Metal Metropolis - Tributes

Besides many of the Kiss-related stuff I own, I think this Abba tribute disc was the very first covers album I bought. At the time I thought it was hilarious, and actually liked most of the songs. Revisiting it to write about it here, now I'm a little less enthusiastic. I am not afraid to admit that I absolutely LOVE ABBA. They created timeless music that I never seem to grow tired of. But with very few exception, the bands on this CD have not managed to translated these classic songs into the metal format very well. Opening death/goth outfit, Therion, do a stellar job on "Summer Night City". And I think I actually went out and bought some regular albums by At Vance after hearing their cover of "Money, Money, Money"! They have done several ABBA covers on their albums over the years. Swedish power metallers Morgana Lefay and Tad Morose also do their countrymen justice with respectively "Voulez-Vouz" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You". The latter is almost not recognizable at first, but when the chorus kicks in there is no doubt that this is the ABBA classic. Finally I think Sargant Fury does the best job of actually creating a metal tune with their "Eagle". If I didn't already know the original version, I could have easily have been misled to think that this was an original song from this band. On the other end of the scale we find a disappointing "Thank You For The Music" from Metalium. These guys usually deliver some great covers, but here I think they fall a little flat. Paradox's thrash metal rendition of "S.O.S." is not exactly successful either. Then you have the absolutely atrocious additions, such as Rough Silk and their version of "Take A Chance On Me". And add Custard's "Super Trouper" while at it. Their attempt at harmonic vocals is ludicrous! Talk about out of key! Finishing off the CD is German punk rockers, Glow, and their rendition of "Dancing Queen". 'A Tribute To ABBA' remains a novelty covers album that is fun to own. The booklet features liner notes from each band and their respectively songs. And as a collector of metal it is definitely cool that 9 of the 14 tracks were, at least at the time of it's release, exclusive to this release.

Accept are as much a part of my upbringing as food and air! After Kiss they were one of my first favorite bands, and I used to blast their music on cassettes in my stereo, in my walkman or in the boombox all the time. Reading the list of bands featured on this tribute album, with the fitting under title, 'Accept Metal Or Die', I would say that I was in good company!

Seeing that I own the brother part of the collective album discography from the bands featured here makes this tribute album all the more relevant for me. Some of these bands are more than fans of Accept, they are also friends of the band members. Case in point; Udo Dirkschneider shares vocal duties on HammerFall's version of "Head Over Heels". I love tribute albums where the bands manage to stay true to the original songs, but at the same time re-do the songs enough to make it their own. 'A Tribute To Accept' are filled with examples that excel at this, be it Sodom's mix of thrash and punk on their rendition of "I'm A Rebel" or the faithfully covered "Balls To The Wall" (Sinner), "Fast As A Shark" (Steel Prophet) and "Breaker" (Primal Fear), to name a few. The covers that ventures the farthest from the originals are Atrocity's "Shake Your Head", Ryker's "London Leatherboys" and Dimmu Borgir's "Metal Heart". The latter 2 differs mostly due to the bands extreme vocals. I also like the fact that so many lesser known songs are featured here.

'A Tribute To Accept' is one of the best tribute albums in my collection. I only dislike the contributions from Rykers and Atrocity. Nuclear Blast released a sequel for it, but I have yet to obtain that one.

