We Are One

We Are One is an unusual work on which U.D.O. teams with the German Federal Armed Forces military band, fusing heavy-metal riffs and genuine wind-ensemble arrangements head-on. Udo Dirkschneider’s gritty voice is not buried within the large sonic picture of brass and percussion, giving the songs a distinctive tension. Its distinction is that, rather than a mere orchestral version, it builds marching-like rhythm, choirs and metal drive into entirely new songs. From the scale of the opener “Pandemonium” and the lift of the title track “We Are One” to the grandeur of “Children of the World” and the drama of “Mother Earth” and “Rebel Town,” the songs show the fusion of wind ensemble and metal in varied forms. Raising large themes of peace, the environment and solidarity, an ambition to convey a message through large-scale music fills the whole. Its great significance is that a long-running band boldly stepped into entirely new expression. Leaping lightly beyond the frame of metal, it is an ambitious, engaging record.