Stalingrad: Brothers in Death

Much like Overkill’s Ironbound, Blood Of The Nations was seen by many listeners as Accept’s glorious comeback and one of their strongest releases to date. But while Overkill never split up, Blood Of The Nations was Accept’s first studio album in nearly fifteen years and had a new singer replacing the classic Udo Dirkschneider. Needless to say, the group’s second album with Mark Tornillo has a lot to live up to.

As expected, things have been scaled back on here in comparison to the previous release. There are only ten songs instead of twelve this time around and there aren’t as many longer tracks. Yet at the same time, the uplifting feel has been retained and the energy is as aggressive as ever.

The band dynamic also hasn’t changed much as the guitars are instantly commanding, the bass is present, and the gang vocals retain their choral yet ballsy flavor. Tornillo’s performance is also strong and seems to be a little more comfortable this time around, leading one to blasphemously wonder if he may turn out to be a better fit for the band than Udo ever was. He certainly has a stronger grasp of the English language and Andy Sneap’s signature production touches certainly don’t hurt.

Even if there aren’t as many tracks as before, there is a good deal of variety. A good number of the album’s songs are faster paced tracks driven by upbeat riffs and the contrasts of the lead and gang vocals. This is best demonstrated on “The Quick And The Dead” and “Revolution” though “Hung, Drawn, And Quartered” makes for a great opener and “Against The World” makes for some dumb fun.

There are several outliers that help keep things interesting. The band’s grandiose side can be seen on the triumphant title track and “The Galley,” the latter being the longest track on here with its somber guitar finish and the former appropriately including a snippet of the Soviet Union’s national anthem. “Hellfire” is also noteworthy and has an upbeat feel similar to “Pandemic” with some foreboding guitar melodies.

“Shadow Soldiers” and “Twist Of Fate” are easily the album’s most unusual songs. Both are slightly darker tunes with melodic touches that are just shy of power ballad territory. But while the former reminds one of the classic “Head Over Heels,” the restrained refrains on “Twist Of Fate” sound like early Dokken for some reason. It’s definitely an intriguing listen that makes a little more sense when you consider that Peter Baltes was that band’s original bassist…

As expected, Stalingrad serves as an entertaining follow-up to one of the greatest comeback in the last ten years but is ultimately not quite as mind blowing. That said, the songwriting is just as great and manages to prove that the previous album wasn’t just a lucky shot. One can wonder if they’ll ever pursue a darker direction but you also shouldn’t try to fix something that isn’t broken…

Current Highlights:
“Shadow Soldiers”
“Revolution”
“Twist Of Fate”
“The Quick And The Dead”
“The Galley”

Originally published at http://suite101.com

Among the more appropriate subjects for a metal band of any stripe to cover is the battle retrospective, though the preferred era tends to be a bit more specialized depending on the sub-genre in question. The modern warfare era generally tends to work best amongst styles with an equally modern perspective, thus bands toting a traditional heavy metal or power metal sound share a uniquely fitting place in dealing with 20th century warfare alongside their death and thrash metal competitors. Something about the driving, melodic anthem character of these largely 1980s oriented styles just clicks perfectly with the sugar-coated national anthems of tyrannies both totalitarian and pseudo-republican alike as they marched their unsuspecting subjects to their demise.

Accept bring with them an unbridled combination of massive riffs, attitude drenched vocals and political cynicism that serves them quite well as they cut heads on their second effort with newcomer Mark Tornillo at the helm in "Stalingrad". At first glance, the idiomatic emblem of a flaming bird on the album art might conjure up images of a Sabaton album, but while World War 2 subjects have tended to be a favorite of said Swedish outfit, Accept's leaner and meatier approach to the craft makes for a much more fitting sonic outcome. One could liken the thudding stomp of the guitars and the drums on here to the sound of bodies being exploded by heavy artillery fire, while Tornillo's banshee wails after the mode of Brian Johnson with a greater hint of gruff could be likened to a maddened unit commander sending his troops to the next life.

