Artist: U.D.O.
Title: Rev Raptor
Type: Album
Label: AFM Records

The German legend never sleeps! There could be a lot riding on this one, what with his previous band making waves all over the world following their most recent release, will U.D.O. as a band or Udo as an individual be compared to Accept? Of course he will, but you know what, I get the feeling that it does not matter one bit, nor will he/they care, ‘I Give As Good As I get’ proves this if talking in that particular context.

A tried and tested formula greets you, along with the continuance of the “Mastercuter” figure on the artwork, that’s U.D.O.’s “Eddie or Vic”. Well, metal in this sense is metal right? Why fix something that has no need to be fixed? Immediately ‘Leatherhead’ (available as an EP that preceded this album release) fills you with a feeling of suspense, then suddenly, or in fact as you would come to expect, it thunders into life. Melody, hooks, riffs and the sing along chorus’ all feature prominently. The guitar sound on its own has a touch of a synth sound to it (my only critic of the album to be fair), but it empowers the melodies perfectly, you only have to hear ‘Renegade’, with its fretboard shredding solo, to bring all the expression of these experienced hands to the table. ‘Motor-Borg’ is firing on all cylinders for sure, one of the hardest rocking numbers of the release, your adrenaline starts to flow, air guitar may even play a part in this musical game, but one thing is for sure that this will be a love or hate release if you are a casual listener to this genre.

Rev-Raptor is German metal! Melody, guitar driven art with songs that can actually mean something and make the listening experience a pleasurable one instead of being knee deep in misery and depression. For the thousands, and not doubt hundreds of thousands of current fans around the world, this is just what you would expect, a solid authentic U.D.O. release.

http://www.udo-online.de/index.php
http://www.afm-records.de/en/home/new_releases.html