Artist: U.D.O.
Label: AFM Records
Release: 2005
Rating: 2.5/5
Once they were Accept, now they’re U.D.O.! And their boss Udo just doesn’t know the word “break”! Though he could really use one. Ugh, I have to keep this short. Short! Why? Because it’s all the same again! U.D.O. are putting out a new album, barely a year later. The records just keep raining down from them. Embarkation? There’s nothing fascinating about the intro, except that it maybe kicks off in a similar style to the opener of “No Limits”. The track slides into a hugely unimpressive title song. Sure, all the band’s trademarks are here right away. Punchy, simple open-chord riffing, Udo’s recognizable screech, a plain but cannon-like thumping rhythm section. It’s heavy metal stripped down to the bare minimum, playing the card of primal, unrelenting explosiveness. But this time the whole thing smells way too much like pure routine!
Uncle Udo’s voice and singing style don’t leave him much room to maneuver. So in the choruses they arm his basic vocal with layered harmonies! The whole record sounds like a crowd chanting along to some rabble-rousing speaker who has just incited the masses to original sin. There’s too much of that on this record. On top of that, the poor command of English is annoying, boiled down to maybe 200 words across the entire poetry of “Mission No. X”, which get shuffled around in various combinations within the verses of individual songs.
The songs spin by quickly until you reach number six, Eye Of An Eagle. If nothing else, you can just “skip” them in a hurry! Eye Of An Eagle is a great ballad! It gives the album at least a shred of respect, so we don’t write it off as a completely expressionless, million-times-repeated copy of itself! So. Apparently you just have to hand the German the word “eagle” as inspiration and a starting point for writing, and he’ll surely come up with something solid. Stone Hard is another temptation that raises hope. A mid-paced, anthemic, epic number, the band nailed it here and the heart of the group finally comes to life. So it’s not all just routine for U.D.O. in the studio. Cry Soldier Cry is the second ballad, nowhere near as convincing as Eye Of An Eagle, but precisely because it’s a ballad it’s a welcome breath of fresh air amid the new record’s overall lack of ideas. Way Of Life is a remake of an original U.D.O. track! A remake of themselves, or rather of the original version of a song from “No Limits”. The track is excellent (hallelujah!), a dramatic metal assault from head to toe, but on an album mostly made without inspiration, it’s just a “filler”. The closer, though, is convincingly “happy”, a sharp, faster-paced banger called Mad For Crazy. Grotesque! Even though the “deeply meaningful” song title confirms the band’s limited grasp of English words, there could have been more tracks like this on the record!
Oh well. Since we all know full well that U.D.O. won’t budge in any direction by even a millimeter, it’s worth dropping all expectations of the band here. The new album is best taken as a joke and enjoyed that way, because it’s incredible how someone can cling like a drunk to a fence to five different tricks and just shuffle them around for a good 25 years, without ever getting sick of it, and it simply turns into one big “entertainment” for them. When all’s said and done! As much as it can make you laugh, the new album is still good enough for “headbanging”.
Line-up
Udo Dirkschneider – vocals
Stefan Kaufmann – guitar
Igor Gianola – guitar
Fitty Wienhold – bass guitar
Francesco Jovino – drums
Production
Stefan Kaufmann
Tracklist
1. The Embarkation
2. Mission No. X
3. 24/7
4. Mean Streets
5. Primecrime on Primetime
6. Eye of the Eagle
7. Shell Shock Fever
8. Stone Hard
9. Breaking down the Borders
10. Cry Soldier cry
11. Way of Life
12. Mad for Crazy
Album length: 47:25
