Album Review: Warkings - Revenge

I'm going to ask you for a little patience right now, because I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to talk about the music on this record. I had an issue with the first Warkings album, and the reality of the current moment have made that even more unbearable. Philosophically, this record is entirely questionable, and rather difficult for me to accept.

War is the worst human invention. The mass-scale death, violence, and horror that war has created is not something we should celebrate. War is the truest form of evil we have perpetrated. That isn't to say wars have not been necessary at times, nor that the costs could not be morally justifiable, but let's not deny reality. War is an evil, and being good at war is not praise-worthy. Having proficiency at killing your fellow human beings is not a talent. It might be a fact, but there is no positive connotation to it.

Warkings is a project that writes songs dedicated to war and the heroes war has created, both real and mythological. I'm sorry, but as we are living in a moment where people are finally rising up and demanding an end to the violence and discrimination that 'warrior culture' has created in our society, it feels completely tone-deaf to be lionizing that very attitude. When you hold up the worst of us as something to celebrate, it's a rather revealing statement of your own beliefs. Not a flattering one, either.

So I find myself asking what I'm supposed to think about this album. Can any level of songwriting overcome the glorification of violence contained therein? I don't know the answer to that, and it's not something I want to spend a lot of time thinking about. I found the first album rather bland, but this one is quite obviously bouncier, catchier, and far more fun. From a purely surface level view, this is a pretty darn good power metal record. But we aren't here just to look at what's on the surface.

When I reviewed Serenity's album early in the year, I mentioned how no matter how good the record was (and it is, truly), I find it hard to make much of an attachment to songs written about knights and battles. That same feeling applies to this album, but is amplified by the more explicit focus on war. Even if I wasn't put off by this subject matter at this moment in time, what emotional connection am I supposed to make with songs written about warriors and mythological gods? Music stands with us because it becomes the soundtrack to moments in our lives, and this music will never be able to do that.

The other issue I have with this album is the band using the gimmick of anonymity, branding themselves as 'The Tribune', 'The Crusader', 'The Spartan', and 'The Viking'. The voice powering these songs is so unique and identifiable that trying to put on the air of mystery is worthless. When Ghost started out, few people knew who Tobias Forge was, so he was able to get away with the schtick for a little while. I'm not super plugged-in to the power metal scene anymore, but it's damn obvious to me who he is.

So that's a lot of words to say this; "Revenge" is an album that succeeds on one front, but fails miserably on another. It's fun to listen to, but horrifying to think about. It makes a good first impression, but leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. If the band had decided to write about nearly anything else, I would be giving this a hearty thumbs-up. However, since they have chosen the route of cheerleading stories of violence, I'm not going to recommend the album. You can follow your own conscience, but mine is telling me to put this one aside.

Album Review: High Spirits - Hard To Stop

Certain approaches to music are a double-edged sword. If you are a band like High Spirits, who follow many of the traditions of early heavy metal as it transitioned away from hard rock, doing so means two things. First, you have a built-in audience who will like what you're doing. Second, you are putting yourself in comparison with every band over the last fifty years that have played the same style. By taking on a sound that is so well established and populated, the bar is set higher than if you were doing something that only you could be known for. Familiarity breeds comfort, but it also breeds contempt.

When the record opens with "Since You've Been Gone", we're immediately hit by the band's high energy sound and classic 70s rock meets 80s metal aesthetic. They make fun music that has simple hooks to pump your first along with. That title is rather revealing, though, since the song does have a little bit in common with Rainbow's classic of the same name, and that very style is exactly the comparison High Spirits both wants and wants to avoid.

The post-Dio version of Rainbow is the sweet spot High Spirits is aiming for. The guitars aren't as classical as Blackmore would sometimes get, but they have the same growl that makes the anthemic choruses sound powerful. And given that Rainbow quickly fell from their heights once they started down this road, High Spirits maintaining their quality is a win in my book. We get some music that sounds classic, but doesn't come with the disappointment attached to it that those latter-day Rainbow records carried.

