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Accept: Blood of the nations
19/11/10 || sly
Accept: the band that gave us “Balls to the walls” with a track named “London Leatherboys” and possibly the gayest album cover in metal.
Twelve years having passed since their last forgettable release, my initial response to “Blood of the nations” was, “Wow, Udo’s voice has lowered, improved, and isn’t as grating”. Needless to say, I was surprised to discover that this Udo Dirkschneider is actually some East coast bloke called Mark Tornillo.
Tornillo’s sound is similar to Udo’s in that they both tend to grow quite annoying after four to five songs. Therefore, I suppose that nominates him as a worthy replacement. Following in the “I can’t push out this giant turd” tradition of singing, his vocals are reminiscent of Bobby Blitz and Brian Johnson.
Like most Accept albums – yes, even the classics – about one third stands noteworthy amidst a sea of interchangeable tunes.
The title track is one that refuses to leave the brain, playing in my head in the supermarket, and creeping up on me whilst washing dishes. Essentially, the first four songs are trademark ace Accept, i.e., very Teutonic metal, complete with sing-along background chanting that could rally an entire stadium to the cause of fist-pumping, head-banging, and beer-guzzling. The soundtrack of the heavy metal laborer’s totalitarian utopia. But in reality, they’re only dominating the local Bier Haus.
The remaining nine tracks can be described as rather tantamount ho-hum mid tempo/speed metal which, though adroitly executed, are as exciting as your grandma’s fried bologna breakfast.
Oh yeah, there’s also a very, very, crappy, sappy German metal ballad (though not quite Scorpions caliber) about typical broken love that brings about the death of the soul, the heart, &c., &c. E.g., Das Allerheiligste der Seele wurde durch die Schlampe Ich liebte und machte schreiben diese beschissene Ballade geschüttelt.
Typical seems to be a keyword. There may be a “big buzz” around this album, but it’s just business as usual in Accept Land. Sure they sound genuinely revitalized- no doubt thanks to Tornillo- but they fell into their old routine of releasing a lackluster album that will soon gather copious layers of dust.
The playing is great, say on “Locked and Loaded”. But then there is “Rolling Thunder” which is a shining example of how to write bland, uninteresting song. I like the sometimes Ratt-like riffs and the almost Laibach vibe, but there’s too much of a cheesy “anthemic” eurometal backdrop. Yes, one could argue that Accept is cheese, but they’re more like emmental and I prefer comté.
“Blood of the nations” as an album could be a grower if given the chance. But the handful of remarkable songs would probably be more useful on a “best of” mixtape along with previous satisfying Accept.
Or I could just put on something else and actually enjoy myself.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: www.acceptworldwide.com
- Band
- Mark Tornillo: vocals
- Wolf Hoffmann: guitars
- Herman Frank: guitars
- Peter Baltes: bass
- Stefan Schwarzmann: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Beat the Bastards
- 02. Teutonic Terror
- 03. The Abyss
- 04. Blood of the Nations
- 05. Shades of Death
- 06. Locked and Loaded
- 07. Time Machine
- 08. Kill the Pain
- 09. Rollin’ Thunder
- 10. Pandemic
- 11. New World Comin’
- 12. No Shelter
- 13. Bucket Full of Hate
