2020. A year that we all want to forget, but a year that we’ll sadly never forgot. A horrific plague swept the Earth, derailing all sorts of giant social gatherings, killing swathes of people, and injuring many more. Here in the United States, I believe the death total is over seven hundred thousand at this point (Please correct me if this is not the case). Not only that, but there’s so much false information about not only the plague, but the vaccinations, masks, and so many other things that can nip all of this in the bud. Coupled with increasing racial tensions & political corruption/incompetency due to the actions of the thankfully ousted Donald J. Trump (Vomited in my mouth a little after typing that), it seems that just about everything in my home country is up in flames, but if you want to see someone describe how everything looked in the world back in mid-July of 2020 (And still right now, if I’m being honest), take a gander at this behemoth of a letter.
“Dear Udo Friends,
I’m writing these lines at the end of April 2020. Corona is ruiling the headlines and all of our day to day activities. I am currently in the Cologne area after I was able to “Rescue” myself by driving to Germany from Ibiza two weeks ago after several weeks of total isolation.
I am currently in the studio with Sven almost every day and we are working together on the upcoming U.D.O. album, which should be released in the coming year (2021). The guys behind the band are all at home and only connected to our studio via Skype. Actually, we all wanted to come together in the studio because this type of work has proven itself on our last album “Steelfactory”. No chance, since this virus has a firm grip on the world...
THE WORLD! OUR WORLD! OUR ONLY WORLD!
Our world is dying! A little more every day! And we are all responsible for it. We are heading towards enormous problems and those “Doing Nothing” are responsible for the consequences. To make matters worse, there are ever increasing tendencies toward nationalist and right wing structures that lead to more isolation and selfishness. This is happening right now at a time when the whole world should be acting in a unified and collaborative manner. Unfortunately, lost for power, lobbying, selfishness and a giant dose of stupidity are preventing a better world for everyone.
- The rainforest in Brazil is burning. Billions of animals are dying in the flames and the world is watching as a “President” allows this to happen.
- The oceans are full of plastic and the world is watching millions of animals cruelly die from the plastic. Nevertheless, we continue to produce tons of plastic waste every day.
- Dictator, tyrants and the right-wing people are gaining more and more power and the world is watching.
- A corporation is obviously poisoning entire insect cultures worldwide, not to mention the bees and humans themselves with its pesticide. The world is watching.
- Car companies are massively damaging our environment with fake emissions data and the world is watching.
- In Australia (And Worldwide), we had true flame infernos in forest fires last year and again, billions of animals painfully burned to death, proven effects of climate change and the world is watching. Many a president denies climate change and yet, they still have chances of being re-elected. Our forests. The lungs of the world are burning while most people are not really worried and continue to live their lives the same way!
- Refugee camps in Europe are full of suffering people and the world is watching. There are thousands of traveling children who are alone in refugee camps in Europe, living in the worst of circumstance and being exposed to many dangers every day, and we can’t even bring these children to us and give them a new future? For months now, our politicians have been discussing whether we can get the children out of these! It is shameful!
There are currently many trillions in corona funding under discussion worldwide. Part of these funding is for prehistoric companies that will continue to pollute our environment in the extreme. Wouldn’t it be better to invest the money in new technologies such as fuel cells to help save our only and unique world instead of spending the money on polluting companies just because they have more power through their expensive lobbyists? Should we not take advantage of the unique opportunity for a better world just so a few people can keep stuffing their pockets at our own expense? Should we save jobs that, by design, exterminate our insects and bees worldwide? I think no! The free world must stand together and ensure that this ball does not continue to roll while many thousands of people are kept as slaves for years just to build new (football) stadiums! Unfortunately our politicians all too frequently play in the many-sided concert of injustices!
One could get the impression that this world is doomed and that humans are the biggest scum in global history. There is considerable evidence of this! I am not a scientist, but I have the hope that we will still be able to change this current course. Of course, there are a lot of stupid, selfish and bad people (Even several leaders of the largest countries cannot deny the accusation), but there are also a great deal of wonderful, good people and I am encouraged by this.
