Restless and Wild

"I'm a rebel" gave the world a hint of what was coming, "Breaker" forged the raw, heavy Accept sound, but it was with "Restless and Wild" where everything came into place almost exactly as the band wanted them to. The flaming "flying V"s on the cover show exactly what the listener is in for. Heavy metal on fire! Production-wise, the album retains some of the raw AC/DC energy of Breaker and the previous albums, but the metal aspect of the music is highlighted and the sound is heavier, richer and a bit polished, though in retrospect not as polished as it would be on forthcoming releases. The riffing and the rythm section draw more from the Judas Priest side of the band's influences than from the AC DC ones this time.

And then you put the vinyl on and the feast begins. And what a beginning this is! "Fast as a Shark" comes in with an Udo shriek and the riff pounding is on. The song is probably the fastest and hardest hitting that had been on a metal album until that point. (The effect must have been similar to what the 70's listeners got when they first listened to "Overkill" for example). The verses hit you in the face while the chorus is catchy beyond imagination. The double bass drum never stops and soon we hear some classically influenced instrumental sections. Boom. German power metal as we know it, is born! And before you realize what just happened, the eponymous track comes in. Not as fast but definitely as heavy and as catchy, an instant metal classic.

And as classics go, the album is the host of another timeless gem. The closing "Princess of the Dawn" is the ultimate Accept anthem. Its genious lies in its simplicity. In 6 minutes the main riff is repeated countless times and deservedly so. Over that simple, but magically effective riff and rythm canvas, the band has the chance to draw a beautiful painting using the characteristic vocals of Udo and the classical influences of Wolf Hoffman on the solo and the haunting melodies.

Without being the band's intention probably, the existance of these three uber-classics creates a problem for the album. The rest of it, while not having throwaway tracks (far from it actually), gives a sense of unevenness. But the truth is that it is the extra quality of the aforementioned tracks that gives this impression, and not the lack of it on the rest of the album. "Ahead of the Pack", "Get ready" or "Demon's Night" are a worthwhile addition to the band's catalogue, while "Neon Nights" is the mid tempo mini epic that fittingly closes side A.

In total "Restless And Wild" is a 40 minutes riff fest, home to three of the most recognisable metal tracks ever made and seven above average tracks. Its importance lies also on the influence it had on a whole new scene that was coming rapidly and fiercly, (ask Helloween about that!). Never a dull moment, one of Accept's finest moments.

When an album is far and away the best to come out in 1982 of all years, you know it's something special. I'll keep my arbitrary praising of Restless And Wild to a minimum for the sake of brevity, but just pay heed to the title of this review and know it's almost impossible to describe the power of this album. The first major talking point here is the riffs, which are classic and empowering (this could be said for most NWOBHM/trad of the 80s, but the muscle and uniqueness of a lot of these tracks goes beyond power chords and flashy pentatonic noodling). Songs like Shake Your Heads and Demon's Night just fucking crush and even ignoring how heavy they are for the time, the catchiness and swing is on another level and taps into Accept's older classic rock influences.

This is another reason why I think this record is so iconic; it's the perfect combination of happier, more jumpy rock similar to Mercyful Fate's Melissa (another 100-percenter from me whenever I decide to review that) and much heavier, even morbid-sounding newfound speed metal, though it's important to note that Accept had pioneered this subgenre especially on Restless And Wild, so they should be credited with helping mould the genre rather than imitating earlier bands to create the heavier moments on this record. Then there's the lead guitars, and it's honestly unbelievable how Wolf Hoffmann composes these dual harmonies on his own. He's never been much of a prolific guitarist in metal and certainly deserves more credit when it comes to how incredible and consistent his playing has been over the years even when Accept as a band hasn't been, and even more so on this album since I consider Restless And Wild to be Accept's peak. I would even argue that Restless And Wild is the peak of heavy metal itself, if it weren't for a couple of albums that came out in the following years.