Over the course of nine songs, the band delivers us the kind of experience Slough Feg has always been trying to, but always fails to achieve. This music is simple, fun, and a good time. I know how that sounds, but I mean it as a compliment. There's nothing wrong with wanting to have some fun and entertain people. Not everything needs to be high art, nor challenging conventions. High Spirits is supposed to be a good time band, and they deliver on that promise time and time again.

There isn't a lot more to say than that, even though it's my job to do so. You know what this kind of music sounds like, and you know whether or not you like it. The only question is whether High Spirits is doing it well enough to justify giving this album a listen. I can answer that unequivocally; yes. If you're a fan of old hard rock and early heavy metal, this is absolutely a record you're going to like. High Spirits is the right kind of throwback.

Album Review: Creeper - Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void

The story of Peter Pan is not a fairy tale, it's a tragedy. There is nothing romantic about the idea of being trapped as a boy for eternity, unable to grow up, unable to develop the emotions and experiences that come with age. Peter can never know love, or loss, nothing of what makes the human experience what it is. He lives trapped in amber, existing without living, which is about as sad a thought as there could be. Creeper referenced him on their breakthrough album, but they understood the truth about him, which is why they have killed themselves to undergo a transformation on this new record.

Creeper as they were couldn't continue on, they couldn't just make more records that sounded the same and accomplished the same task. They needed to grow, learn, develop into more fully realized people. The result of that process is "Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void", an album that is still Creeper, but is a more evolved take on their brooding emo/punk sound. If "Eternity, In Your Arms" was a soundtrack for coming of age, this album catalogs the complicated feelings once you have gotten there.

The initial single to the record, "Born Cold", quickly established this was a new chapter in Creeper's story, and the subsequent releases showed us the band was spreading their wings in every direction. The eyeliner might remain, but instead of emo tears, they are there for old-school glam. Creeper has brightened their sound, pulling from sounds and eras that have echoed through time because they could survive in both sun and moonlight. Creeper is stepping out of the shadows, and daring us to look.

"Anabelle" is a perfect embodiment of this new attitude, as it's a song that could not have exited in Creeper's previous incarnation. The synths and jangling guitars set up an almost joyous tone, which becomes reverential when the song's chorus turns into a revival-tent hymn singing "God can't save us." You can imagine Will Gould dressed as a faith-healing preacher, only instead of being a fraud taking advantage of the desperate and meek, he is being an honest messenger and telling them there's nothing that can be done. The God that created this mess isn't going to be the one to clean it up. Like Nietzsche's famous declaration that "God is dead, and we have killed him", Creeper is delving into the darkest of possibilities. It's a startlingly deep and mature take on what could have been done with all the nuance of a chainsaw.

In a way, this record serves as a soundtrack to a film noir no one has yet put on celluloid. We can hear the beats of the story and how it builds in "Be My End", how it falls away on the emotional climax of "All My Friends", and the cathartic B-story of "Cyanide". That particular thought was driven home in my mind during the spoken word section in "Anabelle", where the vocal cadence and the drum beat sounds quite similar to a part in Brian Setzer's imaginary film soundtrack album "Songs From Lonely Avenue" (I am by no means accusing the band of anything - I don't think hardly anyone has ever heard that album other than me).

On "Paradise", the guitars take on the tremolo of vintage surf music, but this time sounding deeper, and more like the soundtrack that would come as you are gripped by the undertow, your brain shutting down as you run out of breath. The paradise is the image you create to fill the black void, and the sinister guitar notes are there to keep you from forgetting it's all in your imagination. When the horns kick in near the end, Creeper is taking on the guise of The E Street Band, if they were transformed by the moonlight.

