As a huge Accept-fan, it was of course a no-brainer that I would follow both Accept and singer Udo Dirkschneider when he left Accept for the first time back in 1987. He called his new outfit U.D.O. and the band’s first album Animal House was all written by Accept and they even played on a couple of songs on the album. It’s not a wild guess that Animal House was probably intended to be the follow-up to Accept’s 1986 album Russian Roulette. Be that as it may, the first four U.D.O. albums were great and it looked like Udo’s career would over-shadow his former bandmates’ by far. But Accept decided to reunite in 1991 and U.D.O. was put on hold for what it looked like by then, forever. But it didn’t last and Udo left again in 1996 and resurrected U.D.O. Only this time things didn’t go all that smoothly.
U.D.O. had sliding doors when it came to band-members and there were new faces with every record but worse, the albums felt like Udo was on repeat and even though he and his band never released any bad albums per se, many albums were uneven and at least for me, it was hard to keep the interest in the band afloat. All that changed when they released their latest album Steelfactory two years ago. It was a fresh and vital effort that sounded like a band with a new spark, a we-will-never-give-in attitude and quality-wise, it was the best U.D.O. album since the brilliant Faceless World (1990). This brought hope when it was announced that the band was back in the studio for a follow-up. The fact that they were recording with Das Musikkorps Der Bundeswehr (the concert ensemble for the German Armed Forces) were a bit puzzling which created some worries but the fact that both Stefan Kaufmann (ex-Accept, ex-U.D.O) and Peter Baltes, who had recently left Accept, was back in the fold were nothing but splendid news.
Apart from the big orchestral explosion that opens the album’s opener and second single “Pandemonium”, this one strikes me as classic U.D.O as it gets. At least its foundation. It’s an uptempo, dark, heavy and riff-happy Metal belter complete with immediate and striking melodies and a chorus that brings on a typical U.D.O melody with a good hook. That said, it’s not what I’d consider single-material even though I really dig the song. However, I do feel that the orchestration takes over a bit too much. The leading single and title-track brings on some Accept type riffing and a pounding and headbang-friendly rhythm. The symphonic arrangements and orchestration feels only natural here and the massive refrain screams of Accept with a tiny pop-touch so it’s not a wild guess that Baltes and Kaufmann is involved in this one. The former even sings on the track. Great tune.
“Love And Sin” bursts out like classic U.D.O. and symphonic Goth – Nightwish influences maybe? – in a blender. The foundation of the song is Metal with a hard-kicking groove and intense melodies and a hooky, catchy refrain that sticks from go. It’s stompy and pounding and the melodies are recognizable as U.D.O. but the whole orchestrated arrangement feels a bit weird coming from Udo. Latest single “Future Is The reason Why” starts out some kind of medieval tune but changes path to the U.D.O. style Metal we all know him for albeit with the orchestra in full bloom, so much it transfers into something worthy of bands like Manowar or Therion. Or a mix of them two. The basics of the song is great but the heavily orchestrated arrangements makes me wish it was done the way it’s supposed to be done – and that is classic U.D.O. style.
“Children Of The World” is slower in pace yet heavy and dark and at the same time punchy, hard and fist-in-the-air headbang driven. But there’s also a soft and sullen passage with a musical-theatre vibe that sounds as if they’re aiming for Broadway. It changes the song’s dynamics as it gets heavy again, but I’m not sure it’s for the better. Again, it could have been awesome had it been done in a proper U.D.O. way. “Blindfold (The Last Defender)” is a real curveball – and I’m not sure why this song is even on this album. I mean, Udo isn’t even on the song himself. It’s a musical-like ballad, heavily orchestrated and sung by a female vocalist (I have no clue of who she is). It’s big, pompous and bombastic on a marching-beat and yes it’s a good song and the singer is really good as well. But an Udo-less song on an U.D.O. album? Nah.
“Blackout” brings more Udo-less stuff as it’s an instrumental, pompous and even pretentious where the orchestra takes over completely even though there are some mean guitar-riffing involved. The soundscape is enormous, it’s pompous to the full and it ends with a quiet piano. It’s an ok tune but totally unnecessary. “Mother Earth” on the other hand, is the best track so far. It’s upbeat and in-your-face, pounding and hard with every classic Dirkschneider ingredient there is. But again, there’s an orchestra overkill present – had the song been done the way this band normally does it, we would have had a bonafide U.D.O.-killer on our hands, perfect for the stage. I do love the song even if the orchestration takes the edge off it somewhat.
