Probot - Probot (2003)

All hail Dave Grohl, of the awful Foo Fighters, for putting together some kind of reality check. This here record is a great trip back into time, possibly proof also that he's too busy chasing the mighty dollar with his pop band, and yet somehow comes up with this fine work, a journey back to meet his heroes and to play alongside them. Probot is tragically a one-off which is such a shame, but boy has Mr Grohl achieved something wonderful here, by pulling together some of his favourite vocalists and musicians to come up with a true heavy metal album, possibly not for the kids of today because I can't honestly see what Foo Fighters fans are gonna get from this, but genuine metalheads who were there in the '80s will lap this up when they see true legends present, Cronos from Venom, Wagner from Trouble, Snake from Voivod, Tom from Celtic Frost, Sepultura's ex-Max, Kurt from D.R.I., Lee from Cathedral, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mike from C.O.C.'s hardcore days, King Diamond and Wino from St. Vitus. Probot is eleven tracks of heavy metal Heaven, doom, thrash, black metal, and hardcore, all Dave's chosen heroes, with Dave backing them up on various instruments, going back to what he does best, thudding the crap out of the skins. Somehow, each track is amazingly suited to the vocalists in question, bringing back those years when the bands reigned. You expect the track featuring Max Cavalera ('Red War') to be a tribal burnout, and it is. You expect D.R.I.'s Kurt Brecht to sound like he did in the '80s, and thank goodness he still does, there's not a weak track on here, but there are some real treats, Cronos is truly evil on the rumbling 'Centuries Of Sin', Wagner wails like a banshee on 'My Tortured Soul' but without a shadow of a doubt the finest tracks have to be the rock 'n' roll meltdown featuring Lemmy which is the swaggering 'Shake Your Blood' and Lee Dorrian's sludge-fest 'Ice Cold Man', but like I say, not a bad track among them because as you listen, and the candle flames flicker, you know this is true metal featuring the genre's most inspiring ghouls. Personally, I think a second album featuring Slayer's Tom Araya, Ozzy Osbourne, and Kreator's Mille among others can't come quick enough, but that's just wishful thinking...by the way, a fine album cover too.

8.5/10