After Accept released their ´96 album Predator, they disappeared in acrimony and everyone thought they were done. But, in 2010 they resurfaced with a new frontman in TT Quicks Mark Tornillo and the return of Herman Frank on second guitar. They released this monster of an album: Blood Of The Nations.

I wasn’t a big Udo fan and I only really like Restless And Wild and it’s follow up Balls To The Wall, so this version of Accept was an upgrade for me. Andy Sneap has given the album a killer production with a big fat guitar sound, which the songs benefit from greatly. Plus, with Tornillo they can play songs that Udo could never do like The Abyss with the clean melodic tones.

However, the songs that I dig the most are the ones of the metal variety, and there are quite a few that qualify. Beat The Bastards, Teutonic Terror, Blood Of the Nations, Shades Of Death, and Kill The Pain all hit the spot, but the one that tickles my tree the most is the epic No Shelter with the slow moody beginning, transitioning to the double kick pound, and a really cool middle eight – this one stands out above the rest for me.

A great band that always deliver live, and this album is a worthy addition to the collection.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

This album was originally released in ´89 and was called Open Fire with a completely different cover. Roll forward two years to ´91 and the cover was changed (as well as the title) to Memory, for this South Korea only vinyl release. I understand releasing name bands in South Korea for the presence of the US forces there, but to release an album by a band that had failed two years earlier is baffling to say the least.

It’s quite hard to find any info on these guys, but I will say it’s pretty straight forward hair metal of the period, with a three guitar attack nonetheless. Patrick Pulver has a fine set of pipes with a great range, but he does tend to sound flat at times. The band sound awesome they are just lacking that killer song to get them noticed, and maybe a decent producer would have helped. Ironically, the tempo tracks that stand out are the two songs the album was titled after namely Open Fire and Memory. Both are cool songs that have a nice melody and hook, and some over the top widdly fretboard gymnastics on the guitar.

It’s not a bad effort and is quite entertaining.

6.5/10 from The Grooveman.