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U.D.O.
Steelfactory

AFM (2018)
Rating: 9/10

Steelfactory is heavy metal as I know it and possibly the best record U.D.O. has released to date. I’ll go one step further and posit that it’s possibly the best straight forward metal record of 2018 we’ve seen released yet.

Sure, I know Judas Priest released Firepower back in March, but what if I told you U.D.O.’s Steelfactory record was far better, song for song? Yeah, yeah, yeah, blasphemy, I know, but guess what? It’s true!

I’m very impressed how well this record turned out considering that Udo Dirkschneider himself has been touring the last few years under the Dirkschneider moniker, performing the greatest hits of his former band Accept. Believe it or not, Udo still has one final leg of this tour he’ll complete later in 2018. So it’s amazing how he found time to write this record, assemble his solo band, rehearse and record Steelfactory and get it released. But that’s Udo, he’s a metal machine, it’s in his DNA.

The pitfall many artists fall into who’ve been around for decades is lack of creativity that leads to generic or formulaic art. That’s definitely not Udo. The older, more mature he gets, the harder he hits back, the more aggressive he goes at metal. And he’s right. After listening to the strength and ferocity of this record it’s time to put Accept to bed and focus on his own music – this record is that good. But, and I’ll say this one time and one time only, Steelfactory is reminiscent to a small degree of early Accept.

‘Rising High’ could easily be on Accept’s 1982 record Restless And Wild. But this style of music is really muscle memory when Udo writes and gets behind a mic. It’s automatic and natural to him, whereas if Accept in its current form tried to mimic this style I doubt it would translate well. And let’s not forget U.D.O. the band on this record are on fire. Their chemistry together is intense; these guys are playing with a hunger and spirit for metal I haven’t heard in a long time from too many bands making records today.

It’s hard to single out the best songs on the record since they’re all good. In fact, every song on this record feels like an anthem in its own right. But ‘In The Heat Of The Night’, ‘Raise The Game’, the aforementioned ‘Rising High’, and ‘Eraser’ are the tracks thatreally stand out. The guitar attack coupled with Dirkschneider’s trademark voice – which never ages, by the way – and the insane, double bass drumming is all on mark and it makes Steelfactory a true rager.

The digipak version of this record contains two bonus songs, ‘The Devil Is An Angel’ and ‘Pictures In My Dreams’. But honestly, there’s not a bum track on Steelfactory and as the name implies, steel doesn’t lie. If you dig classic 80s metal then this one’s for you. U.D.O., the true kings of metal, still reign supreme.

Theron Moore

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