Folks, I have a massive confession to clear off my chest, so please forgive my rambling. Accept is a band I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen live, and each and every time I’ve caught them, I’ve never had anything less than a bloody good time. They’re practically etched into my metal DNA, from Udo having my teenage head banging to their tunes in clubs more decades ago than I care to admit, to in the last few years having seen them on stage a whole bunch of times, whether on headline tours, as a festival stalwart, or the last couple of times with Sabaton in support, then flipping to support them in Glasgow, Accept are one of those acts that pretty much dominated and helped shape my musical tastes back in the day. A European contemporary to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, sharing the same sensibilities, and with a riff power to appeal to that early eighties Thrash crowd I was so much a part of, Accept have been damaging my hearing for so long it’s hard to remember. However, it seems beyond tapes and vinyl that wore out/were swapped well over twenty years ago, I do not own any of their music! I know, it came every bit as much of a shock to me considering, like AC/DC, it only takes a couple of bars of any of their songs to immediately recognise and rock out to their sound. So, with the new year offering a glimmer of hope after the shit-storm that was 2020, it’s time to wreck your neck in 2021 to Accept!
‘Too Mean To Die’ is everything you want, and indeed in this ever vacillating world of changes and trends, need, a plain, simple, and perfectly executed slice of traditional metal. Opener ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ steams in with riffs aplenty, Mark Tornillo howling away like Brian Johnson trying to fire out a stuck shite, all pain, passion, and sneering contempt! I know that doesn’t sound like a flattering comparison, but trust me, that New Jersey screamer’s vocals are the perfect replacement to the much lauded Udo and fit the music perfectly! The following title track storms in with an unrelenting blast, and well, if you don’t feel like banging your head to this, I suggest that you contact your GP for a death certificate as you have clearly shuffled off this mortal coil! Whilst the succeeding ‘Overnight Sensation’ is more “Rawk” than “Metal”, it is a full on invitation to stamp your feet to shake the booze from your frontal lobes before the pace picks up from a stomp to a run in ‘No Ones Master’, an expertly crafted invitation to howl along to the bands’ group vocals. ‘The Undertaker’, and no it’s not a tribute to the recently retired wrestling legend does have a rather nineties pop-rock vibe, but the fist in your face attack of follow up ‘Sucks To Be You’ is the perfect thrusting apology for its predecessor before the pace speeds into ‘Symphony of Pain’, a track that could have been an escapee from Judas Priest’s ‘Painkiller’. Okay, whilst the album isn’t perfect, ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ invoking the all too light and MTV friendly ballads of Poison (sorry, I’m old, I remember this shite!), they kick that benighted memory away with the thud of ‘How Do We Sleep’ with its drum based audio assault through to album closer ‘Samson and Delilah’, a track worthy of Iron Maiden at their most instrumental.
It’s hard to say why this album is so good; it’s not innovative, it’s not bringing anything unheard to the soundscape of metal, but what it does is deliver thumping tunes without irony, meta-humour, or remorse! If you want to forget social nuances, and just revel in the sound of a band that wants to do nothing more than entertain, well, the Teutonic Titans that are Accept have laid down the gauntlet for 2021, and good luck defeating them any who dare to take up the challenge.
(8.5/10 Spenny)
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