Reunion albums: best and worst?

What would you guys say are the best Heavy metal/hard rock reunion albums? Like when you have a band that goes on hiatus for a while then returns? I certainly thought Ratt's Infestation was pretty solid. Not sure what the worst out there is, as my keeping up with recent metal releases is sort of limited.

I was shocked by how good RATT's "Infestation" was. Judas Priest had a pretty good reunion album in "Retribution". I loved "Brave New World" from Maiden. "Saints of Los Angeles" never really clicked with me from the Crue. Those are the ones right off the top of my head...

I really enjoyed Van Halen Different Kind Of Truth, and I still listen to it. I also was a big fan of Black Sabbath 13 when it came out and I listened to it about 100 times, but now I am kind of tired with it.

Good:
Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers
VH - A Different Kind Of truth
Ratt - Infestation
Iron Maiden - Brave New World

That's all that I can think of for now.

Best

Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers

Most of the worst reunions thankfully haven't produced albums (The Doors, The Sex Pistols) so I'll say Motley Crue because I hate them.

In 1992 Dee came out with Widowmaker - I bought it -
It was one of those rare times - I was taken aback - song after song -
This song is how the cd started -
so you can imagine my expression as the song went on.
Then one song followed another -
I WISHED he had the lyrics on it, but no.

As for reunion cds -
I thought Nostradamus, by Priest, was well thought out -
though not their return release -

Accept was great though it's a different singer.

The Good:



The Bad:



The Undecided [but sounds great so far!]:

Gotta go with Brave New World, fantastic album! 15 years later the reunion keeps going.

Psycho Circus gets my vote for a weak, fake reunion album.

I was gonna say Accept, too. I really loved Blood of the Nations when it came out.

I don't find myself listening to reunion albums, save for Maiden or maybe Arch/Matheos if you can consider that a reunion.

UFO- Walk On Water

Angel of Retribution
Brave New World
Perfect Strangers
Good To Be Bad
Blood of the Nations

In my ears, these are all excellent returns.

Infestation
Saints of Los Angeles
The Human Era

To me, these are good albums.

I can't think of a reunion album that really let me down; although waiting my whole adult life for Chines Democracy is a major disappointment.

Motley Crue- Generation Swine, I don't think it's a terrible album, but compared to the rest of the band's works it's rather forgettable and unremarkable.

One of my favorite reunion albums is Quiet Riot-Terrified, III and the 88 s/t album were decent, but not quite as hard rocking as Metal Health or Condition Critical, Terrified brought the band back in fine form.

Psycho Circus was OK, but I definitely wouldn't say it's up to par with the rest of the band's output.

A few good ones I can think of,
Heaven and Hell- The Devil You Know
Forbidden- Omega Wave
Death Angel- The Art of Dying

Brave new world is one of the best reunion albums I guess.

splendid songs from start to finish.

rajah wrote:

UFO- Walk On Water

Yes. This.

Satan - Life Sentence - ripping comeback album from outta nowhere!

Kiss - Psycho Circus - total turd. What a disappointment.

Motley Crue - Generation Swine - Terrible! They did everything wrong on this album, and tried way too hard to be relevant.

Even though it's not the original lineup, but a new album after they reformed, Heathen's The Evolution of Chaos is a fantastic album!

Also, even though they've never officially disbanded, Helstar went over a decade in between albums. After 1995's Multiples of Black, it was over a decade they'd release anything again. All of the studio albums they've done since they started releasing new albums have been stellar.

Required Fields wrote:

Even though it's not the original lineup, but a new album after they reformed, Heathen's The Evolution of Chaos is a fantastic album!

This is, in my opinion, the greatest modern thrash metal album of all time. It's bewildering that it doesn't get more praise than it does.

I wish they'd get their asses back in the studio, because the wait for a follow-up is killing me.

Faster P*ssycat - The Power and the Glory Hole = One of the biggest pieces of shit ever recorded.

DakotaRogers wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

Even though it's not the original lineup, but a new album after they reformed, Heathen's The Evolution of Chaos is a fantastic album!

This is, in my opinion, the greatest modern thrash metal album of all time. It's bewildering that it doesn't get more praise than it does.

I wish they'd get their asses back in the studio, because the wait for a follow-up is killing me.

I agree on both parts! Man what a great album! I'm ready for another.

Im in the minority, but i LIKED Generation Swine. The weird industrial/electronic effects actually work in this case and make it sound unique, and Afraid is one of my favorite Crue songs.

Hits: Maiden's Brave New World, Ratt's Infestation, Accept's Blood of the Nations, Dokken's Dysfunctional, Heaven & Hell's The Devil You Know. A more recent addition would be Sanctuary's The Year the Sun Died.

Miss: KISS' Psycho Circus.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Hits: Dokken's Dysfunctional, [/i].

I forgot about that one. It is really good!