"Thorns Of Love" is a bizarre mashup of almost Motown soul with the epic madness of Jim Steinman. The song goes from the soft stabs of guitar and a shuffling rhythm to a chorus rivaling anything Meat Loaf sang, which is made all the more obvious when the spoken word section is pure Steinman, and the following guitar solo, complete with bells,  is right out of "Bat Out Of Hell". This stuff plays right into the cracks of my heart, and I ate it up.

Creeper takes us on a trip through many chapters in olden music history, and what's amazing is how they do it so well. We saw Lordi try this same sort of thing, with a far more obvious gimmick behind it, and the results were disastrous. Creeper, however, are able to convince me they are Peter Pan, they have been around through all these episodes and eras, and that's why they can inhabit the various sounds and make them feel natural. It's quite the accomplishment to reinvent yourself not just once, but several times across the same album. I haven't heard it often, and maybe never as well as Creeper has done it here.

The story of Creeper is the one I most enjoy writing. A band I heard promise from on "The Stranger" blossomed into a great band on "Eternity, In Your Arms", and now they have shattered expectations and emerged as grayscale butterflies shimmering the moonlight off their iridescent wings on "Sex, Death, & The Infinite Void". Those wings are fully stretched, and they span as wide as I can see. Creeper has make a remarkable record here, whether or not it winds up being the best of the year, it very well might be the most impressive.

Bloody Good News: Manowar Still Sucks, And So Does Absu

It seems like I could write a column practically every week about musicians being horrible human beings. Here's this week's entries:

Our Top Story: Former(?) Manowar guitarist Karl Logan has admitted in court to possessing child pornography, and now faces up to twenty-five years in prison. This does not put an end to the story, however, as there is another angle besides justice being done in the legal system. I wrote an angry missive against Manowar and their handling of this issue, and I stand by everything I said then. With this new development, it reinforces everything I thought at the time, and makes the band's position even more untenable.

I checked their online presence for any sort of statement regarding Logan, and found absolutely nothing, which means their previous statement last year stands as the last comments they made on the subject. That statement, if you remember, raised many questions of morality, because it never said Logan was officially removed from Manowar, only that he would no longer be performing with the band. The issues I had at the time, mostly that the band was trying to sell new music without revealing if any of the money would be profiting Logan, still remain. Manowar has had a year to address this, and has failed to do so. Instead, Manowar is busy touting the new console they installed at their recording studio.

With a former member of the band now admitting to being a sex offender, how is it that Manowar can feel comfortable staying silent? I don't mean how the lousy people in the band can continue to be lousy people, I want to know how the music press hasn't latched onto this story and demanded an explanation from Manowar. How have we let them get away with this?

I find this especially puzzling in light of recent circumstances, where women are coming forward and telling their stories, and Burger Records now shutting down in light of their role in the perpetuation of sexual abuse. We have seen the pop and indie worlds reckoning with the despicable people in their midst, but metal is lagging behind. Manowar harbored a man we can probably call a pedophile, who we can definitely call an abettor of child sex abuse, and the band never has to address what they knew or what they did about it. That is indefensible not just of them, but of us.

In the years I've been writing about music, I think this story is the most disheartening, because this is an indictment of everyone. I get that bad people are going to do horrible things, but it's the job of good people to call them out and hold them to account.

Where are the good people?

In Other News: Texas underground 'legends' Absu have broken up, and it apparently stems from band leader 'Proscriptor' McGovern's anti-trans beliefs. The band's latest guitarist, Melissa Moore, came out as transgender, and soon thereafter the band broke up, with McGovern starting a new group to be called 'Proscriptor McGovern's Apsu". He is rebranding himself in an effort to avoid playing with Moore, but why?

According to her, after she made her transition, McGovern told her she ruined the band, and that "there is no place for a woman in this band".

I cannot understand what kind of small-minded 'men' hold these beliefs. How does it matter to the music whether it is being played by a woman or not? Does he think the audience can hear the lack of testosterone bleeding through the guitar pickups?