1996 was the year we saw a full reunion of the original line-up of Kiss. But prior to that the Kiss Army branches worldwide were busy hosting conventions, releasing tribute albums and keeping the Kiss name Alive (pun intended). I can't seem to remember if this tribute album was released before or after the reunion was a fact. But I do remember buying it as a new release. Nevertheless, this is a fine tribute, obviously concentrating on Ace Frehley. If you have followed Ace's career over the years, you'll see that this CD consists of self proclaimed fans of his, like the boys from Anthrax, Sebasitan Bach and the 2 brothers from Pantera, to name a few. Most of the songs stay pretty close to the originals, but the various artists have definitely put their own marks on them too. 'Spacewalk - A Tribute To Ace Frehley' is also very notable for the song "Take Me To The City", a brand new song from Ace Frehley himself! Definitely one of the standout tracks on the CD. Others include "Dimebag" and Vinnie's rendition of "Fractured Mirror", "Deuce", featuring Marty Friedman, "Cold Gin" with John Norum and Jason McMaster, and "Rip It Out" as recorded by most of the boys from Anthrax. My version was released on Triage Records, and seems to be the Canadian version of the CD. In Japan it also featured "Save Your Love" with Sebastian Bach as a bonus track. I'm a little uncertain, but I think the US Shrapnel version is missing the Ace Frehley tune.

Black Sabbath; the alpha and omega of heavy metal! If there is one band worthy of a tribute album, surely it's them! And in 1994 Sony Music put together 'Nativity In Black - a Tribute to Black Sabbath'.

This tribute disc features some of the most popular metal acts of their era, covering songs from the original line-up of Black Sabbath. Looking back it's actually quite the social study in the metal genre anno 1994. Some bands had survived the '80s', and managed to venture on despite the grunge monster. Thus we get great numbers from Megadeth and Sepultura. But the brother part of the bands features are of a more experimental and/or hybrid/crossover style. Aggro-metal and industrial metal was popular, thus Biohazard, White Zombie and 1,000 Homo DJ's (featuring Al Jourgensen of Ministry fame) are natural selections. Other flavors of the day includes Faith No More, Ugly Kid Joe and Type O Negative. But perhaps the most noticeable artist featured here are the collaborations; Ozzy Osbourne sing with Therapy?, Bruce Dickinson fronts Godspeed, and Bullring Brummies, a band made up for this occasion, includes, amongst others, Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Geezer Butler, Bill Ward (both Black Sabbath) and Wino (St Vitus, Place Of Skulls etc.) in its line-up!

Personally I like the most faithful renditions the best. Bruce Dickinson delivers a fine "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", Bullring Brummies nails "The Wizard" (naturally, with 2 of the 4 original Black Sabbath members in the band!) and Ugly Kid Joe does an ok "N.I.B.". Sepultura covers "Symptom Of The Universe" with respect, yet makes it their own. The same can be said of Megadeth's killer version of "Paranoid", and White Zombie's eerie "Children Of The Grave". So far, so good. On the flipside you find a boring rendition of "Iron Man", with Ozzy himself fronting Therapy?. I guess this song is just overplayed. I don't care much for 1,000 Homo DJ's industrial take on "Supernaut" either. Even the name of that band is stupid! Faith No More does a good enough live version of "War Pigs", but I'm not sure why it was included here, as Mike Patton can't even remember all the lyrics!!

'Nativity In Black' ends with Cathedral doin' "Solitude". This was a bonus track for the CD version of the album. Remember when the record companies pushed CD's on people, offering extra songs over the vinyl version? This had got to be one of the last times this happened, as vinyl was mostly gone by 1994, the year this tribute was released.

'Nativity In Black' is a mixed affair for me. The band is worthy of only the best of the best, and in that manner the compilation fails. Still, I really enjoy the numbers that are good here, so the CD is played every now and then, regardless. I just have to use the skip button in some cases. The packaging is really cool, with lots of liner notes, comments from each band, and even separate artwork for each song represented.

Trivia: Rob Halford (here represented in Bullring Brummies) actually fronted Black Sabbath for 2 concerts in November of 1992, stepping in for Ronnie James Dio who refused to sing as an opening act for Ozzy Osbourne.

The Christian Metal Realm message board had already put out 3 compilation CD's when they decided to do things a little different. What started out as a bright idea from one of the boards regulars, ended up in a full blown tribute disc, celebrating the 25 years of existence for one of the most influential bands in the Christian metal scene; Deliverance.