The one area where this album takes a slight departure from its equally compelling but slightly better predecessor "Blood Of The Nations" is that the format has been streamlined quite a bit. There is a greater proliferation of unfettered speed fests after the mold of "Fast As A Shark" and "T.V. War" to be found on here, each of them accented by a vocal performance that is a bit younger and hungrier sounding. Be it the furious barrage of "Hung, Drawn And Quartered", the uglier take on Judas Priest in "Flash To Bang Time", or the catchy cooker with a heavy likeness to Primal Fear that is "The Quick And The Dead", this album sees a decided upgrade in pace that fits together nicely with the short flash of heroism and foolishness that goes with being a soldier in a massive battle.

The arrangement of this red coated beast does get rounded out by a fair amount of contrasting ideas, thus it doesn't quite fall into being an overt speed metal album, though it definitely gets closer than most of Accept's past efforts. Amid the groovy, down tempo numbers is the slow moving gallop of "Shadow Soldiers" which actually sees the band taking a similar approach to the slower anthems of war heard out of Sabaton. The somewhat bluesy and quite ballsy closer "The Galley" takes on more of a classic "Balls To The Wall" character, though the driving guitar riff also has a slight familiarity with early 90s Pantera as well. "Hellfire" features a return of the clean-cut, lower end croon that Tornillo occasionally employs to make himself distinct from his iconic predecessor Udo, but largely comes across as a typical riff bruiser with banshee wails aplenty. But perhaps the biggest surprise to be found on here is a little quotation of the Soviet national anthem in the midst of a chugging mass of fury that is "Stalingrad".

It's a bit cliche to gush all over one of the forefathers of German aggression for putting out another by-the-numbers album, but Accept is truly back with a vengeance, yet again. It literally sounds like the 14 years of studio silence following "Predator" never happened and that the band had lost none of its edge since Udo first left following "Russian Roulette". This is good old fashioned heavy metal with an obvious accent on the former half of the concept, smashing down the decaying structures of an obsolete city with the force of a thousand wrecking balls. Many bands remember the wars of the past, but here Accept basically relives one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, and no punches are pulled.

Germany's most rejuvenated metal act returns with a vengeance for their second album on one of the best comeback routes of all time. I'm sure anyone that even remotely associates themselves with metal has listened to classics such as “Balls to the Wall” or “Fast as a Shark” but, let's be serious, those tracks are from, what, thirty years ago? The “new” Accept, meaning the post-Udo albums, “Blood of the Nations” and, now, “Stalingrad” show the band more scathing, seething and down right dirty than any of the “old” Accept albums.

So what happened to Accept? Well, anyone that has listened to “Blood Of Nations” knows, but if you haven't, then I will attempt to paint the picture for you, as “Stalingrad” picks right up where it's predecessor left off at. “New” Accept is basically a modern take on the classic and traditional metal approach that Accept has always been loved for. I mean to say that the music isn't modernized like later-day In Flames or the Linkin Park's of the world, but rather modern as in production values and technical improvements. With “Blood of the Nations” and, now, with “Stalingrad” Accept have finally broken free from the stigma that they are solely an 80's band holding onto past glories.

The first thing that grabs your attention on Accept's latest masterpiece should be the powerful and crunchy guitar tone. The riffs range from Speed Metal flair of Rage to the chugging palm muting style of Iron Maiden. Straight up traditional metal is what you'll get on “Stalingrad”. The lead guitar work is outstanding, as it floats and weaves in and out and around the main riffs and vocals. Nothing too showy, but the guitarists are not afraid to show their chops with some really awesome blues-inspired soloing as well as some straight up shred fest sections.

The rhythm section blasts through the album, adding depth to already amazing base. The bass plods along, adding flourishes and extrapolations over the guitar lines. The drums are driving and pounding. There's enough force there to pull a freight train. It sounds like a great mix between 80's metal drumming a la Judas Priest and the more modern groove metal acts of the 2000's.

Those familiar with Accept's early work should not be surprised with the vocals here, as the members found a more than suitable replacement for Udo. Imagine, if you will, a more pissed off sounding Brian Johnson (of AC\DC), doing more of a shout crossed with the occasional squeal, and that's pretty much what the vocals sound like. Mark Tornillo's vocals are very gruff and raw, but fitting, especially with this riff fest of an album.