Songwriting for this album saw a massive step up from Breaker, which was great in the first place. The odd lengthier tracks see a lot of experimentation with middle sections and perfect cohesion despite each of the members shining individually. Udo's voice isn't exactly different on here from past or future records, but his classic high-pitched shriek is at its most powerful and confident here. Even during slower or softer parts the guy proves that he has an incredible voice too. Speaking of softer sections, Restless And Wild seems to be far less focused on ballads than its predecessor with the only track that could pass as a ballad being Neon Nights. Neon Nights is another song that brings chills to my spine from just reading its name, and while it definitely sounds cheesy at first, the music itself develops from a beautiful acoustic intro into a loud, but still intimate power ballad with some of the best guitar lines ever written.

Considering the album in its entirety, side A wipes the floor with side B, but this doesn't mean there are necessarily any filler songs. In fact, all of the tracks are brilliant in their own right, but side B tends to be less epic-sounding and delivers classic, more old-fashioned riffing. One thing that does remain a constant during the runtime though is that the music never stops being fun. Even re-listening to this album for the thousandth time while writing this, the record finished way earlier than it felt it should've, and this isn't a short album either. The production value is insane. Gone is the thinness of Breaker, the tone of this record is a mid-heavy surge where everything is balanced and the overall mix isn't too loud but the product is just pure electric. Even the rather raw guitar tone leading to some scratchiness in quieter parts is much preferred to an over-processed sound. Even the drums sound well-produced and not too flat nor too trebly.

While it's almost impossible to pick highlights due to the sheer consistency and strength in the songwriting, there are definitely two songs here that stand tall, and stereotypically happen to be the opener and the closer. Starting with Fast As A Shark; an upbeat, uplifting, intense rager of a speed metal anthem with a blistering solo and attention to concision through delivering everything a great song should in barely 3 minutes. This song is ubiquitously agreed as the greatest song that Accept has recorded and there really isn't much to argue against that. Then to finish the album, Princess of The Dawn showcases pretty much the opposite with a length of 6 minutes and an amazing use of dynamics and a bewildering implementation of ornamented sections and ambience. This track oddly reminds me of Stargazer due to its epic, Eastern sound and relying on the lead guitar to reach the climax of the song while still being centred around the main riff.

While it isn't topping lists on Loudwire and isn't even a recognisable release to most contemporary metalheads, Restless And Wild is a mind-bending experience in every aspect, one of my top 3 albums of all time and a bullet train of everything right with metal music in one package. Accessible but also unrelenting in terms of speed and heaviness, there really are no weak points or even slight annoyances. You're doing yourself a disservice if you haven't listened to this yet. This album is about as close to perfection as an album could be.

Germany's greatest and most influential heavy metal institution today has quite a tremendous backlog of albums (including their works released with both Udo Dirkschneider and his capable successor, Mark Tornillo, on vocals), and while Accept's records have noticeably varied in quality over the years, it generally always seems related to the songwriting rather than the style at hand. Decades of devotion to a flavor of traditional heavy metal that places over-the-top sensibilities into an accessible and approachable camp mean that Accept has proven to be a remarkably unpretentious band. The central aspect that really renders this band too mean to die is best described as veteran axeman Wolf Holfmann's courageous approach to writing punchy rhythms, in a manner that has consistently produced the most badass of metal anthems, something that took on its strongest form with 1982's Restless & Wild.

Unpretentious this fourth Accept album truly is, for while it has the same degree of attitude as the classic Balls to the Wall that would become its sequel the following year, it often comes off grimier and more unrestrained, striking a perfect balance between musical refinement and rawness. The latter appeal can mostly be accredited to the greater touches of early speed metal to be found across just under half of the tracks here, as well as the fact that Restless & Wild, as well as its predecessor Breaker, contain songwriting that serves as a necessary bridge from the less worked out material of their first two albums, to everything from Balls to the Wall onwards. As such, what we have here proves to be a positively essential chapter of a world class heavy metal band's development, as well as the entire genre's development on a larger scale.

Elaborating on Accept's importance to metal, I might as well go ahead and liken Hoffman's guitar work to that of Tony Iommi in its daringness, its willingness to "go for the throat" for its time (sans the doom and gloom is all), fleshing out both faster-paced and more melodic heavy metal characteristics to be immediately recognizable to this day, only a few years after Judas Priest had laid down the initial groundwork in the second half of the 1970's. An example of the forward thinking instrumentation, beyond the iconic opening charge of "Fast As a Shark" (its German nursery rhyme used as an intro literally chosen because Accept knew their sound was pushing the limits of heavy metal in the early 80's, in humorous contrast) include the banger of a title track that immediately follows, the opening riff of which astutely integrates some heaviness-maintaining power-chords into the rhythm base of palm-muted triplets, further defining a heavy metal guitar motif.

