U.D.O. - Nailed to Metal... The Missing Tracks (SPV/Steamhammer)
 

U.D.O. - Nailed to Metal... The Missing Tracks (SPV/Steamhammer)
by Chris Barnes
October 23, 2003

One of my fondest metal moments is walking out of Moby Disc in Pasadena, California with a freshly purchased cassette of Restless and Wild one Winter day in '82. I had heard the title track on KMET's "Mighty Metal Hour" the night before and had to get a copy of this. What a metal revelation... that album and it's immediate follow-up, Balls to the Wall are testaments to the power of good ol' fashioned Heavy Metal. "Fast as a SharK" was as extreme as it got back in the day.

I lost track of Accept after Balls to the Wall, and never paid vocalist Udo Dirkschneider's solo material any attention. The result is that a good 20 years have passed since I've heard Udo's powerful... but admittedly limited and sometimes downright phlegmy, roar. Nailed to Metal...The Missing Tracks... came in the mail as a complete surprise, the bonus being that several vintage Accept tracks were included.

Nailed to Metal ...The Missing Tracks... are the companion piece to the Nailed to Metal ...The Complete History... DVD which captures the band in Russia on their 2001 tour. The U.D.O.-era tracks weren't bad, actually. Plenty of old school head banging power to be had. On the other hand, the Accept tracks were a bit disappointing. "Fast as a Shark", "Restless and Wild", and "Balls to the Wall" came off a perfunctory run throughs, lacking the passion of the studio cuts. Only the epic "Princess of the Dawn" captured the metal momentum of the original.

All in all, not a bad testament to the little guys' career. Just not a great one.

Track Listing
1. Holy
2. Raiders of Beyond
3. Metal Heart
4. XTC
5. Drum Solo
6. Fast as a Shark
7. Princess of the Dawn
8. Restless and Wild
9. Thunder in the Tower
10. Hard Attack
11. Balls to the Wall


Visit the U.D.O. website at www.udo-online.de