Vex - Uncontrolled Aggression (1996)

This German band's logo suggests a more extreme type of metal, which arguably would have been more appealing than what you actually get.  Thrash here, and while some of the guitarwork recalls a more oldschool sound, this is firmly rooted in the '90s modern thrash/aggro thrash trends of the day.  "Destroy Myself" even starts off with a requisite mellow/balladish part.  Not an agonizing listen, but thankfully, this is only a short mCD.   

A Tribute to Judas Priest: Delivering the Goods Vol. II (2000)

 

Cost: $2.00

This is another years-old purchase which I bought at one of those seasonal book sales...You probably know the kind.  They're like the fly-by-night Halloween and fireworks dealers.  They take over a vacant building for a set amount of time to peddle their overstocks and scratch-and-dents, and then disappear without a trace.  Along with M.O.D.'s Rhythm of Fear, this tribute was the only decent and/or metal CD I ever saw at such a sale, unless you count a short stack of Overkill Extended Versions discs.  I don't.  All CDs were $2, and despite the busted case and tattered shrinkwrap, this was just beckoning to me.

I should add that Century Media played some weird pressing games with the Judas Priest tributes.  The two volumes were released in Europe in 1997.  When the US finally got domestic versions, not only were the tracks scattered differently across the volumes, but some weren't included at all.  There was also some digipak pressing in there somewhere so despite there technically only being two volumes of the tribute there are something like 5 discs associated with it.  I think the US may have gotten a condensed single-disc version of the tribute at first.  This is the only one I have so I'm not going to get things straight anyway.

While in most cases I'm not a big fan of the newer material of the bands here, I will say that Century Media's size/status allowed them to compile bands that, for the most part, were better suited to covering Priest than those from Dwell's Hell Bent for Metal tributes.

1. Gamma Ray (feat. Ralf Scheepers) - Exciter
Fantastic.  Mr. Scheepers doesn't really sound much like Halford during the verses (not that his vocals are bad there), but the high notes are wonderful.  Hearing this, it's hard to believe he didn't get the gig fronting Priest. 

2. Blind Guardian - Beyond the Realms of Death
Instrumentally, it's fine, but the vocals lack the emotion that made the original such a masterpiece.  What really drags it down is that in places where Halford originally did high vocals for emphasis, Hansi Kürsch uses very forced angry-style vocals. 

3. Devin Townsend - Sinner
Liked this a lot more than I thought I would.  The extremity of the vocals sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't.  Good song choice and high quality musical chops carried this through.  Reading the lineup info made me curious about when this was recorded, as Devin and Jed Simon are listed, but the rhythm section is the Ocean Mind guys. 

4. Stratovarius - Bloodstone
Not awful, but a pointless endeavor compared to the original.  The vocals are no match for the real thing.

5. Angra - Painkiller
Executed very well (the guitarwork is particularly great) but lacks some of the urgency and ferocity that the original had.  

6. U.D.O. - Metal Gods
The verses are almost exactly how I imagined them with those signature vox, though the choruses are a bit rough.  But hey, it's Udo, it would be pointless to try and emulate Halford, so there's no hint of an attempt.  I noticed some small nuances that deviate from the original...At the beginning, the main riff isn't quite exactly spot on.  They also use subtle choir vocals along with the marching sound effect (I doubt they were actually banging cutlery trays for the cover) at the end, which I liked. 

7. Forbidden - Dissident Aggressor
It's very good, but I'm slightly disappointed they didn't tackle this earlier in their career, as the vocals here are mainly midrange all the way through--their old live version of "Victim of Changes" showed Russ Anderson could easily take on high-pitched Halford vocals!  Oh yes, and since a comparison is inevitable, this is slighty better than Slayer's version.  Slayer's is more guitar-dominated while Forbidden's is slightier groovier and the vocal patterns are truer to the original.

8. Iron Savior - Desert Plains
Pretty standard power metal version, nothing particularly good or bad about it.

9. Rage - Jawbreaker
Good.  Was more melodic than I was expecting, for some reason.

10. Virgin Steele - Screaming for Vengeance
The majority of the song is not bad, but what's with that pointless bass intro-ed-and-ominous-whispered-vocal part after the solo section?  This song needed nothing added.

11. Gamma Ray - Victim of Changes
Excellent.  When reading the booklet I saw that Kai was on vocals here.  Of course I like early Helloween, but I questioned how good this was really going to be without a Mr. Kiske or Mr. Scheepers type on vocals.  This is "Victim of Changes," after all.  With the exception of the final high "victim of changes" at the end of the song, he does an admirable job though.  Stellar instrumentation too.   

12. Radakka - Night Crawler
Another case of a song done well, but obviously not as good as the original.  Doesn't have enough of a unique stamp on it to make it notable.

13. Saxon - You've Got Another Thing Comin'
It sounds how you would expect Saxon covering Priest to sound.  Fun cover.