Metal Heart

"Balls to the Wall" is the name of a fantastic portion of pure steel. After the release of this monument, I thought that Accept will take the next step in terms of powerful, identity creating Teutonic heavy metal. But already the kitschy name of the successor served as a warning. And indeed, the troll (Dirkschneider), the narcissistic guitar hero with an affinity for classical music (Hoffmann) and their henchmen offered an embarrassing document of commercialisation and greed for money.

Yes, there are some trace elements of real metal. For example, listen to the beginning of "Midnight Mover" and a few number of further sections which feature a lively guitar work. The wannabe-epic opening title track would be pretty decent without the idiotic classical theme in the guitar solo, although the song does not develop the dramatic atmosphere its authors intended to create. It goes without saying that the grating and pretty coarse voice of the troll does not fit the new musical approach and therefore everything sounds a little bit wonky. But Hoffmann had not yet realised that Dirkschneider was not the suitable lead vocalist for polished, pleasing tracks without edges and corners. Only after "Russian Roulette", he came to this actually evident conclusion. This is surprising, because the troll sounds completely out of place during songs like the unbearably lackadaisical "Screaming for a Love-bite". He performs acceptably in songs with a relatively heavy fundament ("Too High to Get It Right" or "Dogs on Lead"), but this is rather the exception than the norm. Anyway, there is nothing left from the pretty dark mood of "Balls to the Wall". Five happy guys sing and play their happy songs. I am the only dude in this game who is not happy.

The opening riff of "Balls to the Wall" alone is heavier than the entire "Metal Heart" and given this situation, I cannot say that I enjoy any songs or details of the here reviewed work, regardless of their individual class. The crucial fact is that the material reflects a wrong mentality. It is okay to modify your style, but don't kick the old fans in the ass and don't beg for a toothless production. Change your name and publish such a run-of-the-mill product under a new banner, for example "Maybe Still Acceptable". This would have been a fair act, but it seems as if the guitar hero has never been interested in fairness. Instead, he tries to tell us that these melodic, flabby and unspectacular pieces stand in the tradition of "Princess of the Dawn" or "Starlight". Not to mention "Fast as a Shark". This is definitely not the case. Anyway, the German Metal Hammer was excited and promoted the album continuously...

Finally, the lyrics! Let's speak about this conglomerate of nonsense. The troll wants to play "bad games all night long" and he screams "gimme your body", but nobody will ever do this. Okay, he realises correctly that "no one knows what we should do" and he has found a "lifeless piece of steel". Honestly speaking, I do not know anybody who has ever found a lively piece of steel. Even worse, "Metal Heart" is nothing else but a lifeless piece of plastic. "Do me a favour and leave me alone" is another fragment of the lyrics and, frankly speaking, the troll's wish is my command. I disappear and I hope the same goes for the last copy of "Plastic Heart" in the not too distant future.

After the success of their last album "Balls to the Wall", Accept decided to turn to a more radio-friendly sound. The result is one of the best sellouts in metal history, but still a sellout. Everything about this album is friendly. The lyrics are cheesy with no compare outside of hair metal, the vocals are swaggering rather than aggressive, and the same can be said for the music here. Now, plenty of the songs here are good, just not really metal.

After the legendary, but overrated, "Balls to the Wall" Accept wanted more of the success that album got them, and who can really blame them? But still, I wasn't expecting a sellout on quite this level. The first thing I'll really go in detail about is the lyrics. Some songs aren't that bad, such as... okay that's a lie. Every song on here has really cheesy, dumb lyrics. Some though are worse than others, and the title track comes to mind. I suggest you look up the lyrics to it online. With lyrics like those, it's hard to take this seriously as a metal album. The music is somewhat more convincing, but still, even the music is somewhat cheesy itself, following hair metal trends often and overall feeling more and more pop at every turn. This isn't Accept, it's a half-assed version of Motley Crue made even less offensive (which is no small feat, because Motley Crue wasn't exactly brutal death metal by any stretch of the imagination).