'Temporary Insanity - A Salute To Deliverance' sees Roxx Records team up with the Christian Metal Realm in bringing you a total package of 30 songs, spread on 2 discs. Most, if not all, of the bands presented include members that are regular posters on the CMR. And that includes members of the band in tribute, Deliverance! Here they offer up 3 previously unreleased songs, including newly recorded versions of "Flesh & Blood" and "In U". The last song, "The Hunger And The Thirst", is a cover of a band called Vector, and was previously only available for download from Deliverance' website, as a Christmas gift, many years ago. Those who pre-ordered 'Temporary Insanity' also received two signature guitar picks from current "D" members, Michael Phillips and Jimmy Brown.

There are so many great rendition of "D" classics here, it is almost impossible to choose favorites. In addition to the regular bands presented, there are also several "super groups", put together for this project alone. Applehead (Greg Minier of The Crucified) teams up with fasedown, for a rendition of "Belltown", Josh Kramer (Saint) and members of Templar forms Ghostemple, and records "If We Faint Not", Scott Waters (Ultimatum, ex-Once Dead) also got together with fasedown, resulting in FaseUltified's "What A Joke". And perhaps most noticeable, Lambs Amongst Wolves features an all-star line-up of Glenn Rogers (Hirax, ex-Deliverance, ex-Vengeance) on vocals and guitars, Roy Z (Band of Gypsies, Bruce Dickinson, Halford, Rob Rock) on guitar, Daniel Cordova (ex-Vengeance Rising) on bass and John Gonzales on drums. If I am not mistake, Glenn helped to write the song they are playing, namely "Greetings Of Death". Next to these projects, I would also like to mention the reunion of Oil. The band managed to record 2 songs featured here before splitting up again! Good then that their versions of "Attack" and "Screaming" are some of the heaviest stuff they have ever recorded.

As on any tribute/covers album there are several different styles represented here. In some cases that is a hard pill to swallow for many albums like this, as you really don't want, say, a black metal band covering your favorite AOR artist. But in Deliverance's case this actually works in advantage of the material at hand, seeing that "D" changed their musical approach over the years. I'm not saying that everything works well here, but I am willing to bet that this is due more to my musical preference rather than any musical shortcomings of the artists presented. The diversity also helps to justify using the same songs twice in some cases, as the different versions comes from so different perspectives. Just check out the goth-tinged thrash metal of Venia, roaring through "Desperate Cries", or Coriolis electrifying "What A Joke" into the almost unrecognizable. Then listen to The Sacrificed's faithful rendition of "Slay The Wicked" (no wonder why Eli Prinsen got the gig with "D" at Nordic Fest). Talk about diversity! And all the way you can tell that the bands have a heart for the music.

I already stated that I find it almost impossible to pick favorites from this CD. I really love the inclusions from Deliverance, Oil, The Sacrificed, Lambs Amongst Wolves, Grave Robber and Pastor Brad, to name a few. So overall I find disc 1 to be a little stronger than disc 2. But all in all I really love 'Temporary Inanity - A Salute To Deliverance' a lot!

Kiss tribute discs are not exactly a novelty. Literarily hundreds of various titles exists. From pan flute renditions to fan-made home recordings! In 2003 Nuclear Blast compiled a CD filled with some of the most known Kiss covers out there, all from well known bands that are openly Kiss-fans.

HammerFall is opening with their version of "Detroit Rock City", originally released for the US version of 'Crimson Thunder'. They deliver a fine version, true to the original, yet changed enough to fit the band. The same can be said about most of the songs here. Again, these bands are loyal fans, and treat the songs with respect. And what makes this even cooler is the fact that the range in style between these bands are totally opposites in some cases. The Melvins (a band also famous for releasing one of their albums with 4 different album covers, to replicate Kiss' solo albums) deliver they punk-ish alternative rock take on "Goin' Blind", while Six Feet Under do their death metal take on "War Machine", and Doro kicks it back with her faithful rendition of "Only You". Not too far from Pretty Maids' version of "Hard Luck Woman". Iced Earth, HammerFall, Skid Row and Helloween keeps their covers pretty close to the originals.

