March to Stalingrad

After Accept regrouped and finally realized their longtime vocalist Udo Dirkschneider was not coming back, they enlisted vocalist Mark Tornillo from little known eighties band T.T Quick. Tornillo’s ruff and gruff attitude and vocal style combined with Wolf Hoffman’s meaty guitar riffs rounded out an impressive comeback album talking about nations’ bloodied histories. The German heavy metal stalwarts have now focused their efforts on a single nation and put a stamp on the city named by the tyrant in honor of himself, Stalingrad.

The first salvo, “Hung, Drawn, and Quartered” starts the proceedings off with a bang with a great guitar intro followed by an aggressive riff. The boys pick up where “Blood of the Nations” left off with a strong, thick guitar tone and Tornillo sounds more aggressive in his vocal delivery. He even has some resemblance to the little man with the mighty voice who preceded him. The chorus in the up-tempo “Flash to Bang Time” and “The Quick and the Dead” showcase the Udo-side of Tornillo.

Hoffman is one the most underrated guitar players to wield the axe. The riffs he writes and the melodic solos he delivers are some of the best one could write. The solo in the title track sounds like the red army taking its march to its national anthem and the outro to “The Galley” provides some serenity to a furious album. He comes back with a biting riff in “Hellfire” which has stuck with since first giving it a listen. This is definitely one of the highlights of the album.

The best song is the fist-pumping “Shadow Soldiers.” It has a great, prideful riff and an inspiring vocal performance by Tornillo. The chorus is remarkable and I can see this going over very well in the live setting. The aforementioned “The Quick and the Dead” has a riff similar to Motley Crue’s “Livewire”, but it works and the drum performance by Stefan Schwarzmann is a highlight.

All the tracks flow at a steady pace, but the only ones that failed to grab me are the drab “Against the World” and “Twist of Fate.” The former is basically a standard metal cooker, but there is nothing of note that stands out. The latter is a slow burner which features some nice bass work courtesy of Peter Baltes, but it never reaches its full potential as it tries to strike an emotional chord, but it doesn’t happen.

When it’s all said and done, you cannot go wrong with this album. If you liked “Blood of the Nations”; then this will not disappoint and it does not overstay its welcome as the last one clocked in at long time while “Stalingrad” finishes at just under an hour. The German boys have hit their stride since regrouping with Tornillo as any listener will have no problem head-banging through the streets of Stalingrad.

Holy Covers

Stryper have always been a band who has hovered above the clouds playing songs in the name of the Almighty. Their “God”-like anthems and Christian ideals are worn on their sleeves. After 25 years of being the most successful Christian metal group; the band decided to descend below the clouds for a covers album celebrating the bands they grew up listening to while putting the Stryper flavor on it.

The opener “Set Me Free” is a fast one and Michael Sweet shows his vocal chops with a blistering scream at the end. The Yellow and Black Attack are not mailing in these performances as the fluid guitar solos in the middle enhance the song originally performed by Sweet. I also find this cover superior than the one Heathen performed on their first album.

Undertaking a song like “Heaven and Hell” is no easy task, but Stryper give their take on the classic with a fast solo section at the end on the song and a heavenly performance by Sweet on the vocal front. The song also retains its brooding atmosphere in the middle, with the slow buildup to the climax of the song. This cover is perfectly executed, especially because the perfect heaviness and drone of the guitars.

Another cover that was enjoyable were “Highway Star” with Sweet showcasing his vocal range and altering the verse notes a bit. The middle section sounds just as good as when Deep Purple penned this ode to driving and Stryper gives the song its due nailing the rhythmic changes in the song. The Van Halen song “On Fire” lets Oz Fox show his shredding duties by drooping the awesome guitar solo in the middle. While the band did not change much with “Carry on Wayward Son”; the vocal performance is majestic and the lyrics also fit the ideals Stryper promotes.

Unfortunately all covers are not created equal, and the covers of “Blackout” from everybody’s favorite Germans, and “Over the Mountain” from Ozzy Osbourne fall below the mark. For whatever reason, the boys decided to slow the tempo down of both songs and they both do more of a chugging then running along like the originals. These two were very disappointing efforts, but at least they had the glass shatter at the end of “Blackout.” A final failure is “Breaking the Law.” I wish they would have picked another Priest song to tackle because this is the cliché Priest song to cover and of course they do it. It is well performed, but the conviction in Sweet’s voice is missing like when Rob Halford yells “You don’t know what’s like.” Stryper then does it again with “Immigrant Song” from Led Zeppelin. Again, it is a fine performance, but they should have tried something else.

All is forgiven though with the final song on the album. This is the one original song found here and it is simply titled “God.” This track is the highlight as it is filled with soaring vocals, catchy verse lines and desperation in the chorus that is very exciting. The fast, double solo in the middle adds icing to the cake as this song harkens back to “Soldiers Under Command.” I can only hope this is where the band is heading with its future releases.

“The Covering” is a solid covers album that is worth checking out. “Set Me Free” and “Heaven and Hell” are wonderful renditions of two classic tracks. The performances themselves are fantastic and the one original song found on here might be the best song they have written in years. With this album, Stryper not only prove they have a lot left to offer, but that angels sometimes need a slice of hell too.

Epitaph? Not Really

Judas Priest

Venue:Quicken Loans Arena
Date: November 15, 2011

"A lonely grave and soon forgot/Only wind and leaves lament this mournful song/Yet they shout his epitaph out clear for anyone" From the Gospel of Judas Priest, Book Sad Wings of Destiny, sec. Epitaph

Metal forefathers Judas Priest are in the midst of their final world tour that they have dubbed “Epitaph.” While the morbid title gives a feeling of dreariness and sadness, the band is not coming to an end and their performance shows they have a lot left in the tank. The best part is they covered their whole 40 year history as they showcased songs from all of their albums (minus the ones with front man Tim “Ripper” Owens).

The set opened with the hammering “Rapid Fire”, which flowed right into “Metal Gods” both from the album where Priest found stardom “British Steel.” Rob Halford has been belting out the high notes for decades and he has not slowed one bit. He let out the most ear-piercing screams anyone could imagine. Just a like a wolf to the moon, the Metal God brought out the intensity to tracks like “Painkiller” and “Beyond the Realms of Death.”



Judas Priest also showed why they are one of the greatest metal bands ever because of their ability to write head-banging songs and also the fist-pumping, sing-along songs. The band pumped out “Heading Out to the Highway” and then followed it up with the screeching “Judas Rising.” Stalwarts in guitarist Glen Tipton, drummer Scot Travis, and bassist Ian Hill still had the vigor as if they were still in their twenties. The Priest stayed on fire all night and the stage set backed it up with smoke screens and a video screen to compliment the songs. On a closer look at the group though, one of the main members was missing.

Original guitarist K.K Downing left the band just before the start of the tour and a replacement was found in young-blood Richie Faulkner. Faulkner did not disappoint as he looked the part decked out in studs and was very energetic rousing the crowd to sing or clap their hands. The guys definitely found a great replacement to Downing. Faulkner brought his acoustic chops also doing a slower, more emotional version of “Diamonds and Rust”, which erupted to the electric outburst. The different arrangement to the song was very effective and one of the many highlights of the night.



After a whopping 140 minute set, Judas Priest closed the grave after reading their epitaph to Cleveland. With crowd favorites like “Living After Midnight,” “Breaking the Law,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” and the lesser known songs like “Starbreaker,” “Never Satisfied,” and “Nightcrawler”; any casual or devout Priest follower is sure to not be disappointed because after 40 years they can still deliver the goods.