Old CDs Reviewed Anew #9 - U.D.O. - Thunderball

U.D.O.

Thunderball

AFM Records - 2004

This album was recorded as the follow up to the rather superb 2002 release Man and Machine. As a whole the disc is pretty good.

The album opens up with the hard charging title track. I thought the lyrics were good though they did get overwhelmed by the music in a couple of spots.

The rockers on this album swell with anthemic metal pride. "Fistful of Anger" is superb as is "The Land of the Midnight Sun". I loved "Hell Bites Back" too.

Whether intentional or not, the tour travelogue song "Trainride in Russia (Poezo Po Rossii)" has a humorous feel to it given the style of music used to propel the song. The lyrics are interesting to hear as well. I actually saw the video for this song years ago and originally thought singer Udo Dirkschneider was either kidding or had a stroke and had lost his mind. The distance of years still makes me wonder what the hell was being thought with this song's creation but I do enjoy the track now more than back then.

The mid-tempo number "The Magic Mirror" was decent and the bonus track "Hardcore Lover" was excellent.

The two weakest tracks in my mind were "The Arbiter" and "Tough Luck II". The former moved from mid to uptempo style and the latter was a full out rocker. Unfortunately, neither song rose above the "OK but not great" description for me.

The version of the disc I got included the aforementioned bonus track "Hardcore Lover" as well as a video for the album's closing cut "Blind Eyes". I didn't watch the video on the CD itself, but below you can find the embedded clip from Youtube.

Thunderball stands on its own as a solid release from U.D.O. I enjoyed most of the album and think it did a wonderful job following up Man and Machine which so far stands as my own personal favorite release from the band.

Grade: B PLUS