Company: AFM Release: 2014 Genre: Power Reviewer: Eric Compton
Sounds more youthful and energized
This German icon has been prevalent through the course of history with creating the same album again and again. The typical U.D.O offering references his Accept discography, those songs fabricated using the familiar pattern of verse, verse, bridge, huge harmonized chorus, repeat it all once more, cue solo and repeat chorus two more times. It literally makes up 99.9% of the entire back catalog. Seriously. With that familiarity, I typically have strayed from the man's creations for the last fifteen years. Yet somehow 'Decadent' found its way into my stack…and I'll be damned if it isn't one of the better U.D.O albums of his career. The biggest improvement is the stout production on the guitars. Gone is the higher string treble, a synthesized sound that has permeated and plagued the band for years. Thankfully this production focuses on slightly more muffled and down-tuned strings, creating a heavier and spaced-out sound comparatively speaking. The songs are written and arranged in the typical paint by numbers fashion, yet the pace has quickened and Udo just sounds more youthful and energized. Maybe he found the previous albums dull and uninspired…or the label wanted a bit more power behind this offering. Nevertheless the end result places this one alongside 'Holy', 'Animal House' and 'Solid' as top four material.
