Artist: Accept
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2010
Runtime: 72:57
Rating: 4.5/5
The new Accept album is an outstanding addition to the metal world in 2010. The band’s new reunion is huge news for metal all by itself. So we got the band’s first real studio album since 1996, which follows “Predator”! And without Udo Dirkschneider. Hello? Yep. You read that right. It’s hard to picture Accept without him, if at all. Die-hard fans of the band, definitely not. But since they’re die-hard, they just have to swallow everything. Okay, with that last sentence I may have overstepped a bit. Common sense is sometimes useful. Especially when you need to cool down overheated heads and emotional charge once in a while. And this new Accept album really stirs up the human “imagination” or, even worse, the logical empiricism of analytical pigeonholing.
If Iron Maiden and Judas Priest did it, why shouldn’t Accept? Dirkschneider made a mistake by turning down working with his old buddies. Maybe everything’s great for him right now, but in the medium term he’ll definitely regret that move. So Accept have a new screamer.
The new singer Mark Tornillo, who came charging out of the American band TT Quick (a cellophane-wrapped portmanteau for a hot woman’s bust), is not Udo Dirsckhneider. Still, his voice is perfectly acceptable, blending a bit of Dirkschneider and a bit of Bon Scott (say, New World Comin’). But his tone isn’t as distinctly guttural as Dirkschneider’s. From that we can conclude right away that Tornillo brings more melody to the new Accept. The ballad Kill The Pain, where Tornillo uses clean vocals, is closer in tone to Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear) than to Dirkschneider, whose clean voice is defined as a complete one-off. And in that light, that’s a bit of a minus for the new Accept. So Tornillo’s voice isn’t Udo Dirkschenider’s, and at the same time it doesn’t carry as recognizable a charisma, which makes it easier to compare with other vocalists. What’s more, in the guttural finishing moments he occasionally veers into the singing of Savatage boss Jon Oliva (e.g. the opening part of the title track). On the other hand, Tornillo has greater vocal range and variety, and he can reach extreme heights with his voice while keeping his full vocal power with no trouble. He’s also a lot more convincing than Dirkschneider when he has to carry that power from the mid to the high and highest registers. So technically more polished, but with less charisma, though not necessarily less appealing (depending on each listener’s criteria and perception).
But for all the goodness Tornillo brings to “Blood Of The Nations”, the cruel fact remains that Udo is just Udo. We’ve been through all this already back in 1996, when Priest called in Tim “Ripper” Owens for help, only to be grateful later when Halford was back in the lineup, even though Ripper’s vocals are still considered among the best in heavy metal.
Even though Dirkschneider isn’t singing on the album, Accept have kept their musical identity with Tornillo, defined by the trademarks of their past deeds, so don’t worry. The “Balls To The Wall” energy will feel very much at home on “Blood Of The Nations”! Tracks like the opener Beat The Bastards, Time Machine, or Rolling Thunder in the second half of the album hit you straight away — commanding, primal, pure Accept — and Tornillo’s vocals fit right in at moments like these.
As for Tornillo, we’re talking about yet another vocal chameleon who can drive the vocal lines and bring the required moods to life “to order” for the bosses. Chameleons like that are usually pushed into the thankless role of legionnaires, but demand for them in this new era of reunions is huge. The most famous of the bunch is of course the one and only Tim “Ripper” Owens, and it’s not hard to find parallel career paths in guys like Joe Comeau (ex Liege Lord, ex Overkill, ex Annihilator) or Steve “Zetro” Souza (ex Exodus). And while we’re on the subject of the new Accept album’s singers, I’ll add, no joke, that this material would fit the singing approach of Milan “Dr. Evil” Krušič perfectly — vocalist of the once again lumbering Slovenian metal dinosaurs Lene kosti.
The songs are all wound up toxically tight in the production. Andy Sneap is the name of the culprit! The white-hot riffing, underscored by the real, razor-sharp live feel, is contrasted and widened in the soundscape by a tearing bass line and the untamed rolling of the drummer’s steam locomotive (Shades Of Death is an example of a unique combination of dark atmosphere and epic seasoning). Tornillo isn’t as upfront in the mix as you’d expect (judging by past experience with Accept albums), but these are new times for a new Accept. His vocals are dressed to match the intense riff ride of the Frank/Hoffman axis, and the end result is hugely commanding, because the album is devilishly tight, just as heavy metal in 2010 demands, without hiding its strong live punch!