Someone more interested in psychology, and crossing dangerous lines, might be inclined to ask how the most aggressive and chest-puffing of men can only stand to be in the company of other men. That might be a telling attitude. I'm not going to go there, though. I'll let you do that for yourself.

I think McGovern has more than exposed himself for the small, weak, pathetic, and insecure excuse for a man that he is. I don't need to say anything more. His intolerance speaks for itself.

Album Review: Primal Fear - Metal Commando

Primal Fear is an institution. They've been around for decades, released album after album that their fans have loved, and for a while filled a void that metal needed. That window sort of closed when Judas Priest returned to their old form, but do you think such trifles are going to stop Primal Fear from soldiering on? Just looking at the title of this one, that pun should make things rather obvious. Despite the small window of time where the band tried to do something a bit different, they have reliably been providing the world with all the Judas Priest we didn't know we still wanted. Their dedication to being so traditional can get in their way sometimes, but it's also why they are as big as they are.

Speaking of big, that's how the record sounds. The production of "Metal Commando" is massive, with thick guitars and immense drums. Unfortunately, the production can't do anything to make Ralf Scheepers' shrieking sound any less painful. The guy can sing, and sing well, yet he continues to mar so many of their songs with his high-pitched caterwauling. In fact, on "Along Came The Devil" it's either his voice breaking as he tries to hit those shrieks, or the recording is so hot it's audibly distorting. Either way, it sounds horrible.

The record is exactly what you would expect from Primal Fear. They settled into a groove a long time ago, and we get another album full of songs that try to punch you in the face with simple, snarling metal tracks. If you think about 'meat and potatoes' heavy metal, you wind up with Primal Fear. That's not a criticism, per se, but at this point the band has given us so much music that sounds just like this it's a bit played out. The only way for a record so in line with everything they've ever done is for it to be so sharply-written that it's unquestionably the best thing they've ever released. That's not this record.

These guys are old pros, so they know what they're doing. "Metal Commando" is a good record, but it makes some of the same mistakes Primal Fear has been making for ages. The shrieking is one of them, but not the only one. They also get so focused on sounding heavy and proving their metal credentials that some of the songs never develop the melodies and hooks that are necessary if you're ever going to have songs stick around. "The Lost & The Forgotten" is a perfect example of that. It has one of the band's heaviest riffs, and it actually plays with dynamics in the verse, but then the chorus is a barren wasteland of melody, where Scheepers and the others chant a simple line that falls completely flat. The balloon doesn't deflate so much as disintegrate.

Metal traditionalists will love a lot of the material on this record, but that's not who I am. Just having something heavy isn't enough for me, and Primal Fear's songwriting on this album once again feels like it's on auto-pilot. I know they can do better, because I've heard it from them. They have all the pieces to make a great album, including songwriters, and yet they continue to put out these records that are completely boilerplate and done to death. I may not be a big Judas Priest fan, but even I can say this record and "Firepower" are doing exactly the same thing, which is the problem. Why would I listen to this when Judas Priest's album is better?

Primal Fear is obviously happy doing what they're doing, and their fans are happy with it to. But for myself, it's not enough to win me over. I keep expecting something more, and I feel disappointed every time when it doesn't come through. "Metal Commando" is fine, but not for me.

Singles Roundup: Elvis Costello, Creeper, Amaranthe, & Yours Truly

Elvis Costello – No Flag/Hetty O'Hara Confidential

Artists flit in and out of our own mindsets, and Elvis is now on a different side of the world from me. Despite how much of his music I have loved, these new songs follow a lengthy period of time where he hasn't interested me, and do nothing to buck the trend. Recorded by himself, Elvis is back in exprimental mode, which means he's trying to tell stories in his songs over a mess of noises. These songs lack his flair for melody, and his formerly sharp wordplay. It's so watered-down from what he's capable of that I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel; anger, disappointment, or outright sadness.

