Kripes

“Baptized in the Redemption” is a splendid death metal song that has some cool music on it along with some ear tearing screaming from Dez ***ara from Coal Chamber, and Devil Driver, both respectable metal bands. This song is one of the ones written by ex-Fear Factory member Dino Cazares and it really reminds me of his band. The song is over three minutes long, but it could easily have been longer, and not grown old at all. The song “Roads” is a ballad from Opeth frontman, Mikael Akerfeldt who is a music god. I must of course credit Josh Silver from Type O Negative for the keyboards, and backup vocals as well. I’m glad Roadrunner included this song because it is so soothing, and relaxing. The singing is eloquent, and the use of strings is an impeccable choice. After “Roads” is “Blood & Flames” with vocals from former Killswitch Engage singer, and present Seemless singer, Jesse David Leach. He seems to attempt to imitate King Diamond, and only does an average job on this. The music is okay, and is mostly quiet the entire time, but does get heavy at a point. This would have worked as a single because even though the vocals are slightly average, they are still catchy.

“Constitution Down” is probably the most monotonous track for the whole album. At times it seems to rip-off Metallica from the Ride The Lightning days in terms of vocal styling from Kyle Thomas, and at times Philip Anselmo of Pantera. The riffs are incredibly monotonous, and uninspired as well. This is perhaps the most tedious of songs for The All-Star Sessions. The next song is a treat for people into punk called, “I Don’t Wanna Be (A Superhero)”. It is sung by Michale Graves who was the singer of the latter day version of The Misfits. Like most punk songs it is barely two-minutes long, but is extremely catchy, and is a great surprise that not many would have expected. “Away from the Sun” is the best song, hands down. It’s a relaxing hard rock song that is absolutely thrilling. With vocals from Tim Williams of Bloodsimple (clean singing), and some really great music makes this original, and is epic compared to most other songs on here.

“No Mas Control” took a while to get used to, but eventually won me over. Cristian Machado handles everything surprisingly well, and Dino Cazares was correct to choice him to work the vocals of this. Both his screaming, and singing are attractive to hear, and the music behind him, while not completely satisfying, is still acceptable. The last song, “Enemy of the State”, is a mixed bag for me. I like the chanting, and singing from Kyle Thomas (ex-Exhorder, Floodgate), but it becomes tiresome after a while. Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse, ex-Malevolent Creation), James Murphy (ex-Testament, Death, Obituary), and Andy La Rocque (King Diamond) all play parts of the solo in this song, which is tolerable, and matches the music well, but this isn’t a very exciting way to end the album.

The DVD that comes with it is an hour-long movie about the making of Roadrunner United. After an intro to the movie it starts out with an eleven-minute segment from Los Angeles with Dino Cazares and him getting all of the people for his group together and a few interviews. There are three more segments which each are fifteen-minutes long featuring each of the other team captain, Robert Flynn in Oakland, Matt Heafy in Florida, and Joey Jordison in Iowa. Each of these segments feature interviews and showing the musicians when they were writing and recording the music. There are plenty of funny parts in here to, such as Jeff Waters trying to nail a solo for a minute, but would always mess up.

This is a decent album that is written, and performed by some of the most prolific people in metal from the past as well as the present. There are a lot more than a couple duds in this album, but there are also some stellar songs as well. However, it may be wise to check out a few songs before reaching a final decision. The DVD though helps to justify purchasing this because it gives an intriguing insight to the making of this album.

A few recommended tracks:
-“Army of the Sun”
-“Dawn of a Golden Age”
-“No Mas Control”
-“Roads”
-“Baptized in the Redemption”

3/5

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