This review is supposed to go on www.americanwired.com, a site which has already broken an Alexa rating of 80,000.

In reply to a certain publicist who was quite uppity when I asked for an interview with one of the acts on his label, “Hobbyist” my ass.

It’s the hobbyists that put food on your table, in any case.

ROADRUNNER UNITED: THE ALL-STAR SESSIONS
(Roadrunner Records)
Performance: ***
Sound: *****

This album is a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Roadrunner Records. They drafted many of their artists to collaborate together on one disc. Each of these musicians brought the element of what makes his band special to the table. But the problem is that some tracks are successful and coherent while others are clumsy “cut and paste” deals, meaning that in some cases, these elements may identify their contributors but they don’t necessarily flow together. All of the songs are produced quite aptly. Some of them are polished to a soulless luster and some are fittingly raw and tasty. “The Rich Man”
boasts a tense slow tempo, building into a good burst of rage. “Baptized by the Redemption” is a fine example of technically apt metal combined with fierce brutality, unfettered by slick production. A spooky, melancholic dirge with slight hippie overtones is “Roads,” the collaboration between Josh Silver of Type O Negative and Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth. It’s not standard Roadrunner fare at all. “Enemy of the State,” where Type O Negative’s Peter Steele so entertainingly tries to sound like a drunk Soviet dictator, is definitely standard Type O Negative fare. But generally, the songs don’t depict one specific band’s style. Members of classic acts Fear Factory, Sepultura/Soulfly, Machine Head, Cradle of Filth and King Diamond certainly leave their mark on whatever they’re dealing with as they blend their talents with lesser-known acts. And it’s fun to discern what shred of sound belongs to which band in each track. That may be one of the saving graces of this disc. It’s worth a shot.

On the inset it said that Max Cavalera couldn’t be one of the “team captains” in charge of the Roadrunner United disc because he was busy doing the Soulfly “Dark Ages” album. Well, I enjoyed that album a lot more and a review of that, also for www.americanwired.com, is forthcoming.