The band, along with being more accessible, takes a more simple approach here. Not that any of the bands members were technical gods or anything, but they songs were never quite this simple. As a fan of technical music, the simplicity here is more than a bother. I don't need them to be Watchtower, but I do need them to write songs that aren't so simple a first year guitarist could play them no issue. The classic Accept sound, taking traditional metal and ramping up the aggression, is all but forgotten, as we're left with sub par attempts at recreating metal that was cool back half a century before, and then removing all the real metal elements from that. It's not a pretty sight.

Really, it isn't a bad album, it just 1. Isn't Accept 2. Isn't metal 3. Isn't impressive in the least. If you've been told about Accept and are looking to get into them, do yourself a favor and listen to "Balls to the Wall" or "Restless and Wild" as these are true classics. Also their three most recent releases, as of the creation of this review, "Blood of the Nations", "Stalingrad", and "Blind Rage" are nearly on the level of the after-mentioned two classic albums and are more than worthy of your money and attention.

Wait, it is?! No not anymore, but Accept's 6th studio album "Metal Heart" still remains strong. The German titans had a pretty major hit with their previous album, the legendary but overrated "Balls To The Wall". Here on "Metal Heart" Accept turns even more sharply towards a more radio-friendly direction. Some songs on here get to be pretty syrupy, most with corny lyrics, a few down right bad, and more than a few are classic Accept awesome.

The band is great here but they have scaled back their aggression and raw talent to make something a bit friendlier. Udo adds a bit of melody and swagger to his usual gravelly shouting; he's still fun and cool as always. The guitar team of Wolf Hoffmann and the returning Jorg Fischer make a solid duo, though he and the equally formidable Herman Frank were superior on "Balls To The Wall". Great bassist Peter Baltes unfortunately gets buried some under the high-mixed guitars, though still often audible. Again, he too was better on "Balls" and especially "Restless & Wild". 80's mainstay drummer Stefan Kaufmann rounds the group out. I also though he too was a talented musician and is sadly underutilized a bit here. He does shine on a few tracks, namely "Midnight Mover" or "Wrong Is Right", though we never get to really hear any of that "Fast As A Shark" double bass madness.

"Metal Heart" has one of the strongest starts of any 80's Accept album. The first four songs are all hammering, solid fun. The chugging semi-epic title track kicks it off with a creepy intro featuring a sitar, which then crashes into utter guitar madness including a shrieking solo and the predictable though moody and well-executed chorus. This is immediately followed by the fast and superbly catchy "Midnight Mover". Try as you may, this song's chorus ain't gonna be leaving your silly mortal skull any time soon! The bouncy yet aggressive "Up To The Limit" comes next. It too is quite catchy, though maybe not so much as the previous track. Track four, "Wrong Is Right", is probably the most aggressive song on here, bordering on, but not quite hitting, speed metal territory. It too features some catchiness along the lines of the last two songs. The only other really decent song on here is the moody closer "Bound To Fail". It's far from a bad song, but it doesn't really stick. It probably has the best backing vocals on here; a bit dramatic, but punishing and moody. The other five songs are kind of a grab-bag of quality. The ridiculous "Screaming For A Love-bite" is fairly catchy but the lyrics are utterly ridiculous; it's a song about hickies for crap's sakes! Then there's the downright bizarre, VERY jazz-influenced "Teach Us To Survive", which leaves me scratching my head more than anything with it grooved-out bass and even a finger-snapping solo. Seriously, finger-snapping. Another moody track, "Dogs On Leads", features one of the best riffs on the whole album in the first half of the song, then tosses it out in the second for in favor of some aimless fucking around. Lastly, it's sort of give or take for many on "Too High To Get It Right". Personally, it doesn't do much for me; I find the pace to be upbeat yet meandering, and the chorus rather lazy.

Overall, "Metal Heart" is pretty inconsistent. The more radio-friendly attempts have pushed the band into a land caught between solid heavy metal and sappy, wince-inducing choruses and hooks. It's good for Accept completists, but casual metal fans look elsewhere. Though I do highly recommend the first four songs.

