Review: Mob Rules – Celebration Day – 30 Years of Mob Rules

Review: Mob Rules – Celebration Day – 30 Years of Mob Rules

Steamhammer – SPV (May 3^rd 2024)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

I superficially know about the band Mob Rules. I know they have been around since the 90s and I bought the track ‘Hollowed Be Thy Name’ many years ago. I purchased their album ‘Radical Peace‘ and the album fell flat for me, so I purchased nothing further. So why do I find myself reviewing a “Best of” album of thirty tracks celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary? Don’t come at me Mob Rules fans, but it’s due to a cover song.

Their version of Irene Cara’s 1980 classic ‘Fame’ is extraordinary! This song, along with Nestor’s cover of ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’, are two of the greatest covers I’ve heard in the past few years. The original is a great melodic dance track, so to take its melodic overtones and crank up the wattage answers this question: “What would the band Wig Wam sound like if they tried power metal?” The result is a masterclass in how to take a song from a different genre and make it your own. Pure ear candy. Looking at the list of songs on the album, I noticed a bunch of other covers as well and decided to see an overarching picture of what this band is all about.

The other two new covers are performed well but are very standard. The covers of ‘Run to the Hills’ and ‘Square Hammer’ are faithful to the original. I always take issue with bands who cover classics so close that it seems pointless to record them. The best I can say about them is they did not butcher the songs in covering them. Same goes for their previously released version of Dio’s ‘Sacred Heart’. It’s good, but there’s nothing that makes this cover stand out and is just a re-tread of this well-known song.

The rest of the collection features hand-picked songs from the band members, some re-recorded material, others just remastered, and a few digital only releases finally on a CD format. So, what is my take on the collection as someone fairly new to the band? I enjoyed more than half the collection. It gives what I would believe to be an accurate representation of the history of the band.

Some songs leapt out to me immediately. ‘Trial By Fire’, ‘Fuel to the Fire’, ‘Hymn of the Damned’, and ‘Ghost Town’ come at you fast and furious and have great arrangements. Others like ‘Black Rain’, “Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and ‘Evolution’s Falling’ slow things down a bit without losing its power and allow the band’s more melodic elements to shine through.

Then there are some songs that sound so familiar in their construct I feel like I’ve heard them before. ‘Flag of Life’, ‘Lord of Madness’, and ‘Hydrophobia’ all sound like songs that have been performed by bands like Avantasia, while ‘Ice Fire’ and ‘Desperate Son’ have too many change ups and plod along at times that I found my interest faded as they came to their conclusions.

Of course, this review is not trying to sell this collection to long-time fans of the band. Those fans may want to hear remastered versions of songs, have physical copies of digital only releases, or need this to complete their collections. For the casual listener or someone looking to get into the band, this is a great entranceway into what they have to offer and may pick up some new fans along the way. I certainly will be keeping an eye out for their next release.

Tracklist: