Album Review: U.D.O. – Game Over (AFM Records)

U.D.O. will release their new album ‘Game Over’ on the 8th October via AFM Records. The title of the new studio album by the band around rock icon Udo Dirkschneider (original voice of the cult band Accept) has become a statement that has a lot to talk about.

Dirkschneider stands for clear, straightforward words:

If mankind doesn’t rethink some things, it could have drastic consequences. We all, no matter where we live, just have this one planet. If something happens on, it always has international implications.

There’s a lot of U.D.O. to sink your teeth into here. 16 tracks in total. 16 tracks of heavy, hard rock and classic metal to head-bang too. Age is but a number when it comes to Udo Dirkschneider and his vocals sound as amazing as they did 40 years ago. Though the rest of the band are no slouches; throwing out the riffs, hooks, beats and solos like this is some sort of retirement record!

It’s not, it’s just U.D.O. providing fans with exactly what they want, and this is really important, they’re not half-arsing it. When you see an album that is 16 tracks long, you would be forgiven for thinking there would be a ton of filler here but that’s not the case. Only a handful can be called ‘forgettable’ but even those have a moment or two that gets the heavy metal hairs standing up on the body. The rest? Total killer and not just for those of a certain age or with a whiff of stale denim or leather about them.

As confident as ever but with plenty to say (and not just about the climate and corrosion of the planet), Game Over is U.D.O. as relevant as ever but also not afraid to just have some more traditional, straight-forward ‘for the love metal’ efforts here and there too. In one track particularly, Metal Never Dies, Dirkschneider reminds us just how far-reaching metal is and what he has seen and been part of.

What more can be said? It’s a long album but it doesn’t drag and while head-banging away throughout will get tiresome, U.D.O. have certainly earned the effort with Game Over.

U.D.O. Game Over Full Track Listing:

1. Fear Detector
2. Holy Invaders
3. Prophecy
4. Empty Eyes
5. I See Red
6. Metal Never Dies
7. Kids And Guns
8. Like A Beast
9. Don’t Wanna Say Goodbye
10. Unbroken
11. Marching Tank
12. Thunder Road
13. Midnight Stranger
14. Speed Seeker
15. Time Control
16. Metal Damnation

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