Iron Savior

Germany has always had a dysfunctional relationship with rock music. The country that once deported the Beatles later kept Falco and the Scorpions. Though the Scorps aren't rocking many hurricanes these days, Germany's appetite for '80s power metal hasn't abated one squealing, screeching lick, as evidenced by the fifth full-length from native sons Iron Savior. Red is a full-blown sci-fi concept album a la Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, though its real influence might be extra-cheesy popcorn flicks such as Battlefield Earth. Beginning in Atlantis circa A.D. 3597, Red follows the saga of Rador CulDranoc, a brilliant but mad scientist who seeks revenge on the High Council for ousting him from a government-sponsored defense project. The spurned CulDranoc morphs into an evil superbeing who controls minds and travels through time and space, destroying planets and wreaking other such shenanigans. Eventually, CulDranoc disavows his treacherous deeds and brings peace to the universe. Quadropheniait ain't. But it is pretty damn funny, and it's a blast to hear songs such as "Walls of Fire" and "Titans of Our Time" played with dead-serious conviction and Germanic precision.