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Classic metal album from a classic metal band? Might as well be true to many metalheads, proclaiming Accept to be one of the most influential, inspiring, powerful acts to tread through heavy metal history. After all, the basic formula for being a classic is there: start in the 70s, exist for a couple of years before publishing your hard rock debut album, make your last album in the mid 90s and afterwards release only live or "best of" albums. Now so far, so good, but this is far from being a classic, or even good for that matter. Overshadowed by other giants of the time, such as countrymen "Running Wild", "Deep Purple" or the mighty "Judas Priest", Accept lack many aspects here that should deliver the goods in a powerful and impressive fashion, or simply should satisfy. Let's take a closer look at what's going on here.

Accept are closer to the Scorpions and hard rock in general, and manage to deliver a sort of watered down, unauthentic delivery when speaking of heavy metal. Now, I'm talking about what I've heard on CD, their live shows are quite renown for great performances and pure energy and they've also made it with shows around the world, such as Japan (where all the musicians seem to end up). "Metal Heart" clearly focuses on more commercial success and a consumer-friendly type of hard rock/heavy metal. With that itself not being a very big flaw, the point is that Accept never was "good" to begin with. Their previous albums were all a big flat fart of music, generated for old people to start with from the first place. With really boring song structures, lame ass vocals and weak lyrics, the band seemingly catapulted itself into stardom and glory, reaching the very top of your typical "bands a metalhead MUST own" pyramid. That, of course, is rubbish in my humble opinion.

"Metal Heart" starts out with the title track that is a fair presentation of balls out 80s heavy metal, yet the guitar tune sounds very shallow and weak, compared to other traditional 80s bands (say i.e. Iron Maiden or WASP). The intro starts out with a rather familiar melody which I can't decipher and shifts into the main theme which really doesn't sound like anything world-moving. The really weird bridge of the song is the primary melody of Beethoven's "Für Elise" which degenerates into a sort of chaotic solo part followed by some chanting, which is not only out of place, but simply wrong. Accept really go for the neoclassical praise here, which I think is pretty damn horrible. Following the opening and title track is the rather catchy "Midnight Mover" that could be your typical pop/glam rock song à la Bon Jovi or consorts, only with Udo Dirkschneider's nerve shattering creaky-squeaky vocals. As a matter of fact, that's really all I can see here: decent to watered down AC/DC riffage with these horrible vocals that make an old hag sound comforting. All songs (Wrong is Right, Too High to Get it Right) follow a decent formula that works with a lot of bands, but just doesn't seem to hit the spot here. Where it worked with AC/DC, it does not work here.

Udo Dirkschneider's vocals never really made it to me, simply because he has that squieky, really annoying voice that reminds me of Steve Souza of the Exodus fame only worse. And the group backing vocals also sound like some B-rated bad teenage movie featuring hair metal bad actors. The songs themselves have a very big similarity to each other, and the album has no climax, no great heights, no real parts where you are animated to move with the music, therefore, this lack of "substance" (as I tend to call a lot of things) is also present here in the form of mediocrity. The lyrics, also an additional expressive force behind the music of the band, are also as dry as the whole composition. I believe they were also not written by the band themselves, but also mostly by a friend of the band called "Deaffy" AKA Gaby Hauke. In other words: there is almost nothing on this album, most heavy metal classics haven't presented years earlier, so the recommendation limits itself to fans of the hard rock track and die-hard fans of 80s metal, but it is definitely not a classic in my eyes. It simply is too bland and soft, not really making a mark on the listener's mind, but simply dragging him into some soft dancy tunes. This is the way you can transform a great concept into something awfully lame. As I have said, only for the die-hard or for those who actually like Udo's vocals.

Accept had a long and storied career, but for some reason I hear little of their most well-produced and mature classic, Metal Heart. This album came after the much-heralded (and deservedly so) Balls to the Wall, but is possessed of an even more refined , varied, and polished approach. Perhaps that is the problem, but for me, the album is just chock-full of great song after great song, and the production is top notch. Putting on Metal Heart and pegging the volume at 10 never gets old. This is an album to smash furniture to - a work of pure Metal greatness, somehow left behind in the morass, but always deserving of another listen.

