the veteran group. Michael Schenker has come to past for the band and his place is covered by the guitar virtuoso Vinnie Moore. Plus the guy enthroned behind the drum set is, his excellency, Jason Bonham, who gives a more solid and straight hard rockin’ sense to the new songs. And, setting aside my adoration for Schenker, I can tell you that the new members brought a wind of change and refreshment to the deadlocked group. First of all Moore participates in the songwriting, something that made the sound of the group less predictable than in the recent past. To be honest I think the new album is the best work of the band since the magnificent “Walk On Water” in 1995. The band rocks and grooves for good, from mid-tempo yet heavy songs (like “Call Me”) to straight rock anthems (“Daylight Goes To Town”) and rhythmical ascending tunes (“Mr. Freeze”). I feel that this is a functional line-up, which not only delivers a great album, but has also the ability to look into the future with audacity!
First
of all let me make it clear: I disagree with the widespread perception
that old bands cannot produce good music anymore. Ok, I am not expecting
from UFO (or other similar bands) in 2002 to provide me with a CD, which
will alter my life by introducing novelties to our music. What I expect
from them is to use their experience and produce good music, at least
equivalent to their previous works. And believe me my friends, UFO do
exactly that! What has been "Walk on Water" for the 90's can
be "Sharks" for the 00's. Mogg/Schenker/Dunbar/Way are back
with a really excellent album. I am not exaggerating by saying that the
songs of the album remind me a lot of albums like "Force it"
or "No Heavy Petting". And how can this be bad?? The guys are
in great shape, and believe me that Schenker delivers amazing solos and
riffs once more (I write this because I know that many of you are stuck
with the German guitarist). I'd only like to highlight the song "Outlaw
Man" which if it was written in the 70's it would have been an all-time
classic, and "Serenity" with the sticky refrain, which is
maybe the best song of the album and one of my favourite ones for this
year. I just wish more "old" groups could release CD's like
this one!
Two possible things are going on: Either dirty hard rock is on the rise, or there were always many similar releases, that I just wasn’t aware of. To be honest I’m not sure that I can handle it for much longer though. In the last couple of months I have made reviews for many similar albums, which hardly have something good to deliver... not to mention anything innovative! This is the case with U.S. Roughnecks too: Motorhead meet the Hellacopters, meet Ramones etc. Most of these records are ok, but they are so common and similar to each other, that become boring. Some good riffs, lots of attitude, hoarse vocals etc. The specific band presents and even more “bad” attitude... you know...“fuck the cops - fuck the cops”. I’m over such revolutionary cries, so I will by-pass this one... and I suggest mature listeners to do the same.
“Unchained”
is the debut album of the Swedish band Unchained. They guys here play
traditional heavy metal music in the vein of Iron Maiden but they also
have some melodic and prog elements on some songs. I like listening to
traditional heavy metal music but when we talk about heavy metal we do not
talk about any originality. That’s not necessary bad for me when it
comes to heavy metal because all that I wanna listen to is thunderous
riffs, good drumming and powerful vocals. This is the real meaning of
heavy metal. We listen to this kind of music just to have fun and to make
our head banging. The truth here is that Unchained offers a good album
full of nice melodies and heavy guitars that has a very powerful
production as well. Iron Maiden seems to be main influence of Unchained
and they honour their roots really good. This album won’t change our
lives and won’t drive us crazy but all those who love Iron Maiden and
traditional heavy metal music will have a good time listening to
“Unchained”.
This
is the 3rd release of Unruly Child, entitled UC III. I used to think and
I hope you agree with me that the 3rd release is for a promising band
the line that will confirm the dynamism or not, and their bright or the
fuzzy future! In our case, hopefully Unruly Child managed to release a
very dynamic and classy album. For those that are already familiar with
the previous work of Unruly Child they would expect something really
good! Of course the new singer of the band Philip Bardowell (ex-Magdalen),
has a great part on the whole good result cause he gave a new fresh air
due to his great ala Lou Gramm voice to the band. And that was something
that the band needed it badly! As it was expected the songs are in the
known rock melodic style of the band, but there are powerful and
pleasant. Songs that they impressed me are the very nice "Tear Me
Down" (which was written in the 90's when Unruly Child changed
their name to 12 Pound Sledge and their music style was hardier) the
song "Falling" that will probably remind you a little bit of
Foreigner, the remarkable ballad "Bring Me Home" and finally
the "Kings Of Tragedy". To cut it short, the fans of good
melodic rock/hard rock will surely like this album.
The
catalogue of the very good melodic rock/AOR albums that have been
released nowadays seems like it's endless! And that is really cool for
the fans of this kind of music. Here we are talking about the second
Urban Tale's album "Signs of Time". This band with the debut
album had already left us the best impressions, so we were waiting
anxiety their second one. In the new album things are getting clearer as
their style which is a mixture of Journey and Styx, is still the same
but with many new elements added! Some songs - that will probably remind
you the amazing Styx- are "Starship Of Giants" and the 70's
infected "Hello Light". You will listen to this album very
pleasantly and you'll find many songs that will impress you like the
ballad "Still Strong", or the ala Journey "Don't You Know".
The big surprise of the album is on track nine. You will discover in "Beggar
and Thief" the most sentimental, melancholic song of the album.
There's no doubt that this unique song will stuck in you mind and you
can not help but singing it all day long. This song was one of the
reasons that pushed me to rated with a…