Speaking of defining metal-isms, many well-learned metalheads may know "Flash Rockin' Man" for containing the same hook that... every... trad heavy... band... ever... uses. However, this was before Saxon, Maiden, Dio, or Mercyful Fate did, thus further cementing the props Wolf Hoffman deserves - it is a damn good basis for a hook after all, another reason why choosing a core note to return to, for rhythm's sake, in between playing the melodic notes of the riff that actually vary, has proven so effective (as every good thrash metal bands knows). Beyond praises for the music from a compositional standpoint, however, the overall sound of Restless & Wild is so damn appealing and down to earth to begin with because most of its tunes are those you can CRANK for a sheer adrenaline rush; even the more paced ones like the closer "Princess of the Dawn" keep the listener on the edge of their seat with the right kind of musical buildups. Having an iconic frontman like Udo Dirkschneider in the fold, then, proves beyond doubt that this record will get your blood pumping arguably more than any traditional heavy metal release from the earlier 80's. "Neon Nights" is therefore a welcome inclusion as the one decidedly laid back song, although if it had the letter "K" in the title, it might be a driving enough metal song to send bloodied angels fast descending.

Accept's Restless & Wild is not a heavy metal record that leaves much to the imagination, but is a phenomenal experience especially for those who enjoy metal on a truly primal level. Nonetheless, it should be obvious that it never comes off as actually primitive or dumb at all with its visionary guitar work, ever-present rhythm base keeping the energy up, Dirk-schneider-ing vocals of insane wonderment, and all the like. Lastly, although comparing their music from this time period to some of my other most acclaimed heavy metal bands reveals less atmosphere or suspenseful gloom than Angel Witch or Mercyful Fate had, Accept do come across as a little more reliant on their core instrumentation in the best ways imaginable, validating the essential components of heavy metal music to be as indispensable as they are ferocious (unless you waste your time pulling revisionist opinions out of your ass that are nothing more than tepid, hollow, genuinely unconvincing fraud - just for the sake of it).

Notwithstanding fact cover design to Accept's fourth full-length release, Restless And Wild, parallels and brings to amplified mind fellow latter-day countrymen Syrence, with their 2019 heady rocker, Freedom In Fire, am also flummoxed by colleague Felix1666's stark assertion that hilariously corny German folk music intro leading into speed metal twinkling star "Fast as a Shark" is "non-funny" -- but those are simply semantics, my friends, as what Metal Archives review compilation would be complete without token homage to Teutonic trad metal greatness? Heretofore, we celebrate which amounts, in my opinion, to Accept's classiest, most commemorative album.

Indeed, I find myself returning to this ten track blitz of a hard rock-meets-classic metal firewall which, beginning with aforementioned opening bullet - the equivalent of Judas Priest's manic lead-choked "Exciter", from 1978, insofar as genre nascency is concerned, yet while also precursor, you could say, to Wolf's "Overture in C Sharp_Shark Attack" one-two combo, from as late as 2014 - and terminating by way of slowly glittering masterpiece "Princess of the Dawn", reminds me of late party arrival cross between JP's Stained Class and Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast, from same year (of Water Dog, if my knowledge of Chinese Zodiac signs is accurate).

Amazingly, there's a slight glam element coursing through this thing; you'll find it within parameters of "Neon Nights" (quite indicative, in name, also) and next-to-(b)last, "Don't Go Stealing My Soul Away" (ditto). Such is only just, while appointing a well-"accepted", neighbourly yeoman's call, whence considering my sister and family's annual Summer forays to Old Europe i.e. France, to visit Pop's side of the tree. "Restless and Wild", as title track, ferments rock solid backbone to museum piece, with its super suave, rollicking riff gallop and poised, back-br(e)aking power chord antics. The opening verse, with its cool-as-fuck natural harmonics and Udo's rueful, scrunchy wails, sets tone for entire album. The gang backed chorus, in itself, is a rarity.