Creeper – Be My End

The last(?) single before the record drops, "Be My End" continues to fill in the picture of what the greater work is going to be like. In a way, it is the anchor point everything else will revolve around, taking their previous sound and dialing down the emo just a hair. That leaves us with a song that is half pop/punk and half classic rock, a perfect blend for a rollicking hook that has just the right amount of 'camp' to it. A review of the album is coming soon.

Amaranthe – Viral

After "Helix", Amaranthe was clearly established as the best of all the hyper-modern pop metal bands. There have been several trying to do the same thing, but none have done it as well, and this first single for their upcoming album shows the gap hasn't narrowed. Amaranthe write the slickest earworms in all of metal right now, and they have the vocal prowess few could hope to match. Their blend of voices, along with the sharp writing, create unforgettable songs that burrow into your head. At least with this song, they are still the standard.

Yours Truly - Together

With Creeper's album close enough at hand, there is nothing I'm looking forward to more in the second half of 2020 than Yours Truly's first full-length. Their "Afterglow" EP was the best EP of last year, and the two songs they've released for this album continue marching to the top of the mountain. Yours Truly are everything I think pop music should be, and this song embodies that with its heavy enough guitars, bouncing energy, and sticky chorus. Mikaela can sell a hook with her bright vocal tone, and the production makes this sound arena-ready. If this is an indicator, we might be looking at an Album Of The Year contender. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to share my thoughts on the full record in September.

Album Review: Thundermother - Heat Wave

A couple years ago, Thundermother put out a record that put the on my radar as a good, AC/DC style rock band, who just so happened to have a singer with the potential to be great. Fast forward to today, and those ladies are back with a new album that was produced by a described Swedish 'hit maker', and the first single was the catchiest song they had ever released at that point. All the signs are pointing to Thundermother being on the verge of a break-out moment with this record. So as the summer heat is settling in, they are giving us their own heat wave.

The things that were already good about Thundermother haven't changed. Guernica Mancini's voice is still a blues and whiskey soaked dart hitting the bulls-eye every time, and Filippa Nassil's guitars chime with the clear tones of AC/DC's best work. The record sounds flawless.

Between the band's chemistry coming together, the members all contributing ideas, and the change in producers, the impact is felt immediately. Maybe this record is slightly less of a classic rock jolt hitting you upside the head with riffs, but the songwriting has pumped these tracks up to new levels. "Dog From Hell" is a huge sing-along that the band couldn't have pulled off before now. The songs on this record are the band's most immediate, more memorable, and downright best work yet. While they were good before at what they did, they've upped the bar for what is possible. As they were, they had a ceiling. With this record, that is being shattered. This version of classic rock can take them far.

"Back In 76" could be a modern take on "I Love Rock & Roll". It's certainly sticky in all the same ways. That song serves as a good template of what Thundermother is up to on this record, except that they aren't playing covers. It's a mixture of 70s classic rock guitars and 80s hard rock choruses, which come together to make a sound that is more timeless than most of the more obviously retro bands. Thundermother sounds classic, but not old. There's a vibrancy and freshness to this record that pops in a way that we don't get from your Horisonts of the world. Rather than sounding like a record from 1976, this sounds like the evolution of that sound in the modern day. That's far more interesting than another retread.

We heard all of this when "Driving In Style" was released as a single, and it's so satisfying to hear it wasn't a one-off, but a proper reflection of the record. Like that song, this album is driving classic rock with big hooks and fantastic vocals. And coming when it does, it's a perfect summer rock album. This is absolutely the kind of record you can put on when the sun is high, the temperature is higher, and feel good about rocking out to. They've captured the fun elements of classic rock and brought them to life in a set of songs that has a lot of charm.

I'll put it simply; if you like classic rock, go listen to Thundermother. This album nails what modern classic rock can be, and it's a huge step forward for the band. "Heat Wave" is great, and should earn Thundermother a promotion to the next level. Well done, ladies.

