Mob Rules: Beast Over Europe

I was lucky enough to experience the Beast Over Europe tour when Germany’s Mob Rules landed in Glasgow last year alongside Eden’s Curse and Degreed. The power metal veterans put in a superb performance, so seeing that they had decided to document the tour with a live album was reason to celebrate - and now that I am lucky to have the CD in my possession I’m pleased to say that it lives up to the lofty expectations the show itself created.

The most surprising thing about that show and the rest of the UK leg of the Europe wide tour was that it was Mob Rules’ first foray onto British soil, but the band are no strangers to the live stage and with a set culled from a variety of different nights of the tour they’ve also been able to hand pick the best versions of each track to ensure that what’s delivered here is a hugely rewarding blast of metallic majesty. With the tour in question promoting the band’s most recent and rather magnificent Beast Reborn studio album, it’s no surprise that over a third of the 14 song track listing is pulled from that release. “Beast Reborn� opens proceedings, quickly followed by the anthemic blast of “Ghost Of A Chance� and from there it’s simply gargantuan slap of classic, European metal after ginormous cascade of keyboard infused twin guitar totting rifferama! “Black Rain� proves just as effective in the live arena as it does in the studio, while the uplifting chant of “My Kingdom Come� may even top the original, so infused with high octane energy is this latest incarnation.

On the night, singer and founder member Klaus Dirks proved a fiery focal point for the band and the same is true here as he blasts his way through the atmospheric “Sinister Light�, powerful outburst of “Dykemaster’s Tale� and the band’s signature song, “Hollowed Be Thy Name�. He is, of course, matched every step of the way by a band that are as slick and polished as this style demands, with the twin axe attack of Sven Ludke and Florian Dyszbalis a match for any fret pairing you care mention - riffs strafing all in attendance at all the shows captured here and solos being fired out at an incredible rate of knots.

While I’m never a huge fan of live albums that fade in and out between songs, Beast Over Europe manages to keep a hold of the atmosphere of the occasions captured and you simply can’t argue with the quality of what has been presented here. Mob Rules deserve to be one of the major metal forces across Europe and beyond and Beast Over Europe is a stunning document of exactly why that is.

Track Listing
1. Beast Reborn (Intro)

2. Ghost Of A Chance

3.Somerled

4.Black Rain

5.Sinister Light

6. Dykemasters`s Tale

7. My Kingdome Come

8. The Last Farewell

9.Childrens`s Crusade

10.On The Edge

11.In The Land Of Wind And Rain

12.Hollowed Be Thy Name

13. Way Back Home

14. Rain Song

Added: September 1st 2019
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Mob Rules online
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Language: english

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