I've tried to figure out why Metal Heart didn't catch on like Balls to the Wall. Perhaps it is the opening track. Starting off with a strange sitar intro, the song perhaps isn't what was expected for fans looking for more crunch. But listen closer. The rhythm on Metal Heart is delightful and groovy, perfectly syncopated with the drum work, refined yet powerful, with strange dissonant instruments interlaced and Udo's gutteral power vocals growling to the dangers of future technology. Maybe it wasn't the best decision to lead with the title track, in this case. But after years of listening to this work, it really is a nice song. I never skip it when listening to this album. Never. The classical solo break is fantastic -- typical Wolf Hoffman fare, it provides that special break that lifts the song higher. Great guitar tone. Accept *always* got their guitars right.

If you were looking for more devastating speed metal, it's definitely here. You just have to get past the opening track and the attempted commercial rock song Midnight Mover (which I actually like, but anyway...). If you ever get a chance, and you like experiencing vertigo, check out the video for Midnight Mover. I'm not sure if anyone thought this would break Accept into the mainstream, but if they did, they deserved to be fired. But I digress! On to the rest of the album.

Here's where Metal Heart really kicks into gear. Man, I'm telling you, there are tunes on here that blow the doors off everything. Up to the Limit makes me want to smash things. It's an ode to being fed up with pretty much everything. And the rhythm is stomping. Wolf & Jorg provide the guitar lines to punctuate Udo's trademarked delivery. It's fantastic.

Wrong is Right follows right on the heels. This is among the top 5 Accept songs ever. Wrong is Right! Damn straight! You don't know what it's like, to be INSANE! YEEEAAH! If you don't feel something listening to this, you are dead. It's really as simple as that. Put it on, bang thy head, lather rinse, repeat! Gangs roving in the city, burning stuff, getting wasted, destroying everything. Come on, admit it -- this is why you love metal!

Metal Heart doesn't really slow down on the second half at all. There's fantastic material here, if a little more avant-garde. But I love the songs. Dogs on Leads in particular is strange, powerful, and sadistic. It sits in the shadows, waits for its chance, then BAM! Strikes you down with its hammer-blow chorus.

And Teach Us to Survive, with its left-field rhythm stylings and odd vocal lines really works for me. Progressive Accept? This is about as close as it comes. And they pull it off. The thing I always loved about Accept was their willingness to inject the formula with strange, and yet effective, changeups. Metal Heart contains a few of these, and they all really contribute positively to the whole.

And if you thought Accept had gone too far off course, they hit you with a late-album gem, the powerful & lyrical Livin' For Tonight. This is classic Teutonic Accept fare. Stomping rhythms, cruchy guitars with classical stylings thrown in, and up-tempo drum rhythms. The sarcastic and funny Bound To Fail rounds out the track listing, and is also a stomping, well-written up-tempo metal tune. Metal Heart is good from start to finish. There's no front-loading going on here. For a band with as much history as Accept, the fact that they still had this many great ideas is particularly impressive.

Metal Heart is a great, mature effort from a band who knew exactly what they were doing, and had reached a pinnacle of power and songwriting where they could really deliver something exciting and different. Unfortunately, in my opinion people were looking for the next slab of Balls to the Wall smashing/power metal. Although Metal Heart probably sold decently, its impact was quite a bit less than previous works by the band. And that's a shame. This is prime metal, overwhelmingly well-produced and performed, and containing brilliant strokes of songwriting genius along with catchy, memorable themes.

It's one of my favorite Accept albums ever, and I think it should you be yours, too. Give it another listen if you passed it by.

While this album isn't as highly regarded as "Restless And Wild" or "Balls To The Wall," "Metal Heart" is often seen as being the last good album released during the band's classic 80's era. The album is also remembered by fans for its attempt to break into the American mainstream with more commercial songwriting. While the endeavor was ultimately not as successful as the band had hoped, a good album did manage to come out of it...

Musically, I like to think of this album's style as sounding like a combination of what AC/DC was doing around this time and "British Steel" era Judas Priest. The production is polished though helps date the music, the riffs are simplistic but catchy in the AC/DC mold, the choruses and hooks are skillfully executed, and the vocals continue to wail like a cross between Brian Johnson and Bon Scott. In a way, you could say that the rest of the band has finally caught up with Udo in terms of AC/DC emulating.

