Kingcrimsonprog My whole Summer this year has been about Volbeat. I started off with Outlaw Gentlemen’ and moved on to Seal The Deal’ and the next album I got was 2010’s Beyond Hell/Above Heaven as a very appreciated birthday gift.

The album is notably less slick, sheened and stadium sized than the two albums that followed it, but is on the way there. There is some really heavy material on here, such as ‘7 Shots’ and ‘Evelyn’ which have guest appearances from Kreator’s Mille Petroza and Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway respectively. The best song on the album in my opinion is undoubtedly the muscular groove metal track, ‘A Warrior’s Call’ which is totally crushing and memorable, a real fist pumping song if ever there was one. The chorus even sports the line ‘Let’s Get Ready To Rumble.’

Its not all heaviness though, Volbeat are famously diverse. The catchy single ’16 Dollars’ for example sounds like country music was the prime influence, and ‘Magic Zone’ could be a Green Day song. Its a very interesting album in that regard. There’s several songs that could be by totally different bands but somehow it all flows together seamlessly.

The album closer ‘Thanks’ is pretty noteworthy, sounding as it does a bizarre mixture of Rancid, Metallica and the theme tune from King Of The Hill. Its memorable ‘woah-oh-ah-oh’ lines and lyrics about being in Volbeat make for one seriously entertaining listen.

As with all the band’s albums I’ve tried so far, you can listen to it over and over again. A long drive or a week of commuting can be pleasantly enlivened with this record on repeat. If you have any interest in the band, don’t delay, get up on this and get ready to smile.

UMUR "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish heavy metal act Volbeat. The album was released in September 2010 by Vertigo Records. Just as the case was with all three previous studio albums, Volbeat chose to work with producer Jacob Hansen and record "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" at his Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark.

Volbeat pretty much continue their trademark heavy metal style on "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven", but compared to earlier releases there´re a little more sophistication in the songwriting department and in the execution of the songs. The album is very well produced with a good balance between the metallic and the organic, which suits the songs very well. The 13 tracks on the 50:58 minutes long album are all quality material. A few could be called high quality fillers, but the rest are pretty special to my ears. Some of the highlights are of course the two "hits" "Heaven Nor Hell" and "Fallen", which are both catchy and very well written heavy metal tracks but also tracks like the thrashy "Who They Are", the quite cleverly composed and intriguing "7 Shots" (which features a guest vocal performance by Mille Petrozza from Kreator and a nice melodic guest guitar performance by Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate), the heavy Metallica influenced "A Warrior´s Call" and also "Evelyn" (featuring Mark "Barney" Greenway from Napalm Death on growling guest vocals) score high in my book.

Volbeat succeed very well with blending their mid-nineties Metallica influence with a heavy rock´n´roll sound (there´s a heavy 50s rock´n´roll influence in the music) and a generally very high energetic and positive attitude. Lead vocalist/ guitarist Michael Poulsen has a vocal style that sounds similar to the style of Keith Caputo (Life of Agony) mixed with the attitude and pronounciation of James Hetfield (Metallica). Add to that a slight dose of Elvis and you´re just about there. While the influences are obvious, Volbeat are one of those few acts who have succeeded in creating a style and sound that´s unmistakably their own. Their music is instantly recognisable and for the most part instantly likable too if you enjoy the more accessible part of heavy metal.

I´ll admit I haven´t always been impressed by the output of Volbeat, which I at times felt containted too much filler. "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" is different though and more focused than what we´ve been used to from the band and as mentioned above all material is at least interesting and most of it is really good so a 4 star rating is deserved. A positive surprise this one.