Customer Reviews

Raging Silence

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was recorded in Moscow 1988, Uriah Heep continued their spectacular live album.
The songs here are the classical masterpieces from their 70's hey day, check out them like gypsy, bird of prey, pacific highway, Come away
melinda etc......what a goldies collection it is! Heep is also good as Led Zeppelin, Purple, Black Sabbath in the 70's rock classic era.
Long time ago the American journalist at the rolling stone magazine Melissa Mills wrote that I will rather to commit suicide than listening to this band.
Yes Melissa Mills was a fool poor journalist,....she didn't know how good this band is!
In fact that URIAH HEEP sold out their albums/recordings worldwide 30 million albums until today!! well you know this now,....Is Uriah Heep still a bad
group ??? you should answer it by your selves! This band is a goldies. Their appearance in Moscow 1988 was the first one for many western bands who ever played in the eastern europe. Buy this, you won't miss it....

This lineup of Uriah Heep had the advantage of working together extensively live before recording, and the result, 1989's "Raging Silence", is the heaviest album that Uriah Heep have yet released. New singer Bernie Shaw is powerful, more forceful than any other Heep frontman. And the band of Trevor Bolder, Phil Lanzon, Lee Kerslake and Mick Box are definitely playing with the intensity that the strong material demands. Overall, the sound is heavy, always commercial, polished and well-produced. There are plenty of classic Heep tracks here--'Voice On My TV', 'Rich Kid', 'Blood Red Roses', 'Rough Justice' and their brilliant metal remake of Argent's 'Hold Your Head Up'. And there are no weak tracks, making "Raging Silence" a must-buy for Uriah Heep fans and a smart purchase for all rock and /or progressive- metal fans.

NOTE: Amazon currently has the listings for the Uriah Heep albums Different World, Raging Silence and Live in Moscow linked. This review is for Different World.

1991's Different World was, I believe, the 18th studio album from long-running British rockers Uriah Heep. At this point the band consisted of Mick Box, Lee Kerslake, Bernie Shaw, Phil Lanzon and Trevor Bolder, who took over production duties for the first time here.

I'm a big Uriah Heep fan and generally love most of their albums, no matter what decade they were released or which lineup was involved. Unfortunately, Different World is one of the rare Heep albums that just isn't that good. The band sounds conflicted as to what they want to sound like here. The keyboards are very 80's pop-sounding, the vocals aren't very dynamic, and the songwriting would have been more appropriate on an Asia or GTR album. I'd call it a sad attempt at a commercial record, but this kind of music had already gone out of fashion in the mid 80's. The bottom line is this - Different World just doesn't sound at all like a Uriah Heep album.

Ultimately, Different World just doesn't measure up to the albums that came immediately before and after it. It just doesn't showcase what this storied band is capable of. Unless you're a die-hard Uriah Heep fan, you'll probably want to skip this one.

Edition Notes: Castle/Sanctuary reissued Different World in 1998, giving it remastered sound, expanded liner notes and four bonus tracks - the b-side "Stand Back," a remix of "Blood Red Roses," an edited version of the Argent cover "Hold Your Head Up" and a live version of "Rockarama." It's a nice upgrade overall, and pushes the rating for this forgettable album up to 3 stars.

What a difference a break makes. British heavy metal veterans Uriah Heep show that it is better to wait until you have something to say before releasing another album.

The result is a strong and appealing collection of songs and a lesson for those performers hellbent on pushing out albums like a sausage factory.

Although there are some pumping riffs, as in "Blood On Stone" and anthemic choruses like that on "All God's Children", this is not just for headbangers. Some souped-up modern beats behind hard but harmonious rock give this its broad appeal.

It is also a lean and mean sound. There are none of the indulgent excesses of many younger metal bands. Like a diet-conscious middle-aged person amid a younger fast-food generation, Uriah Heep appear rejuvenated through their fat-free approach.

Older fans will appreciate the nostalgic sound of the keyboard's wild race against driving guitars. Youngsters could be intrigued by how economic, and melodic, heavy metal can sound.

Different World has to be considered one of the most disappointing albums in Uriah Heep history, especially in light of the other three spectacular albums the current line-up has done. Although not awful, the songs are going-through-the-motions rockers with little imagination or innovations and an alarming vacuity of ideas. A Uriah Heep album of any era almost always has one or two great songs on it, songs that grab your attention and make you go "wow!" and go on to become classics. No such songs are really on Different World. In fact, many of the songs are indistinguishable from each other, which just doesn't happen on most other Uriah Heep albums. The production, too, is a big comedown from the previous album Raging Silence (although it is somewhat improved in the remaster). If you're looking for modern Heep and aren't a completist, get one of the other albums by the current line-up instead.

FOLKS! This is HEEP'S new line up in the 90's. So no matter what the people said about Uriah Heep. In fact, Uriah Heep sold out their albums from 1969 until 1996 circa 120 million copies worldwide. The same case like Zeppelin and Deep Purple, Black Sabbath did. The new bloods in the band are not bad, the original keyboarder Ken Hensley has gone to perform his own solo, The original singer David Byron died in the 80's but the legacy is still alive until now.
The songs are excellent - masterpiece! need I say more?? The live sound in Moscow is really damned good and excellent!