Album Review: Dark Sarah - Grim

You would think that a band labeled as 'cinematic metal' would be doing something so epic and grand that it had no choice but to be memorable. Whether for good or bad, something about that kind of music has to make an impression, right? Well, the answer to that is no, it doesn't, and Dark Sarah is living proof of that. I covered their previous album, and in the time since I did so, I have forgotten everything about it. Despite reaching for the stars, they still came up short. So when this new album was sent to me, my first thought was in regards to whether or not I remembered enough of the last experience to justify spending the time covering this one. In the end, I decided to give them another shot, even though I can't tell you I came to that conclusion logically.

The idea of Dark Sarah is to juxtapose the heaviness of modern metal with an ethereal, classical voice. They do that, but they don't do enough to make the dichotomy really 'pop'. The music is heavy, but it doesn't go far enough to be the darkness to Heidi's light. They need to push both sides to the extreme to make it work, because Heidi's melodies on their own aren't strong enough to raise the songs. When the band sounds like every other metal band, they need better songwriting to stand out. Which gets me to the biggest complaint...

For being 'cinematic', this album doesn't feel any different from so many other melodic metal albums. The added instrumentation is restrained, and often so far in the background its disappearance would make no difference to the final result. They don't give any of the big themes or melodies to the parts that are supposed to be cinematic, which makes those elements feel tacked on for the sake of being artistic. They rarely sound integral to the construction of the songs.

The hardest part of being a musician is songwriting. There are countless people you can find on any social media platform whose skill singing or playing an instrument would put most of the greats to shame. What you won't find are many who can write powerful songs that move people, or get stuck in their heads. It's a talent that is rare, and I'm not entirely sure can be learned. So it should come as no surprise that if we look at a cross-section of a hundred or more bands, most of them are going to struggle with writing great songs. That is Dark Sarah's struggle as well.

Nothing on "Grim" is outright bad, and there are moments that are enjoyable to listen to, but there isn't anything that grabbed my attention. There were no big riffs or sticky melodies to hold onto. Everything was pretty, but in the kind of way that is a slick veneer that slips through your fingers when you try to close your fist around it. Like a lot of bands, Dark Sarah has talent, but needs sharper songs.

That's the same feeling I had with their previous album, and unless something changes, probably the same feeling I'll have with their next one too.

Images & Words: How VK Lynne Painted Her Masterpiece

When Beyonce failed to capture the Grammy for Album Of The Year for "Lemonade", one of the refrains that I heard was how the video component of the album made it a statement that rose above anything else released that year. While I didn't think that applied when thinking about awards, it did stir up thoughts about how important visuals can be to a song. How many songs do we remember from our youths on the basis of the video? I can count a few, without question. Whatever degree to which I'm a fan of Pink is directly tied to seeing the video for "Just Like A Pill", and being captivated by both her and the art.

I was reminded of the feeling I had downloading that video so I could watch it time and time again recently, when The Spider Accomplice released the video to go along with their new song I was already raving about.

"Crawl" is more than a mere music video put online for the benefit of YouTube clicks. Many songs get videos that mean nothing, and are put together to satisfy fans who don't want to watch a blank title card while the music plays. Here, the visual art is a vital component to the effectiveness of the song. Without the video, our experience would be incomplete, because we would be relying on some members of the audience with an incomplete understanding of metaphor having to decipher lyrical imagery on their own. The connection we form with the song is deeper as a result of being able to see VK's passion and emotion jumping off the screen. We reach a deeper level of music's humanity by absorbing it through multiple senses. It does to in three ways.

First, the video gives us greater context to the intent of the lyrics. The snake suit VK wears shines a light upon how we are our own tempting serpents. The true essence of ourselves may seem to us an outside force pulling us in directions we don't want to go, but they are who we are, and eventually we will crawl out and become our final form. The metamorphosis may be slow, it may be painful, but it needs to happen if we are going to find peace. Unlike the biblical story, this serpent is leading us into Eden, closer to the peace that comes from not having to hide who we are. The tempting fruit feeds us, with no repercussions.

