UDO-Man and Machine

Udo's been around for ages, he should start getting too old for this but NO! This german metal king still knows how to rock! Udo has been putting out quality albums of his solo band for over a decade now and still no sing of slowing down, not any of a kind. The band mixes here strong heavymetal harmonies, even powermetallic at times. Udo has a voice you either love or hate, but i think if you dislike it at first you can learn to like it because it fits to music! Growling Udo and backing vocals sounds just solid. Guitar and basswork together sounds really tight, reminding Accept of the 80's at its heaviest

(but hey is that a surprise, Udo was heart of Accept!).

Man And The Machine opens with short robotic intro and militaric rhythm. This mid-fast crusher sets standards for the rest of album. Private Eye and Network Nightmare are standard speedy UDO's rockers, Dawn of The Gods too but it has that "something", its very catchy and powerfull.

Hard to Be Honest has great melodies, i dont know, bass & guitars work together somehow

stands out on this one when balancing between heavier and slower parts of the song, experience

yourself! Animal Instinct being strong point too. Album ender Unknown Traveller is epic nearly

7 minutes lasting track, this's where creativy with basslines and melodic guitarlines stands out,

song sounds beatiful. Rest of the tracks are solid too despite the little unimportant ballad

Dancing With An Angel.

This album is a strong one, played hard and heavy but still left space for inventiveness

on some melodic guitarlines. If growling vocals does not matter and you like strong metal

harmonies, go for UDO! I hope he never quits the music bussiness (althought its impossible).

8.2/10

By Taneli, september 2002