U.D.O.
Timebomb

Year of our Lord 1991. Five years after the departure of the German Pixie Udo Dirkschneider from the historic heavy metal band Accept, and after releasing in a span of 4 years no less than 3 albums that made history for the group founded by Udo, U.D.O. (how imaginative, huh?) releases an album a year after the more light and sophisticated "Faceless World", full of power, ferocity, and technique, released under the name "Timebomb", and no name was more fitting. In the world of music, most of the time, when one leaves a historic band due to discrepancies among members, musical turns, or other issues, one generally can't recover from the setback. Well, for Udo, it's not like that. The little (so to speak) German singer comes out with this gem of an album, strongly influenced by that "Painkiller" which came out the previous year, and every worthy heavy metal listener should have heard it at least once in their life. If you haven't, self-punish. The album begins with a strange intro, "The Gutter", which sounds, at least as I understood it, as if something is under construction, perhaps a bomb, as hinted by the cover as well. Not even a minute in, Mr. Dirkschneider's voice breaks through, and with "Metal Eater" leaves no room for anyone, excellent guitars, an explosive drum to say the least, and Udo's typical overwhelming and vitriolic voice give this song a thousand reasons and more to headbang. Even the following "Thunderforce" is an excellent song of this album, although the chorus doesn't inspire me much, but as said, Udo's voice in this album is more powerful than ever, and that, let's say, is more than enough. "Overloaded" isn't a well-constructed solo, and in certain parts reminded me (don't stone me) of Van Halen's "Eruption". The journey continues with "Burning Heat" and "Back in Pain", two absolute gems, especially the former which has one of the best pre-choruses in U.D.O.'s history. The title track speaks for itself, an explosion of metal blasted in ears, and with "Powersquad" which has an absolutely wonderful drum, Udo's voice gives absolutely its best. "Kick in the Face" and "Soldier of Darkness" are two great songs, especially the latter for its wonderful chorus, perfect to bring us closer to the end of this fantastic album. With "Metal Maniac Mastermind" this jewel closes perfectly, in pure, unchallenged metallic power. An album that too many, too many times has been set aside, unknown, not even available on YouTube, and therefore scorned. I absolutely recommend it to you, if you listen to this gem in a day and "Painkiller" right after, I challenge you not to feel a frightening rush of adrenaline. After this release, and the tour that will follow, Udo will return to Accept to release three more albums, namely "Objection Overruled", "Death Row", and "Predator". But the story of U.D.O. doesn’t end here. Absolutely not...

Happy listening!