Apart from sporadic live appearances (mostly in Europe), little was heard from U.K.
Sabbath
worshipers,
Budgie
, since their last studio album, 1982's
Deliver Us from Evil
. But as any well-versed metalhead knows by now, the group received a major profile boost when
Metallica
covered a few of their songs over the years. Suddenly, a whole new generation of headbangers took notice. While it would have made more sense for the group to have issued a follow-up to
Evil
during the late '80s (when
was going "
cover happy"), 2006 finally saw the release of an all-new
studio set,
You're All Living in Cuckooland
. Singer/bassist
Burke Shelley
is the lone original bandmember left in attendance by this point, and while his unmistakable singing style and the group's trademark mega-heavy riffs remain, rather odd production techniques abound. It's as if the group attempted to updated their sound for the times, but the "times" that it reflects are the late '80s, especially on such tracks as the album-opening
"Justice"
and
"Dead Men Don't Talk."
However, there are some classic
moments, such as the quiet-loud-quiet
"Tell Me Tell Me,"
which harkens back to such early
gems as
"Everything in My Heart"
"Rolling Home Again."
Despite the detectable
Van Halen
/
Iron Maiden
-esque sounds,
is worthy of any longtime
fan's time. ~ Greg Prato