“Rebel Town” could have been an old Accept track from some studio vault somewhere. It’s a straight-forward Metal belter with a strong main-melody and an even stronger refrain – this tune would have fitted perfectly on the last album. Doubtless the album’s finest moment. “Natural Forces” has a title that suggests that we would get more of what we got from the last song but instead we get an instrumental piece that has Blackmore’s Night taking on an orchestra mixed with some Metal guitar riffing and a let’s-go-to-battle marching rhythm. It’s a bombastic number but a bit too much to digest. At least for me. A skipper.
Third single “Neon Diamond” is a smoother number. Still a rocker with a main melody that’s all U.D.O. but with a less Metal arrangement than we’re used to. Being a bit more sedate, the tune still holds a solid, thick beat albeit a bit laid-back. We’re also treated with another (or maybe the same) female lead vocal here but this time it’s a duet with Udo. A bombastic orchestration is combined with a smooth saxophone, a saxophone that even gets a solo. While I don’t have a saxophone-issue at all, it do feels a bit out of place here. I dig the tune, though. “Beyond Gravity” starts out like some kind of folky tune with added bagpipes, heavily orchestrated with more musical-theatre twists and a marching band drum-beat. It’s an almost instrumental track with only some male gang-chants and some female la-la-la’s. I dunno, does this really belong on an U.D.O. album? It’s not a crap song but I’m dubious.
More new grips from U.D.O. comes with “Here We Go Again”, a big-grooved Classic Rock track built on blues-rock that brings along an intense and swinging horn-section. But we’re not done yet. Udo does some kind of rap-inspired vocal in the verse and he also duets the song with his son Sven. And there’s a multi-voiced choir on it as well. Wow. Look, I think it’s a great track with a killer groove, crispy guitars, a beefy rhythm and a striking chorus – but it doesn’t sound like U.D.O. at all. On a side-project, this would have been awesome and call me conservative if you want but it just don’t fit on an U.D.O. record. It just don’t.
The title “We Strike Back” is a classic Accept/U.D.O. title which brings hope to the table. And sure enough, it’s fast, rough, heavy and aggressive with a clear nod towards “Fast As A Shark” type songs, something that makes me smile. But then there’s the orchestra which contrasts a great deal with the heaviness of the song. Had it been there in the background, cool but it’s too loud, too high in the mix. It’s a killer tune but it would have been even better with a stripped and earthy arrangement. Closing track “Beyond Good And Evil” is mostly instrumental with the orchestra in the frontline with only a chorus of a female opera choir. Most of the track is based on the orchestra with only bass and drums for rhythm’s sake and even though some heavy guitar riffing comes in, the tune feels completely out of place on an U.D.O. album.
Despite much criticism on my part, this is not a bad album. It’s a confused album, sure, because Udo & co. strays away from their brand way too often and a least half of the songs here doesn’t sound like U.D.O. at all. Also, the orchestra is given way too much room and it becomes quite obvious on the classic sounding Metal tracks that the orchestration and U.D.O. marries quite badly. Another issue is that six of the fifteen tracks doesn’t contain Herr Dirkschneider at all, four instrumentals and two with other voices plus there are two duets as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for development and going outside your comfort zone but at the end of the day, I want the artist to keep their brand and on this record it only happens occasionally. It’s not bad enough for me to bring out the chainsaw but if I’m gonna listen to U.D.O. I want it too sound like U.D.O.
5/10
More U.D.O. reviews:
Steelfactory
Decadent
Steelhammer
Tracklist:
1. Pandemonium
2. We Are One
3. Love And Sin
4. Future Is The Reason Why
5. Children Of The World
6. Blindfold (The Last Defender)
7. Blackout
8. Mother Earth
9. Rebel Town
10. Natural Forces
11. Neon Diamond
12. Beyond Gravity
13. Here We Go Again
14. We Strike Back
15. Beyond Good And Evil
CD & Festival reviews 