Such it not case for stalwart, hyper-influential axman Wolf Hoffman's neatly kinked out and frizzled, oft precariously dangling, guitar play. If the fun, punchy riffing of "Ahead of the Pack" fails to incur carefree bouts/swaths of air guitar malady, rest assured, solos are aplenty and ("shoot me") aflame. Even the former's guileless frivolity is juiced up by Hoffman's crackling six-string acrobatics. Rhythm wise, the loud, workman-like, AOR crafted drums of Stefan Kaufmann loosely connect with bassist Peter Baltes' steady, platonic lines, resulting in a stock, Alcatrazz/Spartan Warrior kind of plodding (st)rut. (As we know, it works wickedly on "Princess of the Dawn" - a legacy, in own right.) Nonetheless, this incurs monotonous momentum within last two thirds (i.e. three tracks) of Side A. Thankfully, Wolf is around, baying and belting out orchestral magnificence wherever stagnation risks losing the listener.

Side B courts equal disaster with sole, pedantic filler, "Get Ready", a steroid enhanced and electrified, psych pumping blues ditty you could have easily fooled me into believing was David Lee Roth and Slade, or worse, early 21st century Def Leppard-of-the-beer-coaster variety. Oh, even our esteemed guitarist falls for the bait, yielding nothing more than a hackneyed g(r)ift of a warmly pleasurable, albeit tepid and saccharine, nature. Udo's half-ass growl, cutting it at the neck, as swampy, Thin Lizzy-ish "Demon Night" rekindles the inferno. Hell, the refrain is clear dead-ringer for Irishmen's "Cold Sweat"? So what! As inferred, "Flash Rockin' Man", with its "Two Minutes To Midnight" patterned chromatic - not traumatic - riff (raff) and cannily Priest-like, squat mini-leads, nary lets up.

Plus, the killer backing sound fx and (r)amped up rhythm (around 02:33) paves a charred bush path for pumped return to form before the radio-friendly, AC/DC reminiscent crow talker "Don't Go Stealing My Soul Away" makes grand, slam-dancing entrance with cowbell and drunken Dirkschneider coasting into yet another Scorpions/(very early) Def Leppard evocative chorus worth traipsing around to.

This time, the Accepters' true gem remains "Princess of the Dawn". Imagine your favourite flavoured bubble gum with toughest resilience and long-lasting "chew" factor. In other words, the cloying, unwavering drum beat, determined bass pulse and radically checked, palm-mutes cumulate into veritable, kaleidoscopic sonic-pallet - of the less is more variety. Its cathartic bridge and eventual, relaxed deployment of fretboard versatility encompass my fondest Accept/Wolf Hoffman (rite of) passage. Like a radioactive David Gilmour on peyote and civet-cat shat arabica, our man duly (t)rips, evermore with clean strums, alongside coyly East Indian sounding, twirling solo; the synthesized sprinkling a la Megadeth (think "Holy Wars/The Punishment Due") is, to put mildly, priceless - or princely, whichever!

Restless And Wild might not be Accept's finest hour, or apotheosis, but prevails as this 'head's one-off entry/contribution to its MA annals. (I once heard a recipe for apple pie related in German, which sounded so terrifying, now understand why our Germanic friend fails to find humour in said loony prologue shenanigans.)

"Restless and Wild" was doubtlessly an early document of metallic straightforwardness. During their longstanding career, the guys of Accept - or, to be more precisely, Wolf Hoffmann - made a lot of wrong decisions, at least in my humble opinion. Yet all these pretty flawed outputs like "Metal Heart", "Russian Roulette", "Eat the Heat" and almost every other album after 1983 cannot conceal the fact that the dudes from Solingen fought already with machine guns while the vast majority of their "competitors" was still throwing cotton pads in order to destroy the enemy lines and gain new territories. Lo and behold, Accept were more successful than the rather cowardly acting other formations.