Of course, not every song is completely immersed in glam/hard rock territory. The title track and "Bound To Fail" are both dramatic tracks with the former boasting a few classical homages and the latter featuring a theatrical choir at the song's climax. "Wrong Is Right" and "Teach Us How To Survive" both bring in faster tempos with the former sounding not out of place on previous albums and the latter bringing in an overall unusual structure. "Dogs On Leads" is another unique tracks and features some building bass-heavy verses and an appropriately snarled chorus.

This album's biggest flaws seem to be centered on its slightly cheesy and dated sound. While there are no relative fillers on the album, a few tracks do have a habit of sounding alike. "Midnight Mover" and "Screaming For A Love Bite" come to mind with their similar chorus executions. The lyrics also have a knack for being rather cheesy, but the band's comprehension on English is about as much to blame as the partying themes at hand...

All in all, this is a great album that should be make a fun listen for Accept fans and 80's lovers everywhere. Worth checking out, but "Balls To The Wall" or "Restless And Wild" would probably be a better first purchase.

Pros:
1) Excellent hooks
2) Accessible songwriting
3) The band sounds great

Cons:
1) A dated sound
2) Somewhat cheesy lyrics
3) A few songs sound similar to one another

My Current Favorites:
"Metal Heart," "Midnight Mover," "Wrong Is Right," "Too High To Get It Right," and "Bound To Fail"

I love 80s metal. No matter how deeply some of the more avant-garde recesses of my music collection try to impress me and tempt me over to a realm of depth and full sensual experience, it’s the simple, stupid enjoyment of 80s bands keeps me coming back for more, and Accept’s 1985 album is a perfect example. It’s called ‘Metal Heart,’ but this isn’t some kind of metaphor for a die-hard heavy metal fan, or elegy for a relationship gone bad, no. It’s a real metal heart. Full of wires and stuff, you can see it on the cover. I love heavy metal!

Unfortunately, the 80s were cursed with another, entirely different strand of stupid music in the form of disco, and Accept were one of several notable metal bands to head in that direction in pursuit of greater commercial success that never really arrived. Fortunately, with its loud and clear production and well adapted riffs, ‘Metal Heart’ is far less offensive to metal fans than Judas Priest’s ultimate dance floor blasphemy ‘Turbo’ released two years later, and should have been forced down those deluded Brummies’ earholes to instruct them how it should have been done. This album is a significant step down from Accept’s previous two releases in terms of speed and aggression, but the talents of lead guitarist Wolf Hoffman and the distinctive, oft-imitated vocal screech of Udo Dirkschneider are fleshed out fully by the impressive production job, making this satisfyingly powerful as well as damn catchy, a fine meeting of traditional metal with commercial rock that only makes a few major slip-ups.

The whole album is based on simple and steady rhythms similar to dance beats without committing themselves, and Peter Baltes’ bass fills in for rhythm guitar very competently when the lead instruments go off on one, as they frequently do. Select songs are drenched in a soaking of keyboards, but these are restricted to atmospheric background duties and fortunately don’t interfere too greatly with the main melodies, as the result would almost certainly be embarrassing. As it stands, there’s only one song that’s truly quite awful and insulting to metal in the form of the (perhaps inevitable) love song ‘Screaming for a Love-Bite,’ ironically the track on which Udo’s voice is uncharacteristically restrained. The obvious song designed around the notion of being released a hit single, everything from the TV-game-show guitar riffs to the mellow singing in the chorus and the boring, monotonous drum plod place this firmly in rock ballad territory, but experienced listeners can easily skip around it on replays.

