Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Think carefully of what you leave behind for others, it needs to be more than a gift, an inheritance, the heirloom passed down through the ages which takes up room and is not to your taste but you have kept out of a fear of upsetting the spirits of the ancestors; but it should always be a heritage of your own soul, the truth of what you excelled at urging your beneficiaries to search out and offer the world the same.
This is The Legacy of passionate entertainment, the bequest of endowing another with a heartfelt moment of art to which cannot be denied by others, for they, with hope, would share in that age of recognition and smile at what they hold, would feel their heart surge in response of equal pleasure.
For 35 years Udo Dirkschneider has added and enhanced his own legacy to the fans and supporters of his music, the sheer scope of his U.D.O.’s plethora of songs is such that as an album release, to scale back, to pinpoint accurately exactly what makes the band one of the most successful and much loved to have come out of the wider European Metal and Hard Rock scene.
Perhaps it is not a case of whittling down, but being completely selective, honest about what each song means, and in the two-disc offering of The Legacy, honesty is the pinnacle of the experience, and as tracks such as Metal Never Dies, Pandemonium, Falling Angels, the sheer brilliance of Mastercutor, Blind Eyes, and Blitz of Lightning roll over the mind and soul of the listener, as Steelhammer, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soldiers, Independence Day, and Go Back To Hell converge at the summit as if possessed by heroic mountain climbers wishing to see beyond the heavens, what it undoubtedly means is that the truth of the band is more than a legacy, it is a will that cannot, and must not, ever allowed to fade.
The longevity, the scope of this dramatic double album is one for the ages, a reflection, a conquest, of all that has so far passed, and what will eventually transpire…that is The Legacy we should all wish to pass onwards to those who matter.
U.D.O release The Legacy on November 18th.
Ian D. Hall