In terms of music, "Restless and Wild" does not mark a titanic masterpiece. The stomping "Shake Your Heads" is okay, but it fails to captivate me. "Get Ready" with its good-time-riffing kicks off the B side in a comparatively poor manner, although its chorus has a dynamic element. Yet the integrity of the band, the honest music and the vigorous production guarantee a lot of purity, authenticity and clarity. Not to mention that the album houses some classics. But no, I am not talking about "Fast as a Shark". Honestly speaking, a good yet primitive and pretty clumsy prototype of speed metal, introduced by a non-funny intro and a siren-like scream of Udo, the later "Mastercutor", "Dominator", "Rev-Raptor" and whatever "-or". Someone had to write such a song in order to push metal on the next level and Accept did it. Thus, they triggered an avalanche of speed and thrash metal and this is the outstanding feature of the song, not the music itself. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, it is definitely a good opener. Anyway, now I want to put the focus on the real classics of the full-length.

How many songs have a riff which can challenge the riffing of "Princess of the Dawn"? And how many albums have such an impressive closer? "Princess of the Dawn" grows constantly and invites the listener to creep deeply under the skin and into the soul of this track. It shines with the mother of all jagged riff and despite its slightly monotonous design, the song only leaves very little room for optimization. The title track is less edgy. It develops a rather anthemic character and the clear structure makes it easy to get access to the song. The third song that stands out is... not existing. But it does not matter. The further material has never entered the top positions of my personal charts, but it delivers robust metal songs that convince with their down-to-earth approach. It comes as no surprise that the songs are based upon conventional patterns, but the catchy choruses and the band's instinct for a proper flow lend them the highly appreciated liveliness. Solingen, the home town of the band, is well known for its blade production and its stainless steel (at least in Germany) and this reputation matches perfectly with Accept's offering: traditional, simple, but potentially lethal at the same time.

Production-wise, the album can be described as direct, well defined and vigorous. This and the fact that lukewarm ballads like "Breaking Up Again" from "Breaker" did not find a place on "Restless and Wild" ensure that the album with the iconic artwork is free from duds. It is not as brutal as "Balls to the Wall" and "Breaker" is more manifold, but "Restless and Wild" enables the listener to have a nice headbanger session and I hope you agree that this is always a nice thing.

Reliant on the Judas Priest and NWOBHM influences that remained as pillars for their musical foundation, Accept released their fourth album in which they show a somehow different sound. In this release, the band takes the heavy metal music into new depths of speed and insanity, while its songs display an astonishing balance between aggression and melody. And said balance made this album one of the most referred influences for the mid-80's German power metal.

In a really funny and unexpected fashion, the album starts with their insane speed metal steamroller "Fast as a Shark", which definitely is the fastest song in their catalogue. Due to its extremely fast pace and vicious guitar playing, the song became an inspiration on which many European thrash metal bands relied. Thereafter, the album runs in a lower pace, without making the album inconsistent.

Besides, "Ahead of the Pack" and the title-song keeps the thrashy vibe that the album pretends to show. While the former starts with a stunning mid-paced tempo that became widely used in the thrash metal music, the latter has a crushing galloping riff reminiscent of the Judas Priest version of "Diamonds and Rust" (did Destruction take notes from this one?) that definitely turns the song into a thrashy number. Conversely, their epic closer "Princess of a Dawn" goes a little bit slower and is much more melodic; however, the crunchy NWOBHM inspired riff that runs throughout the song and the outrageous guitar solo makes of this number such a haunting and enjoyable piece.

Although the album is heavily reliant on the NWOBHM and Judas Priest influences, many things made the difference. Firstly, Wolf Hoffman's guitar sounds more distorted than the guitars played by NWOBHM. Secondly, Kaufman's drumming is unpredictable and his techniques once again, remained as a valious item for the incipient thrash metal bands. Finally, Dirkschneider's shrieky voice became an icon not just for this release, but rather, for Accept's 80's discography. And despite the fact that the album did not reach the commercial heights of its successor, surely, Restless is an album that remains as a really recommended item for those who want to live the golden moments of heavy metal music and want to dig further on the genesis of many metal subgenres.

This is Accept's best album. There are faults to the album, but nothing massive. This is also the only year of their catalog where I would honestly argue that they had the best metal album of a given year. Classics such as Screaming For Vengeance and Number of the Beast were released, but frankly, this is slightly better.

