Many who remember Bill Menchen and Simon Tyler (a.k.a. Keith Miles) from the short-lived rock band Final Axe know these guys mean business when it comes down to rocking out in the name of Jesus. Formed in 1995 and shortly departed after a final tour in 1996, Titanic returned to their music roots in 2001 and went on to record their second album Screaming In Silence. In 2007, Simon was replaced by David St. Andrews on lead vocals to record their best album to date, Full Steam Ahead. To celebrate the return of Titanic, Retroactive Records offered a greatest hits album this year, titled Wreckage (The Best of & The Rest Of). Upon listening to their first track, "Ocean of Blood," you will notice more of a departure from the speed metal days of Final Axe and more of a slower, Iron Maiden-based hard rock style.

The lyrics are not well-written, but anyone can see that Titanic had their hearts in the right place. "Hypnotic" deals with two strong believers mesmerized by wanting to seek the righteousness of the Lord, "I left my state of mind out in the cold, You see I'm always doing what I'm told, You're hypnotic, And I've got it, You're hypnotic." The album jacket includes a letter from Bill Menchen explaining the history of Titanic and how they came back after a long hiatus. Bill's guitar work cannot be denied as being nothing more than pure heavy metal brilliance. His best work can be seen on "Hypnotic," "The Sea," "Screaming In Silence," "Dead Men's Bones" and in the guitar solo of "I Am Watching You." The most interesting quality of this release is hearing the legendary Robert Sweet of Stryper performing drums on selected bonus tracks towards the end of the album.

However, despite a great effort on his part, Robert did not offer anything new or different to the bonus tracks from what Tim Palmatier and David White had previously offered. Plus, hearing the newly revised songs "Ocean of Blood" and "I Am Watching You" a second time to pick out the different drumbeats Robert Sweet performed compared to the previous versions seemed a bit much. The other complaint is a lack of a strong chorus on certain tracks. Hearing Simon Tyler repeat a very short chorus to the songs "Hollywood Blvd," "Nightmare" and "Gods of War" at least three times becomes annoying very quickly and often makes you question the band's creativity. A quick example is the chorus to "I Am Watching You," where you hear Simon sing the chorus, echoing it, re-wording it a little, another echo, then repeat again: "I Will Follow You (I Will Follow You), I Am Watching You (I Am Watching You)."

A good album with a few poorly structured songs in the mix is nothing new, and these songs certainly stand out the most on Titanic's first greatest hits release. This does make perfect sense as to why the band chose the title The Best Of & The Rest Of. Now, is Wreckage a complete waste of time? Absolutely not. There are definitely a number of great heavy metal songs on this album, six to be exact. You also have seven poorly written songs, two of them are average, and four bonus tracks that do not add much. Some good metal songs appear on this release, but it's best to check out the band's website and myspace page prior to purchasing this album. Wreckage should appeal the most to die-hard fans of Titanic, Final Axe, and Stryper.

- Review date: 11/19/08, written by Fred Keel of Jesusfreakhideout.com