U.D.O.
Decadent
AFM (2015)
Rating: 9/10
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Decadent is the 15th studio album from German heavy metal legends U.D.O. and continues the sizzling streak of the band, coming hot on the heels of 2013’s excellent Steelhammer.
This new record offers more of the same, and for a band like U.D.O. that’s not a problem at all – Udo Dirkschneider and his band of dogs just keeps on ploughing on offering up timeless melodic metal featuring robust percussive slams, searing hot solos of majesty and a bass that rumbles like an earthquake.
This time round we get 12 songs delivered with such a clinical passion that after one has sat through a U.D.O. album, it’s so difficult to slap on anything else. These guys have marched into the modern age like a bulldozer; a metallic beast happy to strap on extra armour of sheen, but always able to drag its victims back to the times when metal was a truly formidable animal. How U.D.O. has bridged the gap between eras is commendable, and this is showcased on this latest offering by way of some truly fantastic layers of emotion.
As one would expect from a U.D.O. platter, the opener – ‘Speeder’ – like so many before it, is a leviathan of thrashing menace featuring that customary Dirkschneider spit amidst a sea of battering bass from Fitty Wienhold and that lethal twin guitar rampage from Kasperi Heikkinen and Andrey Smirnov.
‘Speeder’ is just a classy, no frills nodding mammoth featuring nice melodic segments, but it’s the title track which really highlights the band’s expertise and masterful awareness of how a contemporary metal song should sound. As soon as the guitars fizz and the drum begins its brooding march, we’re led through a suspenseful barrage of reflection as Udo Dirkschneider begins to reflect on the major issues affecting the world. “The world is out of hand” he booms, and he’s right as the rhythm section pummels and pulverises with mid-paced aplomb.
Where this album seems to better the previous opus is with the injection of some truly engaging choruses; blazing with melody but always maintaining that crucial element of weight. The title track marries both, hinting at pensive industrialisation as the bass bubbles menacingly in tandem with Dirkschneider’s mocking snarls, and yet the album’s highest points are yet to come.
‘House Of Fake’ is a churning juggernaut of anguish, showing Exodus et al how to really thrash with ominous nuances; the vocal warbles weaving their way through the thick wall of sound as the leads meander with precision. ‘Pain’ comes in at the other end of the scale; big on melody, it marches with a great metallic heaving harmony and injects our brain with one of the year’s catchiest choruses as Dirkscneider barks, “How much pain can we take, No more for God’s sake, It’s enough for everyone”. The track is both bruising and anthemic, but at the lighter end of Udo Dirkschneider’s metallic scale.
For booming thunder we still have the charge of ‘Rebels Of The Night’ and the galloping ‘Under Your Skin’, but one cannot escape the melodious magic of ‘Secrets In Paradise’ and the refreshing majesty of closer ‘Words In Flame’.
Decadent is one of U.D.O.’s most intriguing and diverse albums; an experience boosted by the revitalisation suggested on Steelhammer, which for me broke away from the slightly repetitive nature of Dominator (2009) and Rev-Raptor (2011). The boys are back in their old routine of cracking heads, but this time there’s an element of more subtle sadism as they crank up the speakers and tear off the years. In fact, Udo Dirkschneider and company have never sounded so refreshed.
Neil Arnold
