Herman Frank – The Devil Rides Out

Label: AFM Records  Playing Time: 52 Min   Release: 18th November 2016

I guess that every Metal fan worldwide knows who Herman Frank is. He actually wrote a chapter of Heavy Metal as a longtime guitar player of Accept and Victory. “The Devil Rides Out” is his 3^rd solo album and actually the first one after he left Accept in 2014. But, to be quite honest, it is not really a solo album. Meanwhile Herman Frank regard themselves as a full band, because part of it are also Rick Altzi (vocals, Masterplan), André Hilgers (drums, former Rage) and Michael Müller (bass).

“The Devil Rides Out” covers both sides of Hermans former bands. On the one hand there are classic Hard Rock songs (‘Ballhog Zone’) and on the other hand  classic Heavy Metal songs (‘Running Back’). One great fact is that there are no crappy songs found on the album. Tracks like ‘License to Kill’, ‘Thunder of Madness’ and the ones mentioned above are in fact really good ones, although there is no killer song among them. But nevertheless the album does not kick in at all. This is basically a matter of the album sound. The guitars sound much to compressed (in terms of dynamics and also spectrum of frequencies) and the drums are lacking punch. Moreover, Rick’s rough vocals are bit too single-sided in my opinion. Maybe one or two calmer songs would have upgraded this release, because there would have been more of contrast and dynamics. Although there are some points of criticism, “The Devil Rides Out” is all in all a good album.

www.hermanfrank.com