Most of the songs here exists on the bands respective albums and/or singles. And I own many of them also, but it is still cool to have them together on 1 CD here. The only 2 covers that were previously unreleased at the time of the release of "A Tribute To The Creatures Of The Night" was Bathory's laidback rendition of "Black Diamond", and Maryslim's "Comin' Home".

Intro
Detroit Rock City - Ronni LeTekrö & Tony Harnell
I Was Made For Loving You - Wig Wam & Bruce Kulick
Sure Know Something - Espen Lind
Crazy Crazy Nights - Kurt Nilsen
Getaway - The Carburetors
I Just Wanna - KISSettes
Beth - Stage Dolls
Parasite - Span
Uh! All Night - Diabla
She - Unmasked
Shout It Out Loud - Surferosa
Mr. Blackwell - Lost At Last
I Love It Loud - Kvikksølvguttene
God Of Thunder - Shirleys Temple
Tomorrow - The 3856
Strange Ways - Ulver
C'Mon And Love Me - Smalltown Rockets
The Magic Kiss Medley - Satin
Rock 'n Roll All Nite - Erlend & Steinjo

The Norwegian division of the Kiss Army decided to do something special for the 30th anniversary of the Kiss Army fanclub. 'Gods Of Thunder - A Norwegian Tribute To Kiss' was the result. With artwork done by legendary artist Ken Kelly ('Destroyer', 'Love Gun'), this tribute CD gathers band from the entire spectrum of the Norwegian music elite.

It's both a strength and a weakness having such vastly different bands as the dark/ambient Ulver, high octane rockers The Carburetors, World Idol winner Kurt Nilsen and all female Kiss tribute band KISSettes. Still, most of the covers here work really well, and it should be no surprise that even the unlikeliest of the participants here are Kiss fans. Most of the covers are faithful renditions, with just enough tweaks to make the songs their own. KISSettes, for example, opted to sing what the chorus of "I Just Wanna" suggests, making it even more sex-drenched than the original. Wig Wam had the good fortune of getting ex-Kiss axe slinger to join them on their version of "I Was Made For Loving You". Some of the bands featured are, or have at one time acted as, Kiss cover/tribute bands. Some might say there's a glaring omission here though. A Norwegian tribute to Kiss should most definitely include a black metal band or two! Besides Ulver, who used to be a black metal band but no longer can be labeled as such, there are non!

Of the noticeably changed versions I must highlight Kurt Nilsen's laidback ballad version of "Crazy Crazy Nights". Surferosa transforms "Shout It Out Loud" into their brand of art-rock/trash-pop, making this anthem almost unrecognizable. Shirelys Temple also transform "God Of Thunder" into a modern rock song. It's also a curiosa of sorts that 4 of the songs covered are sung by women. I like that so many obscure songs are covered. "Mr.Blackwell", "Tomorrow" and "Uh! All night" aren't exactly the common man's Kiss favorites. There are some covers that doesn't work so well here. Erlend & Stenjo (famous Norwegian comedians) and Kvikksølvguttene (featuring a children's TV host on vocals) are more of the novelty variety. Satin's medley is also fun to listen to once, but the skip button will be used on further occasions.

Being a lifelong Kiss fan from Norway, this tribute is self explanatorily essential. But I would encourage any Kiss fan to check it out, if they ever come across it.

Trivia: Shirelys Temple wrote and released the song "Asshole" for their 2002 EP, via Capitol Records. Gene heard the band via Kenwood Audio System, who used their song "Neverland" in a campaign. He bought the rights to the song, "Asshole", and used it as the title track for his 2004 solo album.