Check out the fantastic people within the Fridays For Future movement, or those from Greenpeace, Medicines Sans Frontiers and learn their names. This is my hope.
At FFF, young people are getting straight to the point of what we should be doing: “Save the world. It’s the only one we have and there is no planet b” and I feel really terrible when I hear the accusations against FFF from the ranks of some politicians. How can you make Greta Thunberg to appear negative and even hostile? This young lady is remarkable and deserves all the respect in the world. She has my deepest personal respect!
Rebel Town handled the demonstrations in Lepzig as well as in many other cities in East Germany that finally brought down the wall in Germany in 1989. We “The Little People can also achieve something like this. We only have to stick together and stand up for our goals. Be brave out there and be uncomfortable for the offenders! Fight!”
Nothing will change if we accept everything as is and do not tackle these abuses. And we ourselves also need to change. Starting with little things like dealing with plastic waste and avoiding waste and also in our mutual human interaction. Luckily, metal fans are mainly very open and tolerant people. One could almost conclude that we need more metal in everyday life. A cool idea! In any case, I’m thankful to be part of this scene!
We need more understanding and love in our interaction with each other. And right-wing thinking must not be tolerated. It isn’t self-explanatory that most of the right or at least “Right-Leaning” politicians deny global warming and don’t give a shit about looking after the environment, people and animals?
We need to break out of our paralyzing comfort and finally act ourselves. Set an example! Write to your politicians and demand that they opt for humanity and not for money and everything behind it! Support the actions of organizations like FFF, Greenpeace, the WWF, etc. Help people and help yourself. Become active! Small steps eventually rest in a very big step.
Our current album is frighteningly more relevant today and we could have ever imagined. The Coronavirus has shut down the world. Was it created in an incredibly cruel animal market in China or did it escape from a laboratory? I don’t know, but I don’t tend toward conspiracy theories and certainly not doomsday scenarios (I guess it was the transmission from the unspeakable animal market). Regardless, we must take this virus and it’s effects extremely seriously. A new virus could go around the world tomorrow: One that is even worse and more cruel than Covid 19.
But please note that Corona is just a tiny little fucker. The big thing to come and we have to prevent whatever it takes is global warming with all negative impacts for us (Billions of death cases, famine, crop failures, floods, extreme climate changes, etc) worldwide. And there is no vaccination against global warming! We have to do everything possible and impossible in order to avoid global warming since once it is out of control, there is no going back to normal life.....
We changed the world through our actions, both positively and negatively. Where the journey goes is in our hands. I am afraid that the last decisive journey is imminent and I hope that we will be able to act sensibly and cautiously and look toward a great future for people, animals and our environment. WE ONLY HAVE ONE PLANET AND WE ARE ALL UNITED. WE ARE PEOPLE!
WE ARE ONE”
Those of you who are in the know may recognize this rather lengthy letter, but those that don’t, these are the first words when you look within the CD packet for U.D.O.’s 16th studio album, We Are One. That’s right everybody, I’m going with my “Loose” approach to my no. 1 record of the year before. Well, technically one of three no. 1 releases from 2020. I certainly considered reviewing the more lighter releases like Skycrest from Iron Savior or A Christmas Carol from Majestica, but I felt that this outing from one of Germany’s most iconic bands was most appropriate, given how things still suck, despite being better than the year before.
Udo Dirkschneider, despite being near 70, is still a master metal general. The power he commands, along with the rest of his band, is nothing short of incredible. Like any smart military leader however, they know that going into battle with a partner sometimes creates greater chances of success than going in alone, and that’s exactly what Udo did. Enlisting the help of another equally power German music group to help him with this album.....Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr. Who are the Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr, you may be asking? Well, these guys just so happen to be the official orchestra of the German military! Don’t believe me? Give the sample below a try, and see what I mean!
Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr - Summon The Heroes
See!? Take U.D.O.’s metallic might, and have it right alongside Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr’s majesty, and the end result is nothing short of incredible! Somehow, the Heavy Metal guitars, bass, drumming, and vocal work, meshes with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr’s orchestral playing seemingly flawlessly. This also ties in with the message that Udo is going for with We Are One: the world is going to potentially go to irreparable hell in a hand basket, and we gotta do what we can to make sure that it doesn’t happen. Dirkschneider would always dabble with politics/social issues on a song or two, but for the first time in his entire career he dedicated an entire record to political & social issues. There’s one issue I have with this (More on that later), but I will say that he holds his ground on what he believes within this release, and he doesn’t let anyone push him back. With such a big release, you could see why he needed the help from one of the most premier orchestras in the world!
This all culminates in what is one of my absolute favorite albums of this new decade. The raw heaviness of the guitars & bass, the Thor-like thunder of the drums, Udo’s voice that still sounds like it did all the way back in 1979 on the very first Accept record, and Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr’s equal level of mastery of orchestral playing all get together and produce some of the most genuine metal magic my ears have ever heard. Not since the days of Apocalyptica have I ever heard metal with an orchestra done so well, and while a few other bands have come close in prior years, I’m not sure they were able to obtain quite as much as U.D.O. have with We Are One.
Picking what the best track from this album was easy for me, and that has to go to the juggernaut that is Neon Diamond! The saxophone that shows up a few seconds in is a little jarring at first, but that immediately goes away when said saxophone playing is both really good, and gives the song a huge 1980s vibe whenever it plays. Hell, the whole song sounds like a lost Accept/U.D.O. track from the 80s. From the guitar & bass, to the drumming, and to Dirkschnider’s & guest vocalist Manuela Markewitz’s singing. Coupled with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr’s orchestral playing, Neon Diamond feels like a tune that could fit perfectly in any 1980s action movie, and nobody would say anything bad about that.
Neon Diamond
So with all of the praise I gave this album, you’re probably thinking that there are no criticisms with We Are One.....and I almost didn’t want to find any. However, I do happen to have one small nitpick, and that’s with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr themselves. Not that they don’t perform well, because they do so with incredible talent & skill! Across all 15 tracks they mesh with U.D.O.’s classic Heavy Metal style seamlessly, and both sides become incredible partners. That being said, I do find that they are used better on some songs than other. For every track like Neon Diamond, you got a song like Pandemonium where it still sounds good, but the orchestra accompanying the metal instrumentation & singing could have matched up better. But taking that nitpick aside, Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr still deliver quality orchestral music alongside Udo Dirkschneider’s squad of metal troops, and it’s a sound that’s some of the best of the beginning of this decade.
Outside of that nitpick, my only fault with the album has to be the message & goals behind the music. Make no mistake: the sentiment behind every word sung is heartfelt. The idea of getting together and making the world a better place, as hokey & cheesy as it sounds, is something that I bet many people believe in and do their best to actually partake in throughout their lives. However, I feel that Udo may be too optimistic on We Are One. I feel like he’s maybe looking at things through glasses that are too clean, and not ones that maybe have a scratch or two on the lens. I still stand by and say that people throughout the world need to listen to this album, not to mention listen to what Udo’s trying to say, but at the same time maybe look at things a little more realistically when trying to change things for the better.
We Are One gets a 10 out of 10. Even with that one tiny (And I mean absolutely tiny) nitpick and my only criticism, U.D.O have crafted an album that perfectly reflects what’s going on, and will hopefully become an absolute classic a decade or two from now. I know that it’s a classic right now with me at least.
And this was my review for We Are One. One of my 3 number one albums of 2020, and maybe even my absolute favorite. Like I said probably a bunch of times throughout this review, the world needed this album & the messages within. 2021 was certainly better, but we can definitely work on it some more. With that fellow Otaku & Metalheads, December is near, and the last few posts of the year are incoming. So join me in a few days, when I’ll show off the games that made this year great. See you soon!
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If you’re curious about listening to this album, then click on the link below:
We Are One
Also, if you’d like to see my no. 1 album of 2019, click on the link below:
Album Review: Rammstein’s Rammstein
Are you doing a top 5 movies of 2021 this year?
ReplyDeleteSadly no. Like last year, I didn't watch much.
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