Even though we “lost” Udo on “Blood Of The Nations”, on the other hand we got guitarist Herman Frank back on the Accept ship. Going by what the new Accept are serving up, I can confirm it’s a lottery jackpot. The magic between the two guitarists works like in the best days of their collaboration on the classic Accept albums. The two guys feed off each other, inspired. The dialogue between the guitarists never breaks off; instead, the two weave an extraordinary string of ideas that — in compatibility, well-rounded compactness of songwriting, delivery of melody and emphasis on punch — confirms that both found excellent working chemistry in the studio and were especially creatively inspired this time. The middle sections prove it, where excellent soloing is seasoned with plenty of passages. Those passages naturally carry the classic trademark of epic, anthemic grandeur. From the first track Beat The Bastards to the last, Buckett Full Of Hate, there’s that famous feeling given by the “unintentionally” adopted (but for Accept’s vocabulary essential) Russian-melancholic melos of ornamental passages (in triplets too). On top of that we’ve got the typical addition of “gang shouts,” as well as lower-resounding, harmonized male chants, which in places gratefully deepen that Russian melos moment. That’s something Dirkschenider carried over to all his releases with U.D.O. long ago. In short, yet another typical Accept trait that absolutely mustn’t be missing. And on “Blood Of The Nations” it’s laid on in abundance.
The guys keep their riffs simple, they kick right away and don’t overcomplicate things for a second. For such a simple approach, as is typical of Accept’s way of writing metal, there are “at first glance” far too many songs on the album. Likewise, at first superficial glance, the observation that the songs are too long can be daunting. But to everyone’s big surprise, this album, which holds a hefty 73 minutes of music for Accept, spins with exceptional flow. The songs, in a clearly defined Accept mold, thanks to creative inspiration and, consequently, more than successful capitalizing on both guitarists’ innate talents, are varied enough to have exceptional dynamism, a contagious drama-theater of mood creation that doesn’t “cool” the listener down over the course of the album, doesn’t give the feeling that the new Accept are stealing their time “by replicating already expressed phrases”, and so these 73 minutes, much to our delight, are anything but boring!
The songs feel German! They’re relentless, they bite straight in with no tactics. They go all or nothing. You can’t get more authentic than that approach in heavy metal conceived in Germany. Even after three decades. Unbelievable. Of course, the long break, during which a huge pile of unused but excellent riffs built up, contributed to such an inspired album. At the same time, keep in mind that a new reunion without the one and only Herman Frank would have put the “consistent fulfillment” of the commandments of Accept’s cult legacy for the new era into question! The album title, the cover, and the lyrics are all pure Accept. Without any sense of aesthetics, of course. Accept metal doesn’t need that, nor does it look for it. Judging by the title, it carries an anti-war message.
The sacred old school of metal pioneering and the best moments in the history of Euro heavy metal lives on in new times without a speck of rust, without a feeling of “auto-replication,” and without a trace of burnout. It manifests itself inspired, unique, steel-reborn across all borders, and hungry for new blood and victories. As far as the guys themselves are concerned, they’ve hit a new peak of creative expression, which, as far as the critical public is concerned, was the basic demand put to the band. “Blood Of The Nations” is an album that all lovers of simply defined, originally conceived heavy metal will get, and all Accept fans will be most grateful for it (even though deep down they’ll always want Dirkschneider on vocals), since Accept without Dirkschneider have pulled their Accept standard out of the hat with a new studio manifesto that, no beating around the bush, stands proudly next to the golden Accept catalog of the eighties.
Lineup
Mark Tornillo – vocals
Wolf Hoffmann – guitar
Herman Frank – guitar
Peter Baltes – bass
Stefan Schwarzmann – drums
Production
Andy Sneap
Tracklist
1. Beat The Bastards
2. Teutonic Terror
3. The Abyss
4. Blood Of The Nations
5. Shades Of Death
6. Locked And Loaded
7. Time Machine*
8. Kill The Pain
9. Rollin’ Thunder
10. Pandemic
11. New World Comin’
12. No Shelter
13. Bucketful Of Hate
*… bonus track