Every track on “Stalingrad” is a winner. Accept have blessed us with another gem of an album with their post Udo era. I for one, believe that the newer Accept completely blows the old stuff out of the water. Every track fits together, making a cohesive album, with nothing sounding out of place or forced. That being said, there are some standout tracks like “Hung, Drawn and Quartered” and “The Quick and the Dead” that get the blood pumping and your fists banging. Tracks like “Twist of Fate” bring back some memories of the more melodic 1980's years, but the hard rock styling quickly fades when the chorus hits, and it's right back to solid traditional metal. After repeated listens, nothing gets monotonous, yet it still manages to retain its cohesiveness.

Overall an excellent album by one of the best comeback groups in recent years. If you consider yourself a traditional metal fan, then you MUST own this. “Stalingrad” is pretty much the road map for how traditional albums should sound and feel. This album is recommended to all fans of metal.. Why? Because it's that good!

Originally written for The Metal Observer:
http://www.,metal-observer.com/

Accept since the return

Accept returned few years back with a new album, first full length after "Predator" (1996), the last Accept album featuring original mastermind behind the vocal duty, Udo Dirkschneider. The new album was called "Blood of The Nations" and was released in 2010 with new vocalist Mark Tornillo. The album received rather surprisingly positive feedback and reviews, taking into the account that perhaps biggest trademark Udo was gone from the band. Even if there was little controversy about that, it was inevitable after a big change like that. The album was Accept/Udo worship at it's.. well almost.. best.

Stalingrad continues in the same roots than it's predecessor with lyrics influenced by Soviet Union, war, hell, social issues, and rebellious attitude. Pretty typical stuff that holds it's own. The sound here definitely worships 80's Accept, but as equally 90's-2000's Udo's solo career. Well those two are quite close to each other anyway. Mix some of the Metal Heart-Russian Roulette era Accept with Udo's Holy-Thunderball era and you come quite close.

The album itself

Technically album is great, with crystal clear production, strong guitars, audible biting bass, and generally well sound mix. The controversy that always exist is Tornillo's vocals. They are pretty much the Udo imitation at it's finest and fit obviously well to the atmosphere of the album. He sounds so damn close to Udo! Perhaps slightly more focused, less gruff voice.. but it's almost there. Now there's always those fans who will complain that Tornillo is "just an imitator" even if a good one. Then there's those who would complain it totally different kind of a singer would had taken Udo's place. So to some it's always lose-lose situation. But in my opinion Tornillo handles his vocal duties well with decently powerful, rough/screaming style vocals which are like a dedication to a great ex-Accept singer Udo. Nothing wrong with that. After all this is Accept and should still sound like Accept (in my opinion) - and that it does.

It's like "retro"-Accept with updated sound, that has quite good energy level, biting power-chords that are usually simple yet tight and effective. Typical for the sound are also melodic 80's Accept'esque leads a'la "Metal Heart", and fine guitar solos that really add their own to the sound. The cleaner and softer guitar parts really bring recent Udo to my mind. Guitarist duo Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank know how to handle their guitars since both are veterans on the business, and can throw a cool licks here and there when necessary. And testosterone-laden backing vocals on choruses's are there just like the always were on Accept's career. But the downside of this album is, that despite it's fine energy level and beautiful lead melodies that occasionally appear (could be used even more), other parts sink bit into the safe-zone that will please heavy metallers, but in the same time lack some authenticity. There's definitely that "it's good, headbangable stuff, but I've heard this before"-feeling.

Stalingrad is fine album, which presents good moments and Accept-worship, but same time does not present much new and innovative. It's also an album that will open up fast for being well accessible to any heavy metal fan with simple but strong riffage - galloping rhythms combined with speedier parts and mid-paced heavy power chords - with fair share of nice leads. But there is no those much more complex, challenging songs with melodies that would leave that "safe-zone", and therefore it's possible that this album will lose it's "shine" bit quickly after the first great impressions.