Bob Kulick and Bruce Bouillet works together on yet another tribute album. This time they put the spotlight on Metallica. The list of musicians contributing is of course impressive. And it is also always fun to see what artists are collaborating on each song. I mean, where else will you see Jon Oliva (Savatage) sing on a song with Lemmy (Motörhead) playing bass? This tribute album is also a curiosity in that Robert Tujillo plays bass on 2 tracks here, 3 years prior to him actually joining Metallica. Long time guitar-tech for James Hetfield, ex-Metal Church guitarist, John Marshall, plays on "Sanitarium". So there are plenty of links to the spotlighted band present also. The most curious track might be King's X vocalist, Doug Pinnick's contribution on "The Unforgiven". I can't say that anyone really brings anything extra to any of these songs. But that is maybe as expected? These songs are so imprinted in my head in their original form, so any artist trying to take on these classics should treat them with respect, and not tamper with the original vision or intent of the material. The most disappointing try is Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna's contribution on "Sad But True". I really had hopes for what this thrash metal legend could bring to the table. But he fails miserably. "For Whom The Bell Tolls sound great up till Eric Bloom (Blue Öyster Cult) opens his mouths and runs it! (Maybe it needed more cowbells?) All in all this is a very uneven tribute album, with only a handful of versions I'd like to hear again. Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe, Life Of Agony) does a fine "Sanitarium", Billy Milano (S.O.D., M.O.D.) and Scott Ian (Anthrax) mosh up "Whiplash", and I am of course a fan of Jon Oliva's "Nothing Else Matters". However I think my favorite is Chuck Billy (Testament) and Jake E. Lee (ex-Ozzy Osbourne) roaring through "Seek & Destroy". But other than that I find the rest to be quite bland.

Bob Kulick and Bruce Bouillet produced a whole slew of tribute albums around the millennium change. This one is a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, aptly entitled 'Bat Head Soup'. Yes, it's another all-star cast, with all the usual suspect, and then some. Some of the names here have even shared the stage with the man in the spotlight. Most of the songs covered here are from Ozzy's solo career, but no Ozzy tribute would be complete without a Black Sabbath song or 2. Metal trivia geeks (like me) will like the curiosity of the track where Tim "Ripper" Owens (ex-Judas Priest, ex-Iced Earth) sings over Yngwie Malmsteen's guitar-playing, nearly a decade before they became band mates (let's see how long that lasts). Also noticeable is that Lemmy (Motörhead) sings "Desire", a song he co-wrote for Ozzy's 'No More Tears'. He also co-wrote "Hellraiser" for the same album, here sung by Joe Lynn Turner. Personal favorite on this tribute includes the aforementioned "Desire", "Crazy Train" as sung by Dee Snider, "Shot In The Dark" done by, amongst others, Jeff Scott Soto and Bruce Kulick, and "I Don't Know" covered by members of Dokken, Ratt, Damn Yankees and Night Ranger. There are no real stinkers here, but nothing that can even start to touch the originals either. Just faithful covers done by people who know how.

WARNING: MINDS OF RAGING EMPIRES... A TRIBUTE TO QUEENSRŸCHE (2000) ADRENALINE RECORDS/SIEGEN RECORDS

During the heavy metal resurgence of the late '90's a whole slew of covers albums saw the light of day. Every up-and-coming metal act used them to get their name out, and the labels used them to boost their bands careers. Siegen Records and Adrenaline Records gathered bands from the 4 corners of the earth (mostly the US though), and collaborated on this tribute to prog metal's number one band, Queensrÿche.

