Accept – Stalingrad

Formed in 1976 it is  correct to say that Accept are one of Germany’s high profile metal bands. Since their inception they are now on their 5th vocalist. Founding member Udo Dirkschneider left in 1987 ,rejoined in 1992 but after a band split from 2005-2009 he did not want to rejoin so Accept recruited ex TT Quick vocalist Mark Tornillo.

In 2010 the Blood Of The Nations album,their 1st in 14 yrs was released to rave reviews. A strong metal album showcasing the vocals of the new singer. He has the Udo bark but a higher range,sounding like a harder Marc Storace from Krokus. So on April 6th 2012 Accept are prepared to release their new album Stalingrad via Nuclear Blast and produced by Andy Sneap who both handled Blood Of The Nations.

Almost half of the songs are over 5 minutes long giving guitarists Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank to lay down some killer guitar work.  I would say Stalingrad is a heavier album than Blood Of The Nations and there are a few fast numbers to keep the old school fans happy! There are 10 tracks on display,lasting at just over 50 minutes.

The album begins with a Medieval style guitar passage which ties in with the theme of the song title Hung,Drawn And Quartered ; a type of public execution. Its a lively start with banshee screams from Mark with multi guitar solos and a solid drum backbone from Stefan Schwarzmann. The title track follows,recounting the World War II battle of Stalingrad between German and Russian soldiers  with the rest of the band singing  “So hungry,so cold but there can be no surrender” followed by a cry of  “STALINGRAD!”  The war theme follows with  an air raid siren intro to Hellfire,a  mid paced chugging paen to aerial bomb raids with some fine guitar flourishes. Flash To Bang Time races in next,the fastest song on the album fuelled by uptempo drums and more high range vocals. The pace then drops somewhat with Shadow Soldiers,  gentile acoustic/electric guitars segue into a 6 minute metal  epic. The band once again sharing the chorus,the overall feel of the song similar to Princess Of The Dawn from the album Restless And Wild.  Band  ‘whoa oh oh’s’  prior to Revolution lead into another mid-paced thrasher with more fluid guitar breaks.  Against The World’s stop/start riffing carries the song to yet more melodic guitar solos. The opening passages of Twist Of Fate brought to mind early Rainbow with almost spoken word vocals by Mark Tornillo with a high speed finish.  The Quick And The Dead’s opening riff sounds almost like Wildside by Motley Crue but thats where the similarity lies as the song heads into metal overload! Closing track  The Galley is the standout for me,its crushing opening riff and cymbal crash introduces a song about press gangs with the band singing  “down to the galley,we’re chained to the galley of pain, down to the galley, slaves to the galley of pain” followed by “row,row,row!”. The song finshes with laid back guitar work.

To conclude,Accept have recorded a worthy, if not better follow up to Blood Of  The Nations. I wonder how many metal bands will be writing music of this quality over 35 years after their inception!

Accept band line up :-

Mark Tornillo- Vocals
Wolf Hoffmann- Guitars
Herman Frank- Guitars
Peter Baltes- Bass
Stefan Schwarzmann- Drums

Stalingrad track listing :-
Hung Drawn And Quartered
Stalingrad
Hellfire
Flash To Bang Time
Shadow Soldiers
Revolution
Against The World
Twist Of Fate
The Quick And The Dead
The Galley

I award  Stalingrad  9.5/10