The successful German Metal rarities series SOUND & ACTION is entering its fifth and final round! Hence the subtitle 'The Final Battle'. Oliver Butz from Sound & Action Fanzine and Neudi (drummer, A&R for Golden Core, journalist, audio restorer) have once again spent months ‘researching’ and have once again managed to unearth almost 160 minutes of rarities from the German metal scene. As on four previous occasions, the recordings come from albums or singles released by the band themselves, from local compilations or from studio demos. One wild card is the song by SHARKFIN, which should have been released on an EP on Wishbone Records (Avenger, Stormwind), but only ended up as a test pressing. Exactly one copy of this exists, which the band made available for Sound & Action. This CD is the only way to get closer to this hyper-rarity. As with the previous four instalments, the musical spectrum ranges from melodic hard rock to thrash metal. The best-known bands on S&A 5 are probably SALEM'S LAW, SAINTS' ANGER, WARDANCE and ROUGH, while all the other acts have definitely remained local. Some tracks are neither listed on Youtube nor on Encyclopedia Metallum.
In addition to a foreword by Neudi, the booklet also contains liner notes for each contribution, together with rare photos and illustrations. The songs have been painstakingly restored with great attention to detail and subsequently remastered.
The four predecessors were not only praised by the specialised press, but also by metal fans worldwide. Part 5 closes this chapter with a final bang. Neudi comments: "Working on a project like this feels like planning and working on over thirty albums at the same time. After four parts, Oliver Butz and I decided that we would climb this mountain one last time. It was worth it!"