I bet there are as many vocalists in the prog metal business that list Geoff Tate as their main influence, as there are guitar-players in the hard rock and heavy metal circuits who list Ace Frehley as their biggest influence. Listening to this CD I had to check several times over if Geoff did any guest appearances here, as I could have sworn it was him singing! Now, I am still torn if that is a plus, or if this actually hinders the bands own identity to show through here. Basically this CD consists of mostly unknown bands, that never got past their 1st or second album, before plunging into obscurity. And as I listen through them rip through some of my favorite songs, I can easily see why. Still, there are a lot of good interpretations of Queensrÿche songs here as well. Mystic-Force is doing a fine "Child Of Fire", Moon Of Steel surprised me with a female singer accenting through "Anybody Listening" and Mayadome's "Neue Regel" is ok, but could have been even better with a clearer production. And that is perhaps the biggest problem with this CD. A lot of these cover songs are done with a less-then-zero budget, resulting in demo quality recordings. Etheria is one of the bands that has the Queensrÿche sound pegged, with a Geoff sound-alike wailing through "Eyes Of A Stranger". But since the production makes the song sound like it was recorded through an old Commodore 64 or something, it makes it all the harder to listen to. My favorites here includes a beautiful, half-acoustic rendition of "I Will Remember" from Mind's Eye, "Nightrider" as done by Factor V (later to be renamed Faith Factor), and the aforementioned "Child Of Fire" cover by Mystic-Force.

'WARNING: Minds Of Raging Empires...' is not the best tribute album in my collection. Nor is it the worst. Fans of obscure prog metal might find it interesting though. But stay clear if your a production purist.

Nuclear Blast released a slew of tribute albums during the years around the millennium change. What was cool about them was that they featured a lot of up-and-coming bands, alongside better known names and some old-timers. Germany's Scorpions is as legendary as they come in the hard rock circuits. So the only thing surprising about this particular 19 song tribute disc is; why was this not done earlier?

Since I'm a sucker for tribute albums, I picked this one up on a whim, several years ago. I am a fan of many bands featured here, so hearing them rip through their favorite songs is a blast. 'A Tribute To Scorpions' includes many songs that were exclusive to this release, many more so then most of the other tribute discs from Nuclear Blast. Still, I find it to be the one of the lesser tribute disc in my collection. This might be due to the fact that Scorpions was never a favorite band of mine, and I have only followed them casually over the years. Thus, I am not familiar enough with the original material to form much of an opinion on the cover versions.

I do know a song like "Rock You Like A Hurricane" though, and the version Sinergy delivers here does not sound good, much do to Kimberly Goss' uneven vocals. Children Of Bodom's rundown of "Don't Stop At The Top" would also have been much more enjoyable without the cookie monster vocals. There are no actual stinkers here, although I really don't like Therion's version of "Polar Nights'. But there are no real highlights either. I tend to like the covers from the bands I already appreciate, like Agent Steel, Steel Prophet, Helloween, etc. I also found Prolopower's (who?) German version of "Steamrock Fever" to be quite fun. And S.O.D. always delivers! haha

I have owned this tribute album for years prior to adding it to my website. I guess that is a testimony to how often I listen to this CD. It's not bad, just not good enough for me to put in on other than once a decade or so.

Testament is one of my all time favorite bands. So a tribute album to them should be very well put together for me to bother listening to it. Luckily 'Jump In The Pit - A Tribute Testament' manage to deliver... for the most part. Released through Dwell Records, a company that seemed to specialize in releasing compilation albums, this CD gathers bands from Australia, Czech Republic, Germany and the USA. They vary genre wise from power and prog metal, trough thrash and even death metal. Most of them are but footnotes in the metal history today, as only a minor handful of them got much recognition outside the underground. That doesn't mean that they can't pull of a decent Testament cover. And most of the here do. Mind you, there are no mind blowing versions presented, but no real stinkers either. My favorites include Ultimatum's "Sins Of Omission", Fury's "Dog Faced Gods", Catch 22's "Trial By Fire" and Blackend's "Practice What You Preach". Also kudos for the choice of cover art!

Fury also recorded Testament's "Eerie Inhabitants" for their self released 2005 "Blood Sweat & Iron" EP.

