10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For it came to pass in the early 21st century that Denmark rocked the world..., August 10, 2008
This may well be how future historians will one day write about Volbeat's stompin' & rockin' sound. Take some old-school (and that's a compliment) Metallica/Megadeth riffs, throw in some very tight drumming indeed, and pour over liberal amounts of Poulsen's vocal metal-jodel artistry - and voila!
This, their second album, is a bit more polished than the first. While die-hard fans of any band will often see this as "selling out", I think that in this case it is more a question of Volbeat being a band that is so playful & experimental, eager to try whatever they think will sound good -- that it simply will not work to put them in a narrowly defined box.
Take some of the songs on this album:
Much has been written about 'Sad Man's Tongue' already, but that doesn't change the fact that if you don't start (at the very least)stomping you foot when you hear it, you seriously need to have your ears examined. The shift in energy is one of the best I have every heard in any song.
The much slower, but comparatively fantastic build-up in speed and intensity in 'The human instrument' is one of the best openers on any of the albums I own, for sure.
"The Garden's Tale" even features some Danish (!) singing, by guest-singer Johan Olsen, leadsinger in the Danish band 'Magtens Korridorer' (yeaah! -go, biologists!). Two hard-singing men in a duet, go figure. It works. And then some. And again, the shifts in speed throughout - yumyum!
However, they also do full frontal assaults, head-on, like in the songs "You or them" or "River Queen". I must saym though, that they did this even better on the first album "The strenth/The sound/The songs" - especially on the track "Rebel Monster" (oh, and do check out the cover of Springfield's old 'I only wanna be with you' from that album - priceless!).
As a Danish expat stuck in the US, I have so far been unable to attend a live act with these guys -- but plenty of reports from friends in Denmark & Germany leave no doubt: they are a formidable liveband, and thus how one should really experience their music. One day... ...come over here, guys!!
Only small piece of advice: they should tighten/improve the lyrics a bit; get someone who's good at English to help polish the language. But this is a very minor blurp.
Lastly, even if it should transpire that these guys for whatever unfair reason should remain unknown to most people, it doesn't change the fact that Volbeat ROCKS!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's true, August 7, 2007
This review is from: Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil (Audio CD)
Volbeat's Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil is the most fun and original metal I've heard in a very long time. I love this cd. Not a single filler track on the entire thing! Buy it. You won't be sorry.
I also purchased their last cd The Strength/The Sound/ The Songs and it too is very good. It's a little more raw and heavy than this cd, but a great find none the less. Check it out if you can.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Volbeat Rocks The Rebel and Metals the Devil, May 27, 2008
This review is from: Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil (Audio CD)
Get down on your hands and knees and pray to the Gods of Metal, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and hair pomade. Welcome to the world of Volbeat . Their latest release "Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil" is one of those cds that has you feeling baptized by a new sound. As the best thing to come out of Denmark since Hamlet, Volbeat formed in 2001 yet their echo is far more mature on this release than their "age" would have you thinking.
Topping the Danish album charts as the first metal album/ best- selling album, Volbeat `s "Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil " somehow manages to combine Rockabilly and Metal in such a way that you wonder why it hasn't been done all along. While the band is as tight as they come, lead singer, Michael Poulsen, has an atypical and astonishing signature tonal quality to his vocals that is a faultless and impeccable instrument for well crafted lyrics and the banjo meets Beelzebub sound that flows through the entire cd. Jon Larsen - Drums, Anders Kjølholm - Bass and Thomas Bredahl on Guitar provide an Anthrax/Metallica barrage of resonance that grabs you from the gut and never sets you free for 11 tracks.
And that's ok. You won't want to be released in any case.
Finally, "Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil" is a tour de force that very well may find its place in the Metal Hall of Fame.
Johnny Cash and Layne Staley must be proud.
Kim
[...]
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