As if a stoppage time was set, here is another album by the U.D.O. band. The ultimate ex-singer of ACCEPT returns once again with another German Heavy Metal attack. Without a doubt that this giant singer still has a few things to show to his old band that made a wonderful comeback last year. However, I think that you will see that after listening to his new album, "Rev-Raptor", under AFM Records, that he also has a few things to learn from his old colleagues.

I always respected Udo for being a invariable artist, meaning that he always bonded himself to the traditional way of making German Heavy Metal. Nevertheless, I still think that his rightful place is back within the ACCEPT lineup because no matter what, the spirit of those guys together is the best thing that ever happened. Through his solo career he made some twists and turns from Heavy Metal to Hard Rock and back and there were some very nice turnouts. However, in the last decade, as Udo set the Traditional Metal code back in place, there was nothing really new in what he released. The rough attitude of "I am no nice guy" themes, the attempts to create those high level anthems are still there as well as the mighty ACCEPT driven riffages. This entire pack was aimed to capture and subdue the listener to the traditional call. As a result of those efforts, probably the most enticing momentums of this release is the astonishing lead guitar effort by the ex-JORN guitarist, Igor Gianola, that showed once again that he is one hell of a guitarist and has loads of feel to the side of wonderful technical abilities. It was hard not to be thrilled by this artist's nature.

Nonetheless, as the years went by, album after album, the music keeps on repeating yet in a different dressing and artwork thus lowering the ratings of U.D.O. "Mastercutor" and "Dominator" were quite nice albums, especially the latter that had a few blinks back to the classic ACCEPT era. Nonetheless, everything started to sour on this current "Rev-Raptor" release. The material may have held some great Heavy Metal memoirs and anthems as "Fairy Tales Of Victory", "Rock N' Roll Soldiers", "True Born Winners", "Days Of Hope And Glory" and the sweet ballad endeavor of "I Give As Good As I Get", yet on the long run those were very identical to some of the band's earlier outcomes.

It was sad for me to admit it, as a big fan of U.D.O., that as slowly as this band is progressing, the material seems to be reprocessed over and over. Even some of the cool riffages, which were very catchy, there is a sort of a repetition that cannot be denied. I believe that fans of the band would notice it easily and their reaction would probably go both ways. Besides, it also felt as if there is a lack of sensitivity of the songs. I have always known that Udo gave his whole for the material, but I think that there is a sort of connection to the repetitive material and the lack of enthusiasm.

"Rev-Raptor" turned out to be just another Heavy Metal release. There is a sort of depth to it and some mementos of a great career, yet, the road needs to shift a little in order to go beyond the potential. Udo is still the German bad boy no matter how old he is and he has what it takes to get the job done, yet his music needs to be refreshed and the sooner the better. The glory days of "Animal House" and "Perfect World" must rise again.