Compared to the other two, Accept have the more technical guitar playing. Hoffman has a classical bent to his solos and they are the better for it. There weren't many guitar players who could do this and Maiden's weren't among them. Priest would get there, but they weren't there yet. Hoffman's riffs are also very good, and songs like Get Ready and Flash Rockin' Man sport excellent riffage. The others do as well, but the soloing is enough to give Restless and Wild a small advantage.

The vocals on this album aren't as strong for Restless. Udo is an excellent metal vocalist. He has a very enjoyable and at times mocking snarl and very good range. His opening scream on Fast As A Shark is as iconic as the one to Angel of Death or Painkiller. Many people don't like his vocals, but I enjoy the aggressive rasp. Against many other singers Udo would have an easy win. Dickinson and Halford aren't normal singers, they are metal deities. This is still close.

The drumming on this album is pretty good. He can pound pretty fast when he needs to and his use of the double bass is rather impressive given the time frame. Fast As a Shark is one of the best best examples of his prowess. This is an easy win over Holland and still a win over Burr. This gives Restless back the edge.

The bass playing strikes me as a relative low point on this album. I can't hear him very often and he doesn't do much when I can. Ian Hill is essentially the same on Screaming, but not Harris on Number. This is the first solid defeat for Restless, and it gives Maiden a small lead over Accept followed by Priest.

Finally, the most important thing: actual songs. They all peak at a similar level: Fast As a Shark vs. Electric Eye vs. Hallowed Be Thy Name, but what about consistency? Well, I previously mentioned that I would junk the middle two songs from Screaming. That makes a little under a fifth. On Number, I would drop The Prisoner, Acacia Avenue, and Gangland. That's a big chunk, about forty percent. Restless doesn't trough as badly as any of these. Perhaps Don't Go Stealing my Soul Away could be dropped. That's less than ten percent.

This is the strength of Restless and Wild. It is the most consistent of the bunch. There is no song on here as bad as Gangland or Take These Chains. This album is much deeper and as such deserves the higher rating. I don't think nearly as highly about the rest of their catalog, but for one album, they bested their teacher, Priest, and the new kid, Maiden. I would recommend this to any fan of early metal, power metal, and hard rock.

I think I owe Accept an apology. First review on this site some months back was of their follow-up album, "Balls To The Wall". It's not one of my favorites, aside from the great title track and a few other okay numbers. But Accept is one of my favorite bands really, and I've been meaning to follow up with this one for a while. Why "Restless And Wild"? It's probably the band's best offering of the 80's, no doubt one of their best ever. It's aggressive, memorable and more than ready to kick ass all over the place.

First off the whole band is stellar on this set. Udo Dirkschnieder's unique, raspy screams and mellow mid-level vox are a testament to the man's enduring passion for metal; watch for the shrieks on "Fast As a Shark" or "Flash Rockin' Man"! Wolf Hoffman is just a fucking cool guitarist, plain and simple. His solos are blazing and inventive, with lots of wild proto-thrash shredding on some tracks. Peter Baltes is on bass, wowing all with the band's signature crunchy, teutonic heaviness. Rounding out this fearsome foursome is the great Stefan Kaufmann on the kit. He's truly an underrated drummer; this guy practically perfected the double bass for all future metal drummers, not to mention, he's fast as fuck.

Aside from a few so-so tracks (ie the heavy but forgettable "Get Ready" or atmospheric but boring "Neon Nights"), we have a pocketful of cool classics. The record starts with the legendary "Fast As A Shark", with it's silly joke intro giving way to a vicious Dirkschneider scream and white-hot Kaufmann double bass jackhammering; the album is worth the price alone for this speed demon. Immediately following is the title track with its catchy, galloping riffage and a solo that somehow manages to be faster and heavier than the one on "Fast As A Shark"! A personal favorite is "Demon's Night", with its evil sense of mood and some stellar bass work from Mr Baltes. The heavy as hell "Flash Rockin' Man" makes large use of THAT riff, which was probably first used by Riot on "Swords And Tequila", then later by Venom on "Welcome To Hell", Megadeth on "Skin O' My Teeth", and most famously by Iron Maiden on "2 Minutes To Midnight". Closer "Princess of The Dawn" is rife with a non-stop riff, a near fairy tale atmosphere and some of Dirkschneider's more mellowed out vocals. But then, "Princess of The Dawn" ends as soon as "Fast As A Shark" began...