Standout and lackluster songs

Songs are varying from great to average throughout the whole album. There's definitely few standout tracks though. Album opens up with thunder by song called "Hung, Drawn and Quartered" with energetic speedy main riffs, cool leads, and great vocal performance with Tornillo, including some rough high screams that is Udo Dirkschneider worship at it's finest. More epic marching mid-paced "Stalingrad" is also fine, starting with majestic guitar lead intro. It's enjoyable war-lyrics and clean guitar parts that reminds me of the way Saxon has used them in their recent works.

Shadow Soldiers wanders into Udo's solo career's power ballad.. a song that could well have been on Udo's "Faceless World" album. It has those more beautiful sounding wistful guitar leads, galloping guitars, pounding bass and cool atmosphere overall. Otherwise too standard Grave Digger'esque riffage having upbeat song "Against The World" manages to impress with cool shout-along chorus. For speed metal freaks "The Quick and The Dead" and "Flash to Bang Time" feature some mad headbanging moments, although they don't offer anything too fresh.

However some tracks, although nothing particularly bad about them, just fail to impress. Groove laden up-beat rebellious "Revolution", jumpy and pounding "Hellfire" which main riffs could very well be from a standard Grave Digger-album, and mid-paced heavily bass driven "The Galley" just don't do it for me. They are enjoyable on their own right, but lack the final kick. Especially The Galley, which is bit too long groove laden track, that tries to sound mystical same time but fails on it. It just grows a bit tiresome.

Summary

Since I feel that this review is getting out of hand with it's length let's just give a short summary about Stalingrad. It's well worth a listen to any 80's heavy metal worshipper and does very good job being "Accept" album even with Tornillo on vocals who tries to fill Udo's shoes the best he can. Even for an old band like this, "Stalingrad" is definitely not a lackluster on energy. It has powerful simple riffage, with cool lead melodies and shreds thrown into the mix to make it bit more melodic, and it works. It's problems are not energy level, or not being Accept like before, as the lads manage to stick to their roots well - but the problems are rather lack of authenticity and bit too "flat" performance.. by this I mean that they stay on "good" side throughout the album, but also on "safe-zone" with song structure and riffs if you know what I mean.

You know what to expect from this album, solid gripping headbangable heavy metal with some cool leads, larger than life choruses with testosterone-filled backing vocals, 80's Accept worship with updated sound, and Stalingrad does just that and it does that well. But offers only little on top of that. On the other hand it's one of the better recent releases by old heavy metal veterans, and in my opinion tops recent Udo's solo career releases with rather wide margin. Accessible and very good album, that may wear thin over time for not having too many frills to the usual, but it's well worth your time anyway as performance is rock-solid for everything this album has to offer!

Rating: 81/100
(Very good album that offers tight riffing, nice leads, and 80's Accept-worship, but lacks final authenticity to make it "cult")


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After so many positive comments and favorable reviews about the last two Accept records in the entire metal scene I decided to try out the two new albums starting with their newest one which is Stalingrad. After several tries, I realize that the metal scene worships the save value of nostalgia instead of fresh innovation. Accept try to sound the way they have always sounded. Even though the record is very strong from a purely technical point of view, is very well produced as well and offers anything an Accept fan should expect, I can't feel anything more profound. The vocals are strong but are nothing more than a quite solid copy of the original vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and lack of an own identity. The guitar solos are great but sound predictable while the riffs sound quite old school and used. The song structures offer nothing new and even the lyrics are about topics that have already been touched by the metal scene far too often. This album has no metal heart and doesn't even come close to band classics such as "Balls To The Wall" or "Russian Roulette".

Only three tracks stand out of exchangeable riffs, one dimensional mid and up tempo hymns and the usual topics. The title track "Stalingrad" is a truly epic track with multiple changes that features a sequence of the Soviet's Union national anthem in the middle of the track. Even though this idea is nothing new as we all remember the portions of Tchaikovsky's "Slavonic March" and Beethoven's "Für Elise" in a track like the legendary anthem "Metal Heart", the title track works very well and puts you into a majestic atmosphere that fits the lyrical topic. The track offers nothing new but is done with a lot of emotion. The half ballad "Twist Of Fade" proves that this band has much more to offer than closed minded traditional heavy metal and that they can write truly touching songs with profound emotions and some technical surprises. The closing epic "The Galley" is another classic metal track but contains a couple of surprises and is a perfect way to finish the record.

