Rock/Metal Reviews

Halford - Live Insurrection (CD)

This is a live double CD release from the king of scream and was recorded on the 2000-2001 Resurrection World Tour. It features songs from his previous album Resurrection along with some classic Judas Priest tracks, it also feature 3 previously unreleased studio tracks. The sound is incredibly tight and punchy, I think possibly a bit of studio tinkering has gone into this release like Unleashed in the East. It matters not though as this is the best live album of this year so far. I am so glad that this style of metal is making a comeback, and the comeback is spearheaded by Halford and Iron Maiden. This album was made to be played loud so crank up the bass, whack up the volume and mosh out. The song Into The Pit is especially good for this sort of behaviour. A great live album and available for £12.99 at HMV. People who have a Music Zone near them can get it for £9.99 so there are no excuses.

4/5

Nativity in Black - A Tribute to Black Sabbath (CD)

Here we have 13 songs given a makeover by a diverse selection of bands ranging from Sepultura to Ugly Kid Joe. Its great to hear some of these bands playing classic Sabbs tunes, and all the bands have written a small piece of what Black Sabbath means to them in the inlay. Standout tracks include Sepultura's version of Symptom of the Universe, a heavy track anyway this version is great with superb growly vocals. Also White Zombies version of Children of the Grave is excellent and complete with a newsreader style commentry. Anyone who likes Black Sabbath will like this, it even has the Bullring Brummies (Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, Rob Halford, Brian Tilse, Wino and Jimmy Wood) doing The Wizard. An excellent and different look at the music of Black Sabbath.

4/5