The German band Twisted Tower Dire releases with Netherworlds its fourth album. On this album are nine classic heavy metal songs from the ‘80s of the last century. The metal is full of influences of bands from that period (Maiden, Priest, Accept, and so on). Traditional riffs, solos and structures. Well I believe we are in the year 2007, this music is totally out-of-date nowadays. The vocals are very squeezed and over the top, after two songs they become irritating. The music sounds quite hollow, just as the record was recorded in a hangar or something like that.

20 years ago I maybe would have been enthusiastic about this album, but who’s waiting for “new” metal from the ‘80s? On the song ‘Tales of Submission’ Johnny Aune sings more natural, this song is a very welcome variation on the other songs.

Maybe dedicated metal fans of the 20th century might find Netherworlds worth listening too, I prefer to listen to metal of the present time and recorded with a good sound.