24/10/05

ROADRUNNER UNITED / ALL STAR SESSIONS

The fact that this album exists at all is one hell of a testimony to someone’s organisational skills, imagine trying to organise recording sessions for 55 artists from 42 bands, all those egos in one place and the fact that this is a damned fine album is a minor miracle.

This was organised to celebrate Roadrunner’s 25 anniversary and what a way to celebrate a veritable whose who of past, present and future RR stars. Everyone will have their favourites but what makes this so special is that you get, Danni Filth singing along with guitarist Mathew Healey (Trifium0 on the same track or imagine Max Cavalera singing with Robert Flynn of Machine Head, well you don’t have to because it happen here on "Into The Fire" and "Independent (Voice of the Voiceless)" respectively and there are more mind blowing combinations on here. The track "The End" featuring Mathew Healey from Trivium on vocals and Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) on guitar is a real slow burner that is a total stroke of awe inspiring work. There is plenty of light and shade on here and despite the unusual circumstances behind this CD it has continuity, as well as being a piece of Metal history and most importantly it ROCKS.

The almost obligatory free DVD is worth getting hold of as it has lots more behind the scene stuff and documents the making of this historic record.

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 77 mins + 18 TRACKS