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Second album from Udo Dirkschneider's solo band, this one is the first that's actually his solo work without involvement by members of Accept who wrote the first album, Animal House. Mean Machine is unsurprisingly pretty much in the same vein. You can take Udo out of Accept, but you can't take Accept out of Udo—not yet anyway. So, this is exactly what you'd expect: catchy, melodic heavy metal that packs a punch and with enough crunchy riffs to keep the more demanding metallers interested. I personally found Animal House more memorable, but Mean Machine makes up for it with some cool speedy riffs and a little galloping style that gets the foot tapping. In terms of heavy metal as a whole, this is not an essential album, but if you like U.D.O. or Accept, it's sure to hit the spot.