{"id":10801,"date":"2013-05-24T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=10801"},"modified":"2013-06-05T13:13:05","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T13:13:05","slug":"album-review-udo-steelhammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-udo-steelhammer\/","title":{"rendered":"U.D.O. – Steelhammer | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.D.O.
Steelhammer<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAFM (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Well, as expected U.D.O. come racing out of the blocks with another batch of face-melting metal anthems. Steelhammer<\/em> is the band\u2019s 14th full-length studio opus, and as usual is another tour de force of a platter.<\/p>\n

These German metalheads have rarely let up the pace since their 1987 debut Animal House<\/em>, with Udo Dirkschneider and company constantly reminding us where the heart of metal lies. Germany rarely gives way to trend and also provides us headbangers with solid metal bands who\u2019ve never buckled under fads.<\/p>\n

Steelhammer<\/em> kicks like a mule, opening up with the title track, a steaming, seething power rocker that rattles and bangs like a metal factory, introducing itself with a killer Kasperi Heikkinen and Andrey Smirnov twin guitar attack, as Francesco Jovino\u2019s drums pound hard accompanied by Fitty Weinhold\u2019s juddering bass. Udo\u2019s distinctive rasp reminds us of metal\u2019s longevity as he steamrollers through the 16 tracks on offer (\u2018Shadows Come Alive\u2019 is only available through the digipak version, while \u2018Dust And Rust\u2019 features on the Japanese release).<\/p>\n

\u2018A Cry Of A Nation\u2019 plods in with a mid-tempo drum and simmering riff. It\u2019s one of the album\u2019s more melodic cuts but still features a killer chugging riff, with Dirkschneider coming across as Brian Johnson\u2019s (AC\/DC) evil twin with that distinctive yet throaty warble.<\/p>\n

But as expected, it\u2019s on the cutting \u2018Metal Machine\u2019 where the band really shines. This is an ominous track that starts out as a mid-paced rocker, featuring the killer lyrics, \u201cLook and see the metal machine\u201d<\/em>… the sort of lyric that seemed to have been plucked from the mid-80s and yet U.D.O. make it work with apparent ease, never once straying from their fiery path, with their only aim to batter the senses and crush all in their wake. The same also applies to the sniping \u2018Basta Ya\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Devil\u2019s Bite\u2019 and \u2018Death Ride\u2019 follow suit, upping the ante. These are hyper thrash tracks \u2013 particularly the latter \u2013 with their speed metal riffs and thunder horse drums, U.D.O. showing these new thrash hopefuls how it\u2019s done with those sledgehammer drums and earth-shaking riffs.<\/p>\n

U.D.O. have always churned out a polished brand of metal, but somehow they refuse to date. One only has to hear the goth-tinged \u2018King Of Mean\u2019 with its \u201choly moses, holy smoke\u201d<\/em> lyric to appreciate U.D.O.\u2019s metal mayhem. And only Dirkschneider could get away with the lyrics, \u201cI am a chainsaw, I am lightning, the hammer of hell to take your life away\u201d<\/em> and make them sound so authentic. For me, \u2018King Of Mean\u2019 is the best track on the record, a formidable, armour-plated metal jaunt featuring a devilish solo three-quarters of the way through.<\/p>\n

One can randomly flick through any track on Steelhammer<\/em> and be guaranteed a blazing experience. Whether it\u2019s the piano-led starkness of \u2018Heavy Rain\u2019 \u2013 a magical swooning journey bereft of any metal \u2013 or the pounding bulldozer that is \u2018Stay True\u2019, one can only marvel at the staying power of U.D.O. Simply put, this German five-piece are going nowhere, and long may they remain tattooed on our psyche, because without these sort of veterans metal would be truly dead and buried.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.D.O.Steelhammer AFM (2013)Rating: 8\/10 Well, as expected U.D.O. come racing out of the blocks with another batch of face-melting metal anthems. Steelhammer is the band\u2019s 14th full-length studio opus, and as usual is another tour de force of a platter. These German metalheads have rarely let up the pace since their 1987 debut Animal House, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-d-o"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10801"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12254,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10801\/revisions\/12254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}