Mutations

Rob Halford and co. slam back with this half-live/half-remix recording that manages to be more fun than a project such as this sounds. The band on the live tracks is cooking at double-time with main man Halford delivering a rather tense vocal performance at the mic. The remixes are rather tasteful, and while they will still only appeal to those of us with an interest in electronic music - they obviously had effort put into them and not the typical "we need money" style of mixing. Halford hinted as his Two effort with this, as well as kicking some ass in the live arena with carefully chosen Fight and Judas Priest tracks.

The live side bears three of the Fight "classics" in "Nailed to the Gun", "Into the Pit" and "Little Crazy". The band performs these with a formidable firepower that prove that Fight were one of the best thrashcore/crossover bands to ever exist. Even more brutal than in the studio - Fight slams through and takes names. The version of Judas Priest's "Freewheel Burning" is also rather intimidating compared to the original. Of the remix's, "War of Words", "Immortal Sin" and "Kill It" seem to work best - with "Immortal Sin" taking on an extremely strange and haunting quality that SHOULD have been the sound of the Two project.

This is hardly a "full-scale" effort that needs to be examined as the excellent first Fight record or the rather sub-par second one. Still, if you are a fan of Rob Halford - the live tracks alone will make this worth it for you! If you love electronic music...try the second half as well.

I give this one solid thumb up...

(One can download this release for free at http://www.robhalford.com. Rob Halford put up the mp3's as the EP is currently out of print.)