Overall, it's a classic. It's not perfect (some songs could have been left out or changed up), but the whole band is mostly stellar and the better songs are fucking unforgettable. One can see why this speed classic put the great Accept on the forefront. To bad this formula didn't last long...

All the albums from Accept's classic era, 1981-86, are essential but this for me, is certainly the most impressive and influential. Like all Accept albums, It's not "All Killer Zero Filler" but the killer here, mainly in 2 tracks, is fucking HOLOCAUSTAL.

Serial neck snapper number one = Fast As A Shark. The highlight of this album and probably of their whole career. The term "Classic" tends to be thrown around easily by people but NOBODY can deny the quality of this. From the hilarious prank, German folk music intro to the furious thrashy guitarwork, UDO's unmistakable vocals and the loveable Power Metal chorus, this is a metal work of art. The guitars are heavy as hell & for 1982 this is TERRIFYING. Dave Mustaine and Gary Holt were probably scribbling in their notepads like maniacs when they heard this.

The other big highlight of the album is the track "Flash Rockin Man" which maybe barring Priest's "Saints In Hell", is one of the first thrash breaks ever used! Most of the song is taken up by the infamous "most loaned riff" first used by Venom on "Welcome To Hell", and is a solid but unspectacular traditional metal piece up until 2:30 that is, when they set the intense meter up to 11 with a CRUSHING thrash riffset, which they continue for about a minute. Welcome to the father of the bay area scene.

In the other 8 tracks however, half of them are sleeping tonics and the quality of the album significantly takes a dip in the middle, with 3 completely forgettable tracks in a row. You will shake your head at "shake your heads", "Neon Nights" is a joke next to the Sabbath number and in "Get Ready", you'll have to, for something remotely interesting in the next song!

Great riffs and memorable choruses certainly crop up on other numbers here tho, like the title track with its Venom meets Maiden, crunchy Gallop and on "Ahead Of The Pack" which follows suit with choppy, thrashy riffs. "Princess Of The Dawn" has a different format to the other songs here as it's more drawn out and atmospheric with mellow vocals from UDO, another winner tho.

UDO's vocals are a signature to the Accept sound and are an acquired taste. It's a high pitched, deranged style which certainly on my first hear, raised my eyebrows but in time should grow on you as the metal is so great, like King Diamond and Mercyful Fate.

So, the most impressive factor about this album is "Fast As A Shark" and the guitars, which for 1982, are the CLOSEST thing to thrash you will hear and that to my ears is THRASH on the break in "Flash Rockin Man". 2 years before "Ride The Lightning" and "Haunting The Chapel" launched the genre.

One of the Classics. If you don't own this, you are not metal.

This disc is real Speed Metal album. It starts with the classic song "Fast As A Shark" a show of real fast and furious Heavy Metal with an incredible bass/drums base and the most influential solo of the story of Metal. Yes, because we can hear it in many albums of Power Metal (look at Helloween and many more)

Then "Restless & Wild", "Ahead Of The Pack" and "Shake Your Heads" invite us to a Heavy Metal party!!... they're very strong with great solos and onslaughter bass/drums bases.

After, "Neon Nights" is a dark song that makes me remain some pasagges of Black Sabbath's music ('70s) and Udo's voice is sweet but mighty. Then "Get Ready" is a melodic track with influences of Kiss (check the chorus) in a rocker stripe... good song. "Demon's Night" and "Flash Rockin' Man" turn on the acelerator and carry us to a world full of fun, when Heavy Metal is the King! They are full of aggressive voices and virtuosity...

"Don't Go Stealin' My Soul Away" that has the same rhythm and theme lyrics that "Lose More Than You've Ever Had" ("BTTW") and "Screaming For A Love Bite" ("MH"): melodic muscic with sex/love lyrics. One of my favorites

Finally, a classic: "Princess Of The Dawn". Dark and intense, mid-tempo... incredible. Good riffs and voices.

This full-lenght is a killer! I recommend it.

