Voodoo Ranger

The campaign for Voodoo Ranger opened with a ballad. "I'll Die Trying" appeared as the first single, with its music video, on 18 September 2026, the day pre-orders began, although Udo Dirkschneider had meant to lead with another song: Peter Baltes and Alen Brentini were hurt at a Balls To The Wall 40th anniversary show, and the video shoot for that song had to be put off. Brentini plays the guitar solo on "I'll Die Trying", and Baltes sings lead on the album's other ballad, "Movin' On", which closes the record. Udo wrote the twelve songs with his son Sven on drums, guitarist Fabian "Dee" Dammers and Baltes on bass, and Brentini, the Croatian who took over from Andrey Smirnov in October 2025, contributed too. Martin "Mattes" Pfeiffer produced and mixed the record, Stefan Kaufmann mastered it, and the cover is a painting by Eliran Kantor. This is U.D.O.'s twentieth studio album, and Reigning Phoenix Music counts it as the third number in a triple anniversary, since 2027 is also the year Udo turns 75 and the band reaches forty; the band named its European tour of that year the Triple Anniversary Tour 2027. Touchdown (2023) had come out through Atomic Fire Records, whose roster Reigning Phoenix Music took over in January 2024, so Voodoo Ranger is the first U.D.O. album under the Reigning Phoenix name. Its worldwide release date is 8 January 2027. Ward Records' Japanese CD has the same twelve tracks and adds Japanese liner notes and translated lyrics.