THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: accept (Page 2 of 3)

ACCEPT – Metal Heart

November 8, 2023 /

I remember buying this album when it first came out and feeling a tad disappointed. Following Restless & Wild and Balls To The Wall, which were both great records, this album felt as though it was just plodding along. Were they trying to be too commercial? I think so.

Tracks like Midnight Mover and Up To The Limit just come across as trying to be a Judas Priest-lite. Too High To Get It Right even sounds like AC/DC, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the intro to Living For Tonite was the Scorpions (well, the album was produced by Dieter Dierks). There are a couple of old school speedy tracks like Wrong Is Right and my favourite Teach Us To Survive, which is at least pushing the envelope and being a little different.

It’s not that it’s a bad album, it’s just that you can tell the record company was squeezing the band for hits.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

ACCEPT – Stalingrad

May 3, 2023 /

This is the German metal masters thirteenth studio album, released in 2012 and the second to feature vocalist Mark Tornillo, or new Udo has some fans have labelled him. I have to mention the huge production and sound from Andy Sneap, this is a super clear recording.

The album is a loosely based concept album on the German army around Stalingrad in WW2. Metal music has moved on much from its heyday in the mid to late eighties and sometimes not for the good. A lot of bands just try to be to different and they lose the ability make the music groove, so I’m glad that bands like Accept are still around and realise that a great big fat riff and matching groove are essential to make that toe tap and head bang; this album does just that.

Plenty of fat huge riffs and pounding grooves to keep the most ardent metal fan happy. Pretty hard to choose a favourite as this is a freakin’ awesome record but I will go for Flash To Bang Time. It’s a pounding monster with double kicks driving hard, a ripping riff, and wailing guitars a plenty.

Long live Accept!!!

10/10 from The Grooveman.

ACCEPT – Eat The Heat

March 18, 2022 /

Bit of an unusual album in the band’s catalogue as it was the first without original singer Udo , nd was the first with his first replacement David Reece – then they split up for the first time a few months later. Even though there are 5 members pictured on the cover, rhythm guitarist Jim Stacey doesn’t actually play on the album as Wolf “the riff” Hoffman plays all guitars. This is sort of a forgotten album in the bands history but I really like it. It’s got more of a hard rock feel than a metal album (which is what probably upset the diehards), and the material suits Reece’s vocal style.

XTC opens the album with a trademark Hoffman fat huge muted riff – a great opening track. Generation Clash follows, and weirdly enough, UDO has recorded a version of this track on his tribute album. Chain Reaction sounds like a typical hair metal track of the period and even has a sing-a-long chorus. Next Up is Love Sensation, and I really love the heavied up AC/DC groove and vibe. Turn The Wheel closes out Side 1 and it’s a big stomper sing-a-long monster of a tune.

Prisoner opens up Side 2 and has to be the most commercial song the band ever did – it doesn’t even sound like Accept. Not a big fan of the ballad Mistreated, and Stand 4 What U R is just an average attempt at making American radio. Hellhammer on the other hand is going in the right direction and actually sounds like WASP. D Train closes out the album and is the best track with a great riff and the double kicks are on point.

I get why the fans did not like this album, but if a couple of the slower songs had been dropped and replaced with rockers, the album would have flowed a lot better.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

ACCEPT – Too Mean To Die

September 14, 2021 /

Since the bands reformation in 2010 with Mark Tornillo, the band have been releasing better albums than they ever did with the small angry one as their frontman.

This is the band’s 16th studio album, and the 5th with Tornillo. The only original member left is Wolf Hoffman as everyone else has been jettisoned along the way. I am glad to inform you all that the quality is still high with the tunes and production, which again has been handled by Andy Sneap – no matter what he produces gets a fantastic sound. Riffs riffs and more riffs that’s what Mr. Hoffman is good at, and there are lots of them all over this album. From the opening grooves of Zombie Apocalypse, to the end screams of Samson And Delilah, this record is choc full of good old heavy metal. My favourites are (and there are a few) Too Mean To Die – a monster sounding track with an awesome riff and groove, The Undertaker – which I would say is a classic Accept track, with a slow intro that builds with a dirty mean riff, Symphony Of Pain – a classic old school metal romp, and the perfect close out track, Samson And Delilah. I’m not sure how Wolf Hoffman keeps churning out the riffs, but long may he do so.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

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