There are actually several different playing styles evident on this album, which makes the approach of each new track an exciting experience to look forward to, even if it sometimes leads to regret. The opening title track is a slice of pure 80s heavy metal with a long guitar build-up aided by some choral vocals seeming like a mix of Judas Priest’s classic opener ‘The Hellion’ and Manowar’s more bombastic moments, before the whole thing settles into a great riff and a provides a chance for Udo to strut his stuff with the lyrics that are sort of like a more confusing and more silly version of David Bowie’s apocalyptic ‘Five Years,’ though clearly not intentionally. Judas Priest seems to be the main influence, particularly as the playing has generally slowed down from the more distinctive niche Accept had defined for itself with the earlier albums that would eventually be followed almost identically by fellow German bands Running Wild and later Grave Digger. The most impressive moment of this song sees a complete break-off for Hoffman’s guitar, which noodles around with a Beethoven melody before the other instruments get what he’s doing and enthusiastically join in. It’s sad that this is probably the highlight of the album at such an early point, at least from a metal fan’s perspective, but there are plenty more unexpected gems to unearth as the parade continues.

‘Midnight Mover’ is an extremely pop-oriented and frustratingly catchy track that I enjoy and despise in equal measure, taking the album back to the 70s with some early Judas Priest/Deep Purple style hard rock riffs and AC/DC vocals in the verses making Udo even more unbearable, and to top it all off, an overwhelmingly cheesy chorus that for me, instantly conjures the image of a fictional music video of the band performing in make-up and sparkly glitter under flashing pink lights, smooching at the camera. It’s not pleasant, and it’s a fairly embarrassing thing to admit I actually enjoy a little bit, but it at least makes me smile and that’s what’s important. ‘Up to the Limit’ continues the hard rock vein without the terrible pop chorus this time, and as such has no real distinguishing features either good or bad, and ‘Wrong is Right’ rejuvenates the metal influence with an injection of some distinctly Helloween-sounding guitars, particularly interesting as that band hadn’t even started making albums quite yet. The embarrassment of the aforementioned fifth track leads to the album’s dullest section that plays around with ‘Turbo’ style metal but throws up nothing of much interest apart from a nice solo or two, and things improve for the final few offerings.

‘Teach Us to Survive’ is the first song for some time that ends at just the right time, without becoming over-repetitive to bulk out the forty minutes, and features some interesting Spanish-tinged guitar as well as prominent and speedy bass playing and some questionable finger clicking accompaniment towards the end. ‘Living for Tonite’ lives up to its waste-not attitude by launching into full-scale solos right from the onset, though the tediously plodding drums have become pretty dull by this late point in the album, and the whole thing is concluded on a grand scale with ‘Bound to Fail,’ probably the best song aside from the title track. Everything about this final song seeks attention, and it’s clear from the opening lead guitar that we’re either listening to a Christmas song or a grand finale by a band that imagines itself to be ever-so-slightly better than it actually is. Air guitar fans will be in heaven once the song launches into a series of riffs and solos, while the choral vocals come back in full force in an attempt to out-do Manowar, probably succeeding at the point of recording but sadly failing in the ludicrous stakes compared to that band’s later extravagance.

‘Metal Heart’ isn’t the album I’d recommend for fans of heavy metal, or even more specifically the 80s German scene that spawned a number of successful bands still going strong today, but it’s easily the most accessible for a wider audience and doesn’t compromise too much to get there. Anyone who enjoyed ‘Turbo Lover’ should make it a top priority, after which you can smash that sell-out LP and join us over on the dark side.

Metal Heart is pure heavy metal effort. It doesn't get any more "Heavy Metal" than that - the vocals of Udo is the pure examination of a man with a stannum throat installed in a surgery, and the music fits like a glove.

From the beginning of the bombastic title-track, a conquering anthem composed as any metal song should be written and delivered. "Up to the limit" and "Wrong or right" are too catchy hard-rock tunes, both can keep ringing in your head for days. I'm more fond of "Wrong or right" here - because it's faster and more resembling modern metal (we're still in the 80's here when we say "Modern"', alright ? forget about frigging machine head) and all of the first 4 tracks still got their charm, more than 20 years after this album was released.

I'm not a great fond of the B-side of this album, with "Too high to get it right" and "Living for Tonite" are not my kinda mark I want to remember from this legend. "Screaming for a love-bite" sound like an embarrassing song, but you kinda get use to it.

