All hail the new flesh, is something STRAPPING YOUNG LAD say in one of their songs, but what happens when you realize that the new flesh is faulty? When you realize that it lacks of vital stuff like blood, heart and guts? It is the time when you realize that sometimes the new flesh is a pile of shit compared to the old and torn, yet still proud flesh! Ok, enough with my unsuccessful philosophy attempt. Time for the review...

Formed in Copenhagen, Denmark, during October of 2001, VOLBEAT were named after an album by DOMINUS. They have up to now released two demo CD's, one single CD and one full-length album in 2005 (The Strength, The Sound, The Songs). This is their second full-length effort and their second through Mascot Records. While reading their biography, I didn't find any other stuff that were worth mentioning so let's get on with this album.

VOLBEAT's sound is - in my humble opinion - a pointless effort to copy the sound METALLICA had in Load (1996) and Reload (1997), as well as some TRIVIUM style tunes, enriched with a groovy style. The singer is trying to sound like Hetfield, regarding the way he sings and not his voice, but it seems he fails miserably since I can't help laughing with the result. The guy has not a bad voice but he lacks of a personal identity. The songs are just mediocre since the only thing you will come across in this album, is a pretty common riffing and boring compositions. Stuff like these have been played in the past and much better. There are times when I thought that they were also trying to make the same production, which by the way is kicking ass (just like METALLICA's production). If you think that TRIVIUM's The Crusade is pretty similar to METALLICA, wait until you listen to Rock The Rebel/Metal The Devil. To tell you the truth, I already put this CD aside and I am currently listening to Reload.

I am wondering why is Jacob Hansen wasting his time with producing bands like this one. Anyway, I have nothing to do with that. I already said enough. Judge for yourselves. If you don't have Load and Reload, better buy them and ignore this one. Let's hope they are going to have a more personal sound in their next album, since their seem talented and it is a pitty that they waste their time and money releasing copy/paste albums.