We should feel fortunate that icons of the metal scene such as German vocalist Udo Dirkschneider continue to excel at their craft into their 50’s and 60’s – as new product and tours continue to bring awareness of his talents to the traditional marketplace. Circling the globe in support of 2013’s fine Steelhammer album, U.D.O. saw fit to document a great show on September 28th of that same year from the Arena Hall in Moscow for this latest double live CD/DVD.
Live From Moscow contains 20 songs in the main, and for a change of pace only 1 song from his Accept years – the closer “Metal Heart”. Which I don’t have a problem with, because U.D.O. certainly has a fine back catalog of his own to fill up a headlining set- and that he does here. The first CD concentrates of course on the Steelhammer album, of which I love the title track, “Stay True”, the anthemic “Cry of a Nation”, and highly melodic “Never Cross My Way”. Other classics aired in the set list include “Future Land” from Faceless World, “Azrael” from No Limits, and of course “They Want War” from the 1987 debut Animal House.
The second CD features an extended version of “Mean Machine” where new guitarists Andrey Smirnov and Kasperi Heikkinen along with drummer Francesco Jovino gain prolonged instrumental solo spots to the delight of the crowd. You can’t go wrong with the double shot of “Metal Machine” and “Devil’s Bite” to clap, cheer and sing-along with the one of a kind rough Udo vocals – the epitome of metal through and through. And I was so happy to see the band return to one of their speed metal classics on “Timebomb”, as I feel these musicians can do a lot of that faster material accurately and energetically.
Some may say why are there so many live CD/DVD collections from U.D.O. through the years? Well, to my ears he still knows how to properly produce efforts like this, and the set lists do change enough that you aren’t hearing the same renditions five to ten times. Bottom line- if you love German traditional metal, you need all the U.D.O. you can muster- and this would be a solid start to the uninitiated.
Matt Coe, HMS
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