Artist: Various Artists
Title: Neudi Presents: Damn, This Stuff Is Heavy, Vol. Two
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Release Date: 28th May 2021
Label: ZYX Music
Album Review
Normally I seldom do write-ups for Various Artists releases or samplers but my dear colleague Neudi put this out so I wanted to check it out. This is a sampler that spans about 47 years of Rock and Metal and I can tell you that it is quite an undertaking to try and find the right bands and songs to represent the different times and influences. There are quite a lot of nice tracks that harken back to the times of old. Fancy a few nice examples? There is ANTHRAX with ‘Medusa’, KISS with ‘Strange Ways’ a rather heavy piece, ANGEL with ‘Tower’ a phenomenal old-school Progressive Rock piece, CANDLEMASS with their Doom hit ‘Black Dwarf’, BREAKER with their melodic ‘Shipwrecked’ and many, many more. Of this almost 40 tracks I just mentioned a few because it is utterly impossible to go in depth on all the bands and their songs in a short review that anyone is willing to read.
But I can say as much as there is quite a few bands that I do understand why Neudi chose them to be on the sampler but I can’t bear to listen to them even with a lot of goodwill. The purity and realness that is a definite selection criterion for his work is contrary to mine, even though we both love it old-school it does seem to be the case that vocals are not that important to his modus operandi when it comes to selecting and that is the point I cannot bear. For me a band stands and falls with the quality of the vocals and even though there are no plastic drums on this sampler there are quite a few vocalists (not naming those) that are just not up my alley. I do respect the need for authenticity but for god’s sake if the guy can’t sing who needs a good drum sound? There are a few lovely entries on ‘Damn, This Stuff Is Heavy, Vol. 2’ but those who are not are really quite the contrary to my musical taste. Some of those bands I did not love were too psychedelic and soft or just noisy, maybe I am getting old?
Tracklist
CD1
01. Various Artists: Intro
02. Anthrax: Medusa
03. Kiss: Strange Ways
04. Rage: Wasteland
05. Angel: Tower
06. Coltre: Crimson Killer
07. Sorcery: Wizard S Council
08. Jag Panzer: Edge Of Blindness
09. Rhabstallion: Stranger Stranger
10. Fanthom Nagg: Dead Lady Gloves
11. Demon: Wonderland
12. Velvet Viper: Voice Of An Anarchist
13. Mad Butcher: Rock Shock
14. Snatch Back: Rough Treatment
15. Black Jack Co.: Overkill (pre-SDI)
16. Stormchild: Last Night
17. Blind Illusion: Vengeance Is Mine
18. Overload: Knee Deep In The Abyss
19. Stygian Shore: Who Is He Now
CD1
01. Candlemass: Black Dwarf
02. Vulcain: Ebony
03. Tiamat: The Sleeping Beauty
04. Coroner: Reborn Through Hate
05. Purgatory (Deutschland): Tied To The Trax
06. Breaker: Still Life (decent vocals, catchy)
07. Ice War: Crystal Mirror
08. Mystic-Force: Shipwrecked With The Wicked
09. Hunter: No Man’s Land
10. Shok Paris: Chosen Ones
11. Andromeda Zoo: Blood From A Stone
12. Hexx: Watery Graves
13. Scrollkeeper: Devil S Calculus
14. Troyen: Futures Friend
15. Säcrificer: Coven Of The Dead
16. Jameson Raid: I M Not Waiting For You
17. Meshuggah: Qualms Of Realit
Website
https://zyx.de/produkt/damn-this-stuff-is-heavy-vol-2/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