Twisted Sister is one of my all time favorite bands. So a tribute to this band is a delicate matter for me. There are just so few bands that can do this band's music any justice. Still, this tribute CD caught me a little off guard, as I really liked the brother part of the covers done here. I guess having the boys themselves involved in the project, and even having them pick bands, helped a lot.

Lit opens the ball, and I went; "who"? Turns out Lit is a punk rock band, and their version of "I Wanna Rock" not only rocks, it also features guest vocals from Dee Snider himself, and Mark Mendoza helped mix the track. This all helps keep the track close to the original, and it's a darn fine way to start this CD! Motörhead is up next, and anyone with the slightest metal knowledge knows the bonds between Twisted Sister and this gang. The circle is somewhat closed when Lemmy and crew tears it up with "Shoot 'em Down". After all, Lemmy was very instrumental in giving Dee and the boys some recognition before anyone else gave a damn about them. Nashville Pussy does a sleazy "The Kids Are Back", just as expected. Nine Days is another "who?" moment for me. Turns out this rock/power/pop band from the same Long Island neighborhood as the Sisters. This marks the first cover on the album that is quite different from the original. Still, Nine Days pop/rock version sound really good, and I think it is a testimony of how grate this song really is. And speaking about different, up next is a rap version of "Wake Up The Sleeping Giant", redone by none other than Chuck D (Public Enemy). This is one of my favorite songs from the underrated 'Love Is For Suckers' album. And while Chuck's ghetto rap version is done in total respect (Chuck is another Long Island resident), this version sort of sticks out as a turd in this punchbowl. A natural follow to Public Enemy's front man is of course his previous thrash metal collaborators in Anthrax. Scott and the boys have never hid the fact that Twisted Sister were their heroes from back home. And their stinkin' heavy version of one of the Sisters most stinkin' heavy numbers, "Destroyer", is just as good as hoped for. Overkill is another New Jersey band, sinkin' their thrash metal teeth into "Under The Blade", and doing a damn fine job at it! Cradle Of Filth had me startled at first. Their brand of bombastic black metal-light never won me over, much due to the shrieking shrill of Lani's vocals. However, I have to admit that their version of "The Fire Still Burns" really works. They managed to make it work both as a song pretty close to the original, yet with enough of their own trademarks to make it sound their own. Vision Of Disorder is a hardcore punk outfit, and another Long Island band. Never heard of them before, and they don't really stand out here either. Their version of "Don't Let Me Down" is good, but in drowns in comparison to so many of the other covers here. Still, this is another track that has been reworked to fit the bands own style, yet it remains very recognizable. Another New York and follows. The Step Kings (who?) delivers an easily forgotten nu-metal version of "Burn In Hell". Fu Manchu, on the other hand, gives us a stoner-ified version of "Ride To Live (Live To Ride)" that works really well. Makes it sound like it should have been the soundtrack for the classic 'Easy Rider' movie! Joan Jett is as legendary as the Sisters. Her rendition of "We're Not Gonna Take It" recreates the attitude of the original perfectly. The & Friends part of the Sebastian Bach fronted version of "You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll" turns out to be Twisted Sister without Dee! Thus this is the "cover" that sounds the most like the original. Even Seb himself has me fooled on the first couple of phrases. The biggest disappointment here comes from another favorite band of mine, Sweden's Hammerfall. This band usually delivers smokin' cover version, but sadly they can't seem to manage the New York street mentality. Sevendust's neo-thrash rendition of "I Am (I'm Me)" is also rather dull, mostly due to the mediocre vocals. The album ends with a reunited Twisted Sister, doin' an AC/DC cover! This was actually big news back when this CD saw the light of day, as the full blown reunion of the band had still not happened.

All in all I find 'Twisted Forever' to be an excellent tribute disc. It's full of bands that were directly influenced by the band they are paying homage to, and that's well reflected in their respective covers. The liner notes comes with notes from several of the contributing artists, as well as members from Twisted Sister. Any fan of Twisted Sister should get a hold of this disc.