I would shy away from using the word "ultimate" to describe this album, but I think it is better than any of the other Christian metal compilation albums released. I mean, any compilation album with "Burn" by Vengeance on it gets my thumbs up. The only shortcome I see is including Petra (who, by the way, appear on three of the four Ultimate Series albums: metal; rock; and dance??). Where is Stryper? Bloodgood? Barren Cross? It seems someone's loyalty to Star Song got in their way of song selection. If I had to include a Petra tune on here, it would've been "Mine Field"; not "All Fired Up". The roster also includes other bands we've come to know and love: Sacred Warrior, with "Sword of Victory"; Whitecross, with "Living in a Lost World"; Rage of Angels, with "Do You Still Believe in Love"; One Bad Pig, with "Let's Be Frank"; Rez, with "Shadows" (yeah!!); Neon Cross, with "Heartbreaker" (glad to see they pulled something from these crunchers); Shout, with what I consider one of their best tunes - "Faith, Hope & Love"; Mastedon, with guest appearance by X-Sinner's Dave Robbins on "It's a Jungle Out There"; Scarlet Red's "You Live Fast" (which I think is their best tune); and something quite rare these days - a cut by Messiah Prophet, "Blinded". The song was written by recent members added to vocalist Charlie Clarke's surviving band. If you want to introduce someone to a good cross-section of Christian metal, this is it.
Other coverage for this album
Dead Zine 2003Reviewed by NecRoSarXTo their credit, Star Song Records gave it the ol' college try when it came to metal compilations. More so than most collections I've run across. Although the title seems a tad grandiose for its own good, I'm rather pleased with this effort. Start to finish, there's some really good classic metal here: Mastedon's "It's A Jungle Out There", Shout's "Faith Hope & Love", Sacred Warrior's "Sword Of…
