2012 CD Reviews - Accept - Stalingrad

Artist: Accept

Album Title: Stalingrad

Label: Nuclear Blast Records Release: 2012

http://www.acceptworldwide.com

Back in the day, Accept was fronted by vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and responsible for metal anthems like Balls to the Wall and London Leatherboys. Unfortunately, the band never really broke through to sustained success.

After Udo left the band, they soldiered on with their new singer David Reece. I saw that version of the band live in concert. and enjoyed the show. However, the album they were touring behind, Eat The Heat didn't deliver commercially, and the band ended up going on hiatus for a few years.

But a funny thing happened on the way to dustbin obscurity. The band never truly faded away from the minds of metal fans the world over. They reunited in 1992 with Udo, released a few more albums and then broke up again. Udo had his own relatively successful band called U.D.O., while the other members just went their separate ways.

Then in 2005, they played a hugely successful series of reunion concerts during the European festival season. But, the reunion was short-lived because Udo had no desire to record a new album.
It might've been the end of the band for good. When the band announced ex-TT Boy singer Mark Tornillo had been hired to be the new vocalist, skepticism reigned from the metal world - including myself. Udo was just too cemented in the band's legacy to be replaced successfully.

Those thoughts were pure poppycock as it turned out. In 2010, Accept released the stunningly great album Blood of the Nations. It was my top release of 2010 and I wasn't alone in my belief that the album was the best of the year. Tornillo stepped in and made the vocalist spot his own.

With the success of that album, the bar had been raised for the next release from Accept. Would they be able to follow up what was arguably their best album to date with another great collection of songs, or would they miss the mark and leave their fans terribly disappointed?

Given the militaristic tone of the music and lyrics on Stalingrad, I think it is safe say "mission accomplished".

The album opens up with the ripping rocker Hung Drawn and Quartered. It is a relentlessly paced track with Tornillo's vocals racing side by side with the guitar riffs of Wolf Hoffman and Herman Frank.

The album is subtitled Brothers in Death and this is the vibe you get from the band; they are a real metal brotherhood. The return of Blood of the Nations producer Andy Sneap reinforces the band's tight knit sound.

The fire and brimstone tempo continues on tracks like Hellfire, Against The World and the title cut. While the song Shadow Soldiers has a soft opening, it ends up kicking into high gear through the course of the track.

Twist of Fate works incredibly well and turns out a great lyric in "You might do better with the devil you know." I really liked the song The Quick and the Dead, though the chorus was kind of standard. What makes the song standout is how well Tornillo's vocal work sells the chorus.

The bonus track on this disc is the song Never Forget. It's an uptempo track that is dedicated to the memory of Todd Beamer and all of the people on Flight 93 and the other victims and survivors of 9/11. It even makes use of Beamer's unforgettable last words "Let's roll." It was an excellently crafted song brought to full fruition by the band as a whole.

The one song that I didn't care for all that much was Flash To Bang Time. While the song's tempo was very, very aggressive, the ridiculous sounding chorus ruined the song for me.

The album closed with the song The Galley, which I also thought had a standout line with "chained to the galley of pain". This was a seven plus minute track, which used a huge backing vocal and natural recorded sounds to enhance the song's epic feel.

At a time when most bands that are still together after 30 years or more are lucky to release even substandard music, Accept is releasing music that holds its own and, in some cases surpasses their classic material. The band now stands as one of the modern day standard bearers for heavy metal and they do it with an amazing set of new tracks.

The release of Stalingrad makes the band two for two with Mark Tornillo in the band. Blood of the Nations was my top album of the year in 2010 and now Accept has given me my top album of the year for 2012 with Stalingrad. It is quite simply metal at its best."

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Permalink Reply by RJhog (Admin) on December 8, 2012 at 3:16pm

Enjoyed that. I do have the album and like it as well. It's not in my Top 10, but then again, I'm not nor have I ever been a real "metal-head". It is my second favorite metal album of the year.