Second, VK's skin baring is a layer of metaphor on top of the soul baring exhibited by the words. Music is, at its best, confessional. Art says something about the person creating it, and VK is able to deepen the meaning of the song by tying her voice and her body together. Words are not always clear in how honest they are, but images are harder to fake. Even the best actress has trouble replicating pain effectively enough to fool us for long. VK, in this video, makes it clear that "Crawl" is her, as she says, bleeding for her art.

Third, VK's skin baring also plays with our perceptions by taking a song with a panoramic scope, and making it as personal as humanly possible. She uses her small frame as a canvas upon which an epic statement is projected, concentrating the message upon her skin while we concentrate on the magnetic pull of her skin. Our eyes are drawn to the screen, focusing all our attention upon our senses, which allows the song to burrow deeper than if we were listening while distracted. By putting the attention on herself, VK has usurped our gaze to redirect our attention to the song. When we cannot take our eyes off her, we cannot shut our ears to the song. She has emerged victorious in psychological warfare.

"Crawl" makes a statement all on its own, but the video component adds layers of blunt nuance that shine like a lacquer upon a painting, revealing details that would otherwise remain hidden. The video stirs our blood as if thoughts travel through our veins, making sure we coat every nook and cranny with the song. VK is pretty in (and out of) pink, but it's all for a purpose. She is an artist, and the "Crawl" video is her masterpiece. As much as I loved the song when I first heard it, my affection has forged a crystal from the sands of time by watching the video. As it refracts a rainbow, pink is my favorite color.

See for yourself:

Album Review: UDO - We Are One

There are some figures in music who achieve legendary status, and for the life of me I can't figure out how it happened. Ozzy is always at the top of that list, but I do sort of understand it, since Black Sabbath was something no one had ever heard before, so Ozzy was the only voice you could hear singing such music. He won through sheer luck. What I have less an understanding of is just how in the blue hell Udo Dirkshneider ever became a huge figure in European metal. The man's voice is a warbling mess, and he didn't even have an image to fall back on. If he was starting out today, he would get laughed off the stage, and yet he continues to solider on as a beloved artist. I just don't get it.

This album might be his most laughable one yet, as he teams up with Das Musikkorps Der Bundeswehr, meaning this is a fully orchestrated attempting to be something epic and grand. Those words are incompatible with Udo's voice, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Everything about this record hinges on Udo. If by some happenstance you don't think his voice sounds like the gurgling sound made by victims who have had their throats slashed in horror movies, then you might actually like this. As for me, I would rather listen to my own voice than Udo's, and since everyone hates their own, is there anything worse I can say?

He always sounds ridiculous, but even more than usual with orchestral backdrops and angelic backing vocals highlighting how ill-suited he is to this particular task. This music requires a voice that fits in with a more classical setting, and Udo isn't just the proverbial fish out of water, he's like trying to get a sun-tan in the middle of the night. He's ok in the few moments where everyone is trying to chant a simple message, but everywhere else on the record he is simply outclassed and over-matched.

The other issue with the record is that it's just too damn long. With fifteen songs here, it's too much music to take in, especially with as epic as it's trying to sound. Getting blasted in the face by a metal band and an army band at the same time for an entire hour is asking a lot of the listeners. Maybe it would be worth enduring all of this if the songs were great, but they are held back by the album's conceit. Udo is not a melodic singer to begin with, but turning over half of the work to the non-metal instruments robs us even of the simple riffs that normally let us pump our fists. By trying to sound so big, the music actually sounds smaller.

I suppose I give Udo some credit for trying to do something outside his comfort zone, but that's about all I can say. It's ambitious, but that ambition doesn't pay off with great songs or great performances. This might have been salvaged by a better singer, but Udo is the wrong man to make this worth listening to. He wants this album to be something meaningful and serious, but he sounds like a cartoon character. I can't take it seriously with him singing, and that pretty much means it never had a chance to succeed.