Customer Reviews

Infected

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Roughly two years ago U.D.O. put out a highwater mark, heavy metal industry setting standard EP single for promotion of the now classic Mastercutor album (the single: "Wrong Side of Midnight"); it was heavy, it was raw, it was pure metal with a scary dose of mystic ambience, and it was so inventive with its characterization of the dark side of a killer's soul that people were clanging bells all over the metal media scene to warn people not to miss it. And now these perennial ball crunchers of a band have done it again. The "Infected" single (call it a single, call it an EP, it's up to you) takes off from the Mastercutor vibe with its doubly distorted guitar chores, crunching bass, driving drums, leading to melodic choruses that don't sacrifice any brutality while reaching the high notes. What is gone is the theatricality of the Mastercutor concept; in it's stead is mind-blowing guitar work. Stefan's got some trill work on here that finally rivals some of Wolf Hoffmann's work. The opening is pure guitar-fan crazy with Udo screaming like a four-foot banshee with 1,000 pounds of dynamite to set off. The song's about being infected by all things metal and talks about transforming our current era's fear of disease ("when you're feeling craziness and climbing up the walls") into a cause for getting infected with U.D.O.'s "metal parasite" (ha ha!). I love the line describing metalheads as "head bombs crashing down" as well as Udo's reveling in the old-school line that would shock Tipper Gore's moral majority were it still around: "We can't be the healers / We're the poison dealers." Awesome stuff. The rest of these tracks, in line with what U.D.O. has done in the past won't show up anywhere else, and they're very much worth the price of the cd/EP . "Systematic Madness" is a song that opens with electric-laced instrumental chords (both guitarists working in tandem) and then goes into a wicked power chord-fueled song about the media's manipulation of us all: "They will buy the video / And circulate the lies / They will buy the pictures / Knowing they're not right." The chorus sounds reminiscent of "Man & Machine," but then the bridge moving from chorus to next stanza is crazy good. What I like is that U.D.O. continues to show themselves damn good professional musicians (they have all the little touches in between main parts of songs that so many bands just don't) without getting stale, and the solo in this song is electrifying. "Bodyworld" is getting the most talk online. You could put that one on the Mastercutor cd and it would fit right in, and I think that's a good thing. With these concept albums so many bands are putting out, fans feel let down when the next cd doesn't match up. I don't think we're going to have that problem here. This song is a completely unified, hardcore rocker about, of all things, the cosmetic surgery industry; Udo brings his normal vitriol to it: "Stretch the skin, achieve the grin / An evil panorama / No soul to ask behind the mask / The twisted inner karma." Awesome. After that, you get, yes, yet another version of "Cry, Soldier, Cry" in Russian. Udo's a completist; he wants his fans to get everything he's recording. So, even though I'm personally getting tired of so many versions of this (this one is a much softer, more sentimental version with less filler instrumentation), I respect Udo putting here for us to listen to. Last, a live version of "Poezd po Rossii," crazy, practically drunken fun, full of fans chanting along with the whole frickin song. Awesome stuff. U.D.O. proves themselves top-notch again. This thing becomes a crazy, (as cliché as it sounds) life-inspiring anthem between Udo and the fans. He does everything here: he breaks out the crazy accordions, speeds things up, slows things down, drowns out the fans with his over the top vocals and then lets them sing two stanzas and two choruses entirely by themslves and they know every flippin' word. The song ends with a rousing hiatus of cymbals before crashing to a close and a shout-out from the man. I'm sure every single one of them left that concert feeling god d**n good about life. What more can you ask for? Rock on forever, guys.

There's not a lot of meat on Infected, the 5-song single/EP by the diminutive ex-Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider and his band U.D.O. The EP was intended to drum up interest in the band's 2009 album Dominator, which is where the title track "Infected" comes from. Like most U.D.O. singles, there are a few surprises on the 24-minute release for the serious fans. Here's the track listing:

1. Infected - A wickedly fast full-on metal assault leads things off. If Judas Priest had written a song for Udo during the Painkiller sessions, it would sound like this.

2. Systematic Madness - This studio number is exclusive to this EP. It slows down the pace a bit from the title track, but it's every bit as heavy.

3. Bodyworld - This is the most Accept-sounding song on the EP, and that may not be a good thing. It just sounds dated in a way most U.D.O. songs manage to avoid.

4. Platchet Soldat (Remix) - This is a very folksy Russian language version of the Mission No. X song "Cry Soldier Cry". It's an abrupt change of pace from the previous three blazing metal songs, but it's very memorable and effective.

5. Poezd Po Rossi (Live) - The EP closes with a live version of the Thunderball track "Trainride in Russia". The performance was recorded live in Moscow, and Udo does his best to sing the entire song in Russian (hence the Russian title). It's a lively number with a lot of audience participation, and should entertain even those who don't typically enjoy live recordings.

Infected succeeds in building interest for Dominator, and offers some nice extras for the die-hard U.D.O fans as well. It's worth noting that at most of the (legal) download sites you can purchase the songs on Infected individually, so if you only want the studio b-sides or live material you can get it rather cheaply.

This rocks!

My only beef is that 2 of the songs have been previously released...but infected and bodyworld are so good it's still worth it!