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U.D.O.
Steelfactory AFM Records - 2018
http://www.udo-online.com

Since Udo Dirkschneider and company have been busy the last couple of years performing the ACCEPT songs that Udo was a part of with the DIRKSCHNEIDER project, the U.D.O. band has been on the back burner. However, now that the DIRKSCHNEIDER tour is all but over, it is time for U.D.O. to reassert itself. It's a self-appointed task to which the band rises to the occasion and more!

Steelfactory is no joke, that's for sure. And the band certainly hasn't lost its touch. Most of the material was written as a whole by the band (with three songs being written by Udo and Stefan Kaufmann).

From the start, the music tends to come at you hard and fast. While the title of the song "Tongue Reaper" sounds admittedly a bit silly, the song is a killer track to open the disc with. After a brief steadying intro, the music explodes from the speakers with a metallic attack that is a pure gut ripper.

Unsurprisingly, Udo sounds in great voice and the band is amazing. There's been a few lineup changes in the band recently but drummer Sven Dirkschneider, guitarist Andrey Smirnov and bassist Fitty Wienhold (who announced his departure from the band just a couple of weeks ago as I write this review) are all on fire throughout the album.

From a blitzing musical tempo, they shift gears to a more subtly restrained tack and yet lose nothing on their ability to rock. This is evident on songs like "Make The Move" and "In The Heat Of The Night". The latter song features a lyrical turn that sounds a bit nostalgic. This is a theme that recurs on songs like "Rose In The Desert" and the album's closing ballad track "The Way".

The version of the CD that I bought included two bonus tracks. Unlike most releases that put the bonus tracks at the end of an album, they are woven into the full track sequencing of the disc. Both "The Devil Is An Angel" and "Pictures In My Dreams" are standout songs.

Like songs on past albums, there are times when the main lyrical passages feature an almost spoken word vocal performance from Udo. This album featured three such tracks and they were a mixed bag I found. I liked the songs "Raise The Game", "Hungry and Angry" and "A Bite Of Evil" when they got faster and more aggressive during the chorus. When it was the main lyrical portions, I tended to be a bit bored.

A small nitpick for me is that a few of the songs have lyrics that don't match up to the liner notes. All the words are there but they are in a completely different order at times. A small thing but for obsessive liner note readers like me, a bit of an annoyance.

For me, I love U.D.O. best when they are blowing out your eardrums with a relentlessly aggressive and anthemic musical attack. So I was more than a bit excited to hear tracks like "Eraser", "One Heart One Soul" and "Rising High" which was my personal favorite song on the album. It grabs you from the start with it's hard-charging soundtrack and great set of lyrics.

It might be more than a bit of a cliche to say, given the album title and cover art, that U.D.O. has given metal fans another slab of molten metal to lap up and enjoy. But if you will forgive that lack of imaginative writing, you'll see that for all the time off the band has had, they haven't lost a step and remain a potent musical force to be reckoned with!

4.5 Out Of 5.0