James Rivera is a veteran of the metal scene. The now 63-year-old musician has been the singer of the heavy metal band Helstar for 41 years, and the albums A Distant Thunder and Nosferatu are considered classics of the genre. In addition, he has been active in many other bands, including Sabbath Judas Sabbath, which covers songs by Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. James Rivera also enjoyed and secretly listened to music from other genres. Since the metal scene in the 1980s was not exactly known for its tolerance, he had to listen to it secretly, and it is only now that he is standing up to it. With his album New Wave Gone Metal, he now pays tribute to classics of that time, but with a metallic touch and a portion of horror rock.

I have to say that the whole thing is a bit unusual. Many of the songs come from the wave genre. Although I listened to a lot of music in the 1980s, this kind of music was not exactly my favourite genre. This explains why I didn’t recognize many of the songs on this album. The perfectly chosen opener Black Celebration (Depeche Mode) was unfamiliar to me, but it quickly stuck in my head. Then comes the unremarkable Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs, followed by The Cure’s Love Song. This is super well done, the spirit of the original is not lost. Shock The Monkey (Peter Gabriel) startled me a bit. Although I’m quite familiar with the original, I found it difficult to recognize this new version where James Rivera went about it in an idiosyncratic way with organs providing a creepy flair. Black Planet remains as dark as it was with the Sisters Of Mercy, but you don't necessarily have to recognize the track. Everybody Wants To Rule The World follows, a classic by Tears For Fears, which of course comes across as a bit spookier, but not necessarily faster. The album’s definite highlight is Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus), which comes across as creepy and eerie. Echo & The Bunnymen's The Killing Moon doesn’t sound not bad at all, even if I never was a fan of the original. With Pet Sematary, the Ramones wrote such a great song that you can't really go wrong. James Rivera's version doesn't match the original, but you still want to sing along immediately. Rain by The Cult concludes the album, which I find a bit disappointing, as it is too close to the original version.

Now you can discuss the meaning of this album. In general, James Rivera’s Metal Wave is not very well-received by the critics, which is why I doubt that we can expect a successor. I like tribute albums very much and think that you should take some time for this album. James Rivera’s whole outfit with bats and a vampire cloak is a bit ridiculous, but he’s still an unmistakable singer and this excursion into other realms is something extraordinary, albeit in a somewhat special way. Overall, I think New Wave Gone Metal is an interesting experiment. It's not perfect, but it's worth a listen for fans of both new wave and metal.

10 songs

43:21 minutes

***** **

Genre: heavy metal / cover versions

Label: Massacre

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