I think every U.D.O. album, even those rated lowest on my scale, have at least a song or two, or a special moment worth listening to. If anyone wants to read (or cares to) here's how I divide the era:
Era 1:
Classic 4: Animal House, Mean Machine , Faceless World, Timebomb
-This was a period of a lot of searching for the right sounds, all 4 albums have a completely different style and feel, all of them unique.-
Era 2:
Fantastic Art: Independence Day, Solid, Holy
-Named so because of the phenomenal cover art the albums featured. A more consistent and "metal" style of UDO for sure.
Era 3:
Plain Covers: Man and Machine, Thunderball, Mission No. X
-All these album covers featured plain, simple covers, usually black backgrounds with some sub par artwork or CG rendering. The sounds was clean and polished heavy metal.
Era 4:
Tor Era: Mastercutor, Dominator, Rev Raptor
Every album ended in -tor and continued the story of insane show co-host turned terminator turned cybernetichellknowswhat! Differentiating styles on this one.
So, out of all these 13 albums, how do I personally rank them? It was difficult, but here is the list along with my favorite song on each album. I don't give out album ratings, I rather do a full, detailed review one day on each album then give out scores like 7.6 or 7.5 and wonder if that point was necessary. Also, just because an album is low doesn't mean I hate it!
My U.D.O. album ratings:
1. Faceless World - Everything. I know it's a cop out. But every song.
2. Timebomb - Metal Maniac Mastermind
3. Holy - Holy
4. Solid - Independence Day
5. Animal House - Run For Cover
6. Dominator - Stillness of Time
7. Mean Machine - Catch My Fall
8. Mastercutor - Mastercutor
9. Man and Machine - Hard to be Honest
10. Thunderball - The Land of the Midnight Sun
11. Mission No. X - Platchet Soldat
12. No Limits - Azrael
13. Rev Raptor- Underworld