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"Year 3006... have you ever imagined how our planet will look like, in a thousand years from now? Did you ever get yourself wondering if Sci-Fi movies could become reality in a near future? Could you imagine yourself in a world without cars, electricity and computers? Could you imagine a world without Heavy Metal?" These are some of the questions raised in the info I have here for X-World/5's album New Universal Order, and to be honest if you weren't chuckling at that it gets better. "In a thousand years from now many things will have changed. Our universe could have been destroyed. Our solar system could be in danger, because of the aggressions of human kind to our nature and planet, during hundreds of years... On earth 5 chosen men survived! Their mission: to keep Heavy Metal alive"

First and foremost, I can hardly classify this album as a Heavy Metal release. With such an awesome line-up here I was expecting something really cool; Nils K Rue handles the vocals on this album, which is cause enough to check this out. We have fret-board-acrobatic Andy La Roque slinging the axe, and project founder Magnus Rosen (Hammerfall) handling bass duties. With such big players on the metal circuit you could well be fooled into thinking this was a metal release; sadly the potential of the band members were never fully realized. What we have on our hands is an industrial mess; lame-ass samples, bullshit vocal distortion and fucking nu-metal style one-finger chord "riffs". Think Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson. It makes my stomach turn knowing that such esteemed players could contribute to such a dung pile. Album opener "Cyberchrist" is a lame, laughable affair, barely saved by Nils' immense vocal talent, although he needs to quit it with that lame vocal distortion - he's a top tier vocalist for crying out loud! "Man Machine" is probably the one track on offer here I could say I actually quite enjoy, with a superb chorus, and some of the better vocal work here. "Charge To War" could have been great, but they manage to ruin the verses with some ridiculous vocal distortion and pathetic samples. Worst thing is you can hear the Heavy Metal trying to surface. Following "Charge To War" there is nothing much left in New Universal Order, only disappointment.

Not even the godly vocals of Nils K Rue could save this album from the crap heap, Future of Heavy Metal? Fuck, Magnus Rose left Hammerfall to realize this project. We want to hope we don't hear from these guys again. Don't make the mistake of buying this album on the strength of the musicians' other works, X-World/5 are an act best forgotten about. Avoid this like the plague

Standout Track: "Man Machine"