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'Restless and Wild' is still my favorite album with Udo on vocals. After listening over and over again to this new U.D.O. album, I think this is the second best with Mr. Dirkschneider on vocals. Opener "Steelhammer" indeed hammers away and is a typical song like we are used to from Udo. After that you hear the most diverse and variable album of Dirkschneider to date. "Metal Machine" could have been a song from the 'Metalheart' period and has a very nice contagious riff. After that we get a duet with the vocalist of the band WarCry in Spanish.

Udo has had some personal private problems in the last year(s) and that can be noticed in the lyrics of some songs and in the music. An emotional piano track with rather clean singing called "Heavy Rain" and also in songs like "Never Cross My Way" and "When Love Becomes a Lie" he pours out his heart and mind. In-between the other songs like "Death Ride" and "Stay True" see to it that the album stays heavy. They have kept the most impressive and variable song for the end; "Book of Faith" is a track with Latin intro, some country and western parts and towards the end very bombastic and orchestral.

Due to the variety, this is the best album Udo has written in years, highly recommended.

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