REVIEW OF COVENANT

By Codger

Posted to Schenker newsgroup 26/6/00

OK, I got fed up of waiting for other parties to do a review, so I'm gonna tell ya a bit more about it, cos I'm dead excited. It roxxxxxxxxx. Phil's voice is different on every track, sometimes blues-y and soul-y, sometimes more gentle, sometimes gravelly, but dead mature (not old I don't mean, pet, if you're reading this), just mature and full-bodied. And the guitar is sooooo tight, but so fluid too. You can imagine Schenker standin there huggin the V, and just concentratin like he does. There is a bit of keyboards, but not much, and the sound is complete enough without them. The whole thing is reeeeeeeeaaaallllly punchy, it kicks you in the lungs right from the start, but sometimes it goes all gentle and you think ahhhh this is nice, and then wallop, it bangs straight in again. Midnight Train will make you bop up and down, has a fantastic bit of guitar near the end, and Fool's Gold is one of them with an opening that makes you go Aaaaahhhh, and then lets rippppppp. There's a lot of clever (?) lyrics, definitely a hidden agenda in some of them, I reckon. On Unraveled (the Billy Idol-ish one) there's a lot of brilliant stuff. Middle of Madness is a standard UFO blaster. Smell of Money opens hard and then continues with a message carved in rock (blimey, Kerrrrrappppp here I come).Rise Again starts off so beautiful, and then turns into a wallop-er. I still say The World and his Dog is a Return to Sender ripoff, but none the worse for that. Oh yeh, and I want to single out Aynsley for his drumming. That fella has had a terrible year, but this cd is a credit to him, and Dash would be proud of him. Well, all the tracks are stunning. Even though I've listened to it millions and trillions of times, I still can't pick out a favourite track, although Fool's Gold is the one that has everything in it, oh take no notice, I'm waffling now, I'm on overload I reckon. I still can't believe I have been chosen by God to hear it so early, but being Supreme Power and Ruler does have its advantages, even though it's hard work at times. Right then, don't hang about, get your copies ordered, cos you want the double cd version before they're all gone. Oh yeh, I have a criticism, I nearly forgot. I could have designed better artwork for the cover. Even Hobs could have. But you can't have everything. Well, I can, but YOU can't.

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