The rest of this album swings from ordinary left-overs (And you can't really say that "Teach us to survive" is brilliant in some way. It's just ain't) and one classic hymn, which stand as the album most magnificent moment - the splended "Bound to Fail".
This album stands tall in the test of time - even against legends of the western metal like Maiden and Manowar (Well, western than Germany any how). "Metal Heart" not only represent a generation of heavy metal music - it also represent the whole eastern side of Berlin Wall and their word in heavy metal - as Accept and this album were chosen beyond the Russian border as the best metal CD of all time.

I can't agree they are all correct - but this album surely shines.

Man...alongside "Restless & Wild" and "Balls To the Wall", this is my very favorite Accept release. All the songs on here are instant classics, memorable and well-penned. Accept always had a somewhat commercial edge in that respect, and despite Udo's harsh, screechy vocals, if you strip that away you get some really catchy tunes. Those choruses will burn themselves into your head in no time, even the simple football chants like "METAL HEART!!! METAL HEART!!!" on the title track.

The haunting intro of the title track with its choir and eerie lead guitar part ushers in a hushed and near-classical feel, bursting into a crushing verse riff that lumbers along like a Panzer. One of my faves here, with its flashy guitar cadenza near the end.

"Midnight Mover" shows the more commercial side of the band with its well-arranged verses and fantastic chorus. Despite the often goofy lyrics Accept had, they actually attempted to be more intellectual on this album in spots, and this song actually features the great lines "You better use your brain/Ooh, you are forever free!" to make its point of nonconformity.

"Up To The Limit" was my ANTHEM on this album lyrically, as it summed up my feelings of anger and frustration at that time in my life, as was "Peace Sells". Starting with a patented catchy guitar riff and drum beat, a driving bassline really moves this tune along, and Udo's angry screams on the chorus made me feel better knowing that there was somebody out there who knew how I felt! "All I can say, out of my way!!!/Before I get to the top!!!"

"Wrong Is Right" is an ode to not running with the herd, and is one of the usual Accept borderline speed metal blasters that only they can do as well as they do. Again, great chorus and how can I not like it when somebody bellows "I'll never believe all the crap they say!"

"Screaming For A Love-Bite" got a lot of radio airplay on my local radio station's metal show, and understandably so, as it is a very catchy little tune. Great solo from Herr Wolf Hoffmann here, blending tasty pinch harmonics with soulful bending, vibrato, and harmonies--who sez the Germans have no soul? Best chorus on the album, too.

"Too High To Get It Right" is a leaden foot stomper with gang vocals that would scare most anybody. Not one of the stronger tunes here, but good nonetheless. The verses are excellent, condemning people who allow themselves to be swindled by others due to their naivete and never learning from it.

"Dogs On Leads" is one of the more experimental tunes on here, featuring clean guitars playing a simple and ominous riff over a pulsing bass part and Udo nearly whispering the vocals until the chorus takes it into the metal but hard!

"Teach Us To Survive" is another fairly experimental tune featuring a jazzy(!) interlude with fingersnaps to throw a curve ball into the proceedings. Good but not great.

"Living For Tonite" is straight up old school metal with no frills, with pounding quarter note bass and simple slashing riffs as well as typically party/violence-oriented lyrics. Again, good but not great.

"Bound To Fail"--wow! A mini-epic if ever I heard one that builds into a massive piece with chanting gang vocals, harmony guitars, and the kitchen sink. A fitting ending to a powerful and moving album.

This was such an essential album for me as a teenager back in the 80s, and I still have it on vinyl, to show you how much it means to me. I will never get rid of it.

Essential and bewitching. "Metal Heart" represents Accept's career pinnacle.

It starts with the homonymous song: an anthem. "Metal Heart" song represents an idea about the future of Mankind (lyrics) in addition to a terrific Wolf's solo: excellent! Then, "Midnight Mover" is a good Heavy Metal song with an unforgettable chorus and a melodic solo. One of my favorites with "Up To The Limit" and "Wrong Is Right". Both songs are frantic and speedy... powerful songs, mighty instruments, overcoat drums and guitars.

"Screaming For A Love Bite" is a declaration of Rock And Roll's values: sex/love unruly! Fenomenal solo, melodic chorus and fun lyrics. My favorite, no doubts. "Too High To Get It Right" is the typical Accept's song... pure classic German Heavy Metal: speedy guitars, aggressive voices and indestructible bass/drums base. The same as "Living For Tonite": for me, the most pretty solo of this record.

