Accept – Too Mean To Die

Formed in 1976 in Solingen, West Germany, Accept are still flying the flag for German heavy metal, point proven by their upcoming studio album Too Mean To Die.

Whether it’s frustration from Covid (which has delayed the album release from Jan 15th till the 29th due to a pressing plant closure), they have pulled out all the stops for these eleven tracks here.

The grandiose crunchy riffed intro for ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ heads off into some mauling mid paced thrash metal. Lead vocalist Mark Tornillo still has his glass chewing rasp, especially in the catchy but still caustic choruses. An air raid tinged guitar solo adds to the panic of the song subject and glorious lead guitar work makes for an early album highlight.

There is no pause for breath as the title track leaps straight out of the starting blocks with some neck breaking grooves pinned down by some powerhouse drumming as the guitar solos fly out from speaker to speaker!

Another attention grabbing riff comes from ‘Overnight Sensation’. It’s all pounding heavy metal full of quirky lyrics that include “I need an instant gratification, I’m an overnight sensation. A subject of adoration, an overnight sensation”. It surely has rock radio airplay written all over it.

‘No Ones Master’ is a fist clenching chest beating tirade from Mark as his lyrics are belted out loud and proud and are very thought provoking as they portray corruption as guitar mayhem midway adds to the intensity.

A deceivingly quaint acoustic intro to ‘The Undertaker’ heads off into almost doom metal territory with its evil vibes. It’s a bass guitar dominated epic and the lyrics are spat out with an evil glee backed by monstrous choruses as it closes on the intro.

No frills raging heavy metal is the spotlight stealer for ‘Sucks To Be With You’. It’s a metal monster chock full of finger blistering lead guitar work.

Snappy snare work and a bludgeoning main riff make for one of the heaviest tracks here as ‘Symphony Of Pain’ goes seismic with kick drumming and unholy vocal screams.

‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ is a ballad with balls. Once again it’s another song with thought provoking lyrics and a very welcome side to their repertoire.

Jabbing riffs and an embittered vocal drive along ‘How Do We Sleep’. It’s another future anthem with a call to arms oeuvre.

‘Not My Problem’ will keep the headbangers busy as it rages hard and heavy for 4 minutes of proto thrash full of huge choruses.

This vociferous album closes on ‘Samson And Delilah’. It’s an instrumental curveball that builds and builds on a wall of ballistic riffing peppered with melodic guitar lines. It’s so powerful I had it on repeat play many times and it goes to show that you don’t have to play at 100mph to get your point across.

Band links :- http://www.acceptworldwide.com/

Accept band line up :-

Wolf Hoffmann – Guitar.

Mark Tornillo – Lead Vocals.

Uwe Lulis – Guitar.

Philip Shouse – Guitar.

Martin Motnik – Bass Guitar.

Christopher Williams – Drums.