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Accept - Stalingrad
6 April 2012
01. Hung, Drawn And Quartered
02. Stalingrad
03. Hellfire
04. Flash To Bang Time
05. Shadow Soldiers
06. Revolution
07. Against The World
08. Twist Of Fate
09. The Quick And The Dead
10. Never Forget [bonus]
11. The Galley
When Accept released the album Blood Of The Nations in 2010, it was regarded as the comeback of the year and even won the coveted Metal Storm Award for Best Heavy Metal Album. How does a band follow that up? Apparently Accept thought that the recipe worked just fine and decided to fix just the (few) issues that were wrong with that album and release a new one in the same vein. Andy Sneap also makes a return as the producer, and the sound can be described as clear and immense, which intensifies the experience of every track.
Inject Blood Of The Nations with more dynamism, sick riffs and face-melting guitar solos and cut out some slightly unnecessary parts, and you get Stalingrad. As on most of their albums, the opening track is the best: an over the top classically influenced riff starts this record in the most epic of ways. The best part is the solo: squeezing a scorching, almost minute-long guitar solo in a 4-and-a-half minute track is to be expected when the maestro Wolf Hoffman tickles the guitar. As on many other Accept albums, the next track is also pretty strong, none other than the song which gives this record its title. This song was released online before the album as a kind of teaser, and failed to impress many, but in the context of the album it has a totally different feel. This track is completely Accept but what shines about it is, again, the solo, this time stretched on for almost 2 whole minutes, with not one dull moment.
This sets the mood perfectly for the next few tracks on which though the pace varies, one thing is constant and that is the excellent combination of rough vocals and tasteful guitar work, with great riffs and stunning solos that prove that you can still do traditional heavy metal which sounds good and makes people bang their head. The album's rest ("Twist of Fate") only provides a short breather before going back into heavy territories. As the album's ending we get the reverse: a heavy and slow-paced track that fades out into a beautiful, atmospheric outro with mellow guitars.
This album cements Accept as one of the leading heavy metal bands of our time in an age when bands of the same genre are either preparing to retire or, judging from their current quality, should have stopped releasing new music a long time ago. This is surely not to happen with Accept, who are here to hold high the heavy metal flag once again, and sound the rallying call: it's us "Against the World"!
written by Valentin B | 26.07.2012 |
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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 Druss - 26.07.2012 at 16:37
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| Love the review, Valentin, great work. The last paragraph perfectly reflects, sadly, on how I think of heavy metal nowadays, in that Accept have once more become a band you can rely on for that serving of prime quality heavy metal, when few other bands are doing it right, for me. |
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| Forgot to specify, the song "Stalingrad" quotes the Soviet Union's national anthem. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that seeing the horrific legacy the USSR left on the whole world, but Wolf probably did not want to make it a political statement so I think it's okay. |
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| After digging the hell out of Blood Of the Nations, Restless And Wild, Osaka '85, Donnington '84, et al, I am remiss in waiting so long to get Stalingrad. Thanks for the concise review!! |
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