"Dogs On Leads" and "Teach Us To Survive" are two weird tracks. They're like AC/DC's music (a Hard Rock band) and not like the classic Heavy Metal sound of Accept. Anyway, they're two very good themes.

Finally, "Bound To Fail" inevitably makes me remind Helloween's music (listen to "Master Of The Rings" and "The Time Of The Oath") Great ending for this real masterpiece.

If you don't have this album, you must buy it: enjoy the band, enjoy the music, enjoy Accept's "Metal Heart"!

Back in the Restless and Wild days, you had "Fast as a Shark", a fast, crushing, furious song and then, "Restless and Wild", more midpaced and accessible than the previous. In Metalheart, all the songs seem to be like the latter, only less vicious and more commercial sounding. Just listen to "Screaming for a Love Bite" (seems like they mixed two songtitles from a certain english band to came up with this) or "Living for Tonite".

Only one song recalls the old, more aggresive days. "Wrong is Right" is speedy and grips you more effectibly than the rest of the tunes in this album. And there's, of course, the memorable title track complete with the Beethoven homage in the middle, then a short guitar solo ("solo" as in unaccompanied by any of the other instruments) and the national hymn-like "Bound to Fail", which is nice too, i guess.

Highlights include the aforementioned title track, the speedy one (do i have to remember you which one is it?) and "Screaming...." which despite the inmense cheesy-ness is actually quite fun to listen to. A huge low point would be "Teach us to Survive", which try to be more atmospheric than the rest of the songs, but fail due to Udo's vocal approach which suits the raw speed metal attack that made this band so familiar. Overall, it is worth the purchase if you like commercial 80s heavy metal, which i'm sure you must do.

Accept were another one in the long row of great traditional heavy metal band that appeared during the 80's. But with all the other huge bands coming out at the same time, they never really got the recognition they deserved. They did get pretty big, but they deserved more.
The vocals of Udo Dirkschneider are what stand out the most on here, considering his incredibly high-pitched vocal style. Say what you will, but you can't change the fact that he fucking owns.
Guitarist Wolf Hoffman is also pretty amazing, delivering tons of catchy, memorable riffs and amazing guitar solos.


The album begins with the powerful title track, Metal Heart. With that amazing driving main riff, singalong chorus and absolutely classic guitar solo, this ranks as one of my favourite songs on the album.

Midnight Mover is slightly weaker, but still great. Very memorable and melodic chorus and killer leads and solos shine, but otherwise it's nothing spectacular.

Next comes Up To The Limit. This is just groovy as all fucking hell. A midpaced song, using the classic formula of bass-driven groovy verses, and Accept do it a whole lot better than Primal Fear, who tries to do it all the time.

Wrong is Right is one of the greatest song on here, probably the second best.
SPEED. FUCKING. METAL. One of the greatest riffs Wolf Hoffman ever wrote is found here, along with possibly the best solo of the album, amazing vocal melodies and the memorable, catchy chorus makes for a fucking monster of a song.
This is nothing less than a true masterpiece.

Then the album goes through six more songs. First we have the melodic, fun and catchy but incredibly cheesy sex anthem Screaming For A Love-Bite, then groovy midpaced Too High To Get It Right, and the midpaced bass-driven Dogs on Leads.
Following that we have the only really bad song found on here, Teach Us To Survive. It's just a boring, failed attempt to create some sort of atmosphere.

Closing the album off, we have the catchy as hell Living for Tonite, and the final track Bound to Fail. I can't even begin to describe the greatness of this song. From the big, melodic opening to the really fucking heavy main riff, to the shouting backing vocals, to the catchy vocal lines to the orgasmic ending section, this song is totally fucking amazing. Clearly the greatest song on the album, even though Wrong is Right is quite close.


There are one bad song here (Teach Us To Survive), and one average (that being Dogs on Leads), the rest is just fun and catchy traditional heavy metal. This is clearly the best work I've heard from Accept.
Song highlights: Metal Heart, Wrong is Right, Bound To Fail.