Izvajalec: U.D.O.
Založba: AFM Records
Izid: 2007
Another year rolls around and our good old gray-haired friend, still blessed with a mighty screech and wail, serves up a new record almost on reflex. What else could anyone expect from Dirkschneider, the former Accept squealer, after a pile of U.D.O. albums, other than an honorable retirement? And just to spit in my own bowl, I’m demanding another recycling job from the metal sage, or in other words a return to “Thunderball” (2004).
And sure enough. Even though Dirkschneider obviously doesn’t have enough imagination left to come up with an album title that sounds even remotely fresh, since every one of them conjures up a war between humans and robots, the guy actually (partly) granted my wish. We’re used to U.D.O. liking a laugh, but on “Mission No. X” (2005) the jokes were a few hefty pinches too many. The production side also reached for much softer old-school 80s moves, and the rustic riff-writing felt even more rustic there, suffocatingly repetitive even for U.D.O., and that’s with us already turning a blind eye to the band’s recycling habit. “Mastercutor” again has that venomously voluminous, wound-up, massively doom-laden riff-and-production chorus that grabs you by the throat and shakes you until your head is ringing and you’re seeing stars for a good while afterwards.
The style stays old-school, straight out of the 80s! Can I even dare say whether the album is better or worse than “Mission Nr. X”? The much livelier kick the riffs get in the production simply makes the whole thing interesting and convincing enough to survive the nitpicking about recycling stuff that’s been chewed over a million times. A bit of Accept, a bit of Judas Priest, a bit of the older U.D.O. sibling records, repeated quotes of arena-ready singalong choruses. The bare nakedness of simplicity, especially when it comes to melody-making. That’s what U.D.O. are, what they’ve been. And what they’ll always be, “thick skull” and all. Music for all U.D.O. fans is here once again, music in the shapes and dimensions of the primal vibe of musical understanding of the rock-solid leader, Uncle Dirkschneider. The album once again doesn’t lack mid-tempo ballads, which only prove that Dirkschneider doesn’t sound as convincing in the natural range of his voice as when he’s wound up to that unique operating temperature of venomously guttural, shrieking screechiness! Tears Of Clown is a ballad disaster across the board and a typically shameless “filler” of a record! So U.D.O. dare to keep joking. And yet the dose of drama in the riff settings, as opposed to the familiar inserts of warped choir vocals made up of loads of “robotic” Dirkschneiders and other “wonderful” and weirdest experiments with vocal effects, in short, with the joke, tips the scales in favor of building a dramatic atmosphere!
It’s interesting that a guy like Udo Dirkschneider never gets tired of recycling himself. The record is 20 minutes too long! Then again, it’s a syndrome that many dinosaurs have fallen victim to, the ones still stomping around untamed even though their ideal climax of existence was long ago replaced by the climate of new living conditions. But apparently dinosaurs have no interest in retiring. They just keep delighting their fans with the work they do best and the only thing they understand. “Mastercutor” too is a continuation of the authentic steel-clad classic metal Accept sermon in U.D.O. clothing. I truly wish someone would remind me if I’ve possibly overlooked anything other than recycling on “Mastercutor”!
Zasedba
Udo Dirkschneider – vocals
Stefan Kaufmann – guitar
Igor Gianola – guitar
Fitty Wienhold – bass guitar
Francesco Jovino – drums
Produkcija
Udo Dirkschneider & Stefan Kaufmann
Seznam skladb
01. Mastercutor
02. The Wrong Side Of Midnight
03. The Instigator
04. One Lone Voice
05. We Do – For You
06. Walker In The Dark
07. Master Of Disaster
08. Tears Of A Clown
09. Vendetta
10. The Devil Walks Alone
11. Dead Man’s Eyes
12. Crash Bang Crash
Trajanje albuma: 58.25
