“Steelfactory” is the latest album by U.D.O. the band formed by singer Udo Dirkschneider in 1987 following his departure from Accept. Over the past thirty years the band has now released sixteen studio albums with this latest one being released on 31st August by AFM Records. “Steelfactory” is the first U.D.O. album since 2015 as Udo has been touring widely as ‘Dirkschneider” for a few years, playing Accept songs. The track “Make The Move” was included on the 400th Friday NI Rocks Show on 24th August.


 

Udo Dirkschneider formed the band Accept in 1976 and over the next ten years released seven studio albums. When he left Accept he formed the band U.D.O. which released its debut album “Animal House” in 1987. Another three albums followed before Udo made a return to Accept from 1992 to 1996, releasing three more albums with that band. Between 1997 and 2015 U.D.O released eleven more studio albums and five live albums as well as four compilation albums.


Udo has said the tracks on “Steelfactory” were influenced musically by his performance of Accept tracks whilst touring as Dirkschneider from 2015 to 2018.


There have been numerous line-up changes in U.D.O. over the past thirty years with Udo being the only constant throughout. On “Steelfactory” Udo is joined for the first time by his son Sven on drums, along with Fitty Wienhold on bass and Andrey Smirnov on guitar. Stefan Kaufman who played guitar in U.D.O. from 1996 to 2012 has rejoined the band for live performances and was involved in the production of the album.

 

Check out the band’s website at http://www.udo-online.com/

 

About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!