To anybody who says this is anything less than classic, I ask my customary question: what the hell are you smoking? "Restless And Wild"...a buddy of mine in high school taped this album for me one time and it owned my tape deck for ages! From the amusing intro of German folk music cut off by that heartstopping shriek from Herr Udo Fucking Dirkschneider (one of the most unique metal voices out there on a par with Lemmy) to the ominous ending of "Princess of the Dawn", this album is as pure uncut metal as it gets. Everything in between those two songs is pretty damn classic as well.

"Fast as a Shark"--bliss!!!! That opening riff and the twin guitar solo section gets me going out of my mind in record time, *every* time. The title track is great also, featuring those classic German gang chants on the chorus--the Germans were never much on backing vocals, so they make with the football chants! Other standouts for me were/are: "Shake Your Heads" (..."til your brains are burning!") and "Princess of the Dawn"--I love that long solo section! Wolf Hoffman is one of my favorite underrated metal guitarists, and his quirky, distinctive style gets the spotlight here in an extended showcase of melodic, passionate stringbending and fleet-fingered classically-tinged scalar licks that are beautifully assembled into a cohesive whole. The opening riff of "Princess..." also gets high marks for its attention-getting sound, something Accept were masters at on a par with AC/DC, that of commanding opening riffs that recurred throughout the song and both grabbed and held your attention but good.

But really, this whole album is brilliant from start to finish. Even the slightly weaker tunes, like "Get Ready", and "Flash Rockin' Man" are better, catchier, and heavier than much of what was out there in 1982. It is one of my three fave Accept albums, and I spent lots of time absorbing this timeless release as a laddie, as should you other youngsters out there so you can understand where it all came from.

With classics such as Fast As A Shark and the title track, Restless & Wild is probably Accept's most well-known album, and many would say it's their best. However, I beg to differ.
The songwriting on this one is a bit underdeveloped compared to some of the stuff you'd find on Balls To The Wall and Metal Heart, for example. Flash Rockin' Man for example is a very solid song, but it could be much more.
However, most of the stuff on here is totally killer. The classic Accept style - pure metal riffs, Udo's rough, high-pitched vocals and loads of memorable melodies - is as strong as always, but this one also takes some influences from 70's hard rock, and at times gets slower and more groovy. Neon Nights and Get Ready are good examples of this, but it's evident through most of the songs. They do it well, and we get some really catchy material on here.

The best songs on here are the two first, Fast As A Shark and Restless & Wild. Fast As A Shark begins with a silly yet hilarious intro; a gramophone playing some old bizarre thing, then abruptly stops, and Udo Dirkschneider introduces himself with the shriek of a madman. If that's not metal, I don't know what is. And how about the actual song? A masterpiece, among the band's best material. Speed metal riffage, double bass drumming, headbanging and singalong guaranteed. And check out that ripping solo section with that unusually melodic lead section towards the end! Conclusion; Wolf Hoffman owns you. Definitely the highlight of the album.
Restless & Wild is more midpaced, and features some very interesting mood changes. The riffwork is excellent too, especially the galloping vers riff and the melodic chorus riff. Also check out that powerful anthemic middle section- "You are the man made for highway life!" Awesome. Another masterpiece.

The rest of the stuff ain't bad either. Shake Your Heads has that awesome opening riff: It's pretty slow, but it screams metal like nothing else, just like the entire song. Definitely another highlight. Neon Nights is very moody and atmospheric, and incredibly well done. The memorable chorus and the killer solo section stand out. We have Demon's Night, which features some absolutely sinister riffs and vocals, with badass lyrics to boot. And that chorus!
Don't Go Stealing My Soul Away is probably the song that is most reminiscent to their Balls To The Wall material. Especially that chorus, which is totally in the vein of Losing More Than You've Ever Had.
Princess of the Dawn is a slow paced, very atmospheric tune unlike anything they've done before really. The acoustics on the chorus parts stand out, as well as the general atmosphere of the song, which is incredibly well done. Excellent closer for an excellent album.


Some of the songs on here could be better with some more thought put into the songwriting, and a louder production would only do good. But despite some slight flaws, this is still an essential heavy metal album and an undeniable classic. Standout songs are Fast As A Shark, the title track and Shake Your Heads and the straightforward rocker Get Ready, but the entire album rocks. A must own for any metalhead.