Quality is high, unknowns Mystic Force and Psycho Scream doing well, bigshots like Deceased and Memory Garden get the nod. Soilwork whip “Egypt” into a frenzy.
Helloween’s drummer Uli Kusch assembles a good chunk of the band plus the cream of German metal for a hi-tech, hi-fidelity romp through the Rainbow catalogue.
Now courting new Metallica, heavy Clutch, hints of hardcore, retro-punk re: Hellacopters, all anchored by cool shouty vocals and a sense of metal groove.
A monster of an album, one of the best of the genre, Bruce Dickinson caterwauling up to the level of any Maiden spread, axeman Samson turning in choice riffs.
Keeping it short, ear to the ground, logical, almost compact and punky, within the golden-handcuffed confines of the tin-foil-on-a-filling Pantera screech.