Accept Blood of the Nations

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by Erik Tweedy
Staff Writer

Accept is back! After a 14-year hiatus the iconic German metal band have returned in full force with their new studio album Blood of the Nations, featuring new lead vocalist Mark Tornillo. From the first guitar riffs of “Beat the Bastards,” you know this is an Accept record complete with all the Accept trademarks from the dueling guitars of Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank to the double bass drums of Stefan Schwarzmann, the thundering bass of Peter Baltes and the deep growling background vocals. This is classic Accept heavy metal at its finest.

Absent this time around from the lineup is original vocalist Udo Dirkschneider who chose to sit out this resurrection of the classic lineup from the mid ‘90s in favor of continuing to front his own band U.D.O where he has been comfortably leading the metal charge across Europe for over 20 years. Replacing Dirkschneider was no small feat as his unique and gruff vocal style is synonymous with the band’s name. In early 2009, Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes went on a mission to find a replacement and at the suggestion of a friend gave TT Quick vocalist, Mark Tornillo, a tryout and it was a match made in heaven. Tornillo’s vocal style is very much in the Udo vein while also maintaining its own style and Tornillo has more range.

Standout track “The Abyss”, about the self destruction of the planet, has a cool mellow verse half way in that showcases the vocal range of Tornillo and leads into a killer Hoffmann solo. This is definitely an improvement over the David Reece experiment Accept tried to pull off in 1989 when Udo first left the band and they released Eat the Heat. There will be some critics that say Tornillo is trying too hard to sound like Udo but if you listen to anything by TT Quick you will hear a mix of Udo, Lemmy and Dan McCafferty from Nazareth which fits perfectly on this release.

Musically, this record flat out rocks and the production by Andy Sneap is top notch. With all the crunchy guitar intros and leads, you can tell that Wolf Hoffmann had a lot of fun writing and recording this record. This is the best Accept have sounded since Metal Heart back in ‘85.

Blood of the Nations is not a concept record but does have a theme running through most of the tracks about global war, religion and destruction. Tracks like “Teutonic Terror”, “Shades of Death”, “Bucketful of Hate” and the title track “Blood of the Nations” give you the feeling that WW III is right around the corner. Tornillo is responsible for writing all of the lyrics which is something new for the band. On all past Accept releases, Wolf Hoffmann’s wife Gaby was the main lyricist.

Halfway in, “Locked and Loaded” hits you like a ton of bricks with its full speed metal attack that harkens back to the Restless and Wild days while “Kill the Pain” shows the softer bluesy side of the band with some very tasty soloing by Hoffmann. If you like great metal guitar, you will like every track on here and will not be hitting the skip button. Some listeners may tire of the soldier-like background vocals on most of the tracks that have become an Accept staple beginning with Balls to the Wall but the blazing guitar work and strong lead vocals more than make up for anything negative.

If you are an old-school Accept fan you need to own this and if you have never listened to them before, this is a great place to start. At the end of the year, Blood of the Nations should be near the top of every top 10 hard rock/metal list.

Band:
Mark Tornillo – Lead Vocals
Wolf Hoffmann – Lead Guitar
Peter Baltes – Bass
Frank Hermann – Guitar
Stefan Schwarzmann – Drums

Track Listing:
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. Rolling Thunder
10. Pandemic
11. New World Comin’
12. No Shelter
13. Bucket Full of Hate

Label: Nuclear Blast

Website: http://www.acceptworldwide.com/

Hardrock Haven rating: 9/10