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Vanize > Bootlicker > Reviews
Vanize - Bootlicker

It's...ok? - 65%

Snxke, December 21st, 2004

Being the brother of the rather legendary Udo Dirkscheider must make it difficult to get a fair shake in this industry. Vanizer are a band that are actually pretty skilled and have a strong sense of production (Udo and his brother did start a production company) that at first make them seem like competitors for his brothers solo work. The band can play as well as any other Germanic audio dog-fight and the vocals are almost up to Udo's level (they are in fact covered in vocal manipulators and his ability to shift notes is quite weak in comparison to his brother) leaving the comparison to lie in the songwriting...which sadly falls a little flat.

The real issue with the CD comes in the form of the songwriting. Unlike U.D.O. and Accept this really doesn't bear much in the way of longevity. It's hard for me to tell "Bootlicker" from "Train to Hell" from "Whips and Chains". This manages to thrash and band and get all the correct lyrics in the right places but the overall feel is one of a band that really doesn't have any clue of how that wish to make themselves different than any of Udo's work - hence come across like a skilled, but highly shrug-worthy tribute act.

I'll suggest this for all U.D.O./Accept die-hards as a decent tribute to the style that Udo himself created and a those fans of German "junk food" records. It's not horrible, it's not that grand and sadly it seems that Peter will remain the forgotten musical member of the Dirkscheider family.

Get it with a beer...but don't pay sixteen dollars for it.