But the rest of the songs are quite all the same. Accept fans will surely buy and like this. Many of the tracks will probably work better on stage than in the studio. But in the end, let's be honest and realize that none of the eleven songs has the quality of the band's classics. This release is in fact neither a step back to the glorious past nor a step forward to new shores of the heavy metal sound universe. Accept are stuck in their past reputation and desperately try to deliver what everyone expects them to do. This would have been a tolerable step for the comeback record “Blood Of The Nations” but I really expected something more from “Stalingrad”. On the other side, the well received critics show that a very big part of the metal scene accepts this worship of the past and doesn't want to enjoy anything that might still be memorable in a couple of years. Don't get me wrong, you can listen to this record and have a lot of fun with it. You surely don't always need innovation in the metal genre. But Accept have clearly done better in the past. The three outstanding songs show me that they are still able to get further than the save lane they're driving here. They should get the foot off the brake and accelerate to new shores on the next record and gather all their resources to step forward and create something truly impressive.

After the fantastic "Blood of the Nations" in 2010, Accept unleashes a much-anticipated followup in "Stalingrad". While not a true concept album, its songs are more about events happening in the same universe rather than dealing with specific events or characters. While not quite as good as "Blood", "Stalingrad" comes pretty fucking close, holding its own strongly and a few songs even manage to surpass those on the last album.

The same crew, including producer Andy Sneap, come back for more here. Mark Tornillo's voice is a s wicked as ever. His snarls, shrieks, screams and croons are sill going strong! Also strong are Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank's guitars, still scathing furiously perfect guitar shredding and some more wicked solos. Peter Baltes really keeps that bass strong, giving each song a killer crushing rhythm. Even Stefan Schwarzmann's drum work has improved; he's seems faster and in motion for what's going on. Watch out for faster songs like "Revolution" or "Flash To bang Time". Nope, nothing wrong here.

The songs here sort of lack that big event feel of the previous album, and comes off more as a straightforward heavy metal album. But that doesn't stop a great number here of them from kicking ass! A personal favorite is the crushing title track, armed with one holy hell of a catchy chorus thanks to some hooky riff work. "Shadow Soldiers" is great too; it's big, mid-paced/slow songs with an emotional yet upbeat and triumphant mood to it. There's more speeders to be found on here as well, such as the furious "Flash To Bang Time", one hell of a fast track with vicious Tornillo vocals and skull-splitting riffing. "Revolution" is better yet; it's one of those songs that, for some reason, is just damn cool. It starts off with some cool old-school riffage, going into its groovable, gang vocal-heavy chorus, which viciously builds and builds at the end of the song. Some songs aren't skippable, but nothing special like "Twist of Fate" or the okay "Hellfire". The don't terribly add but certainly don't hurt the record either.

Overall, while I do miss the "big" feel of 'Blood of the Nations" and some of the songs are pretty unmemorable, this album is still pretty top-notch. Songs like "Stalingrad" or "Revolution" have "live favorite" written all over them, and the band's performance is even better. A perfect continuation of Accept's unstoppable comeback.

The German heavy metal group Accept made a comeback in 2010 without their famous lead singer Udo Dirkenschier and instead with competent Mark Tornillo with their first album in 14 years, Blood of The Nations. And what a comeback it was. A world class album filled with great songs and astonishing musicality. In fact, it was so good that it made it all the way to the top of my best albums of 2010 list. But that was then and now is now. Accept has now released their fourteenth album, Stalingrad.

What did I expect from Stalingrad? Just what already existed on Blood of The Nations. The even quality, the lack of boring songs, and band members who are doing their absolute best to make their music perfect, and I definitely got it. Stalingrad is very much like its precursor on so many levels. Is it repetitive? No. I would instead call it a continuation of a recipe for victory.

There are of course differences. Stalingrad has a clearer theme: communism. Yes, it is a pretty thin subject, but it is a successful subject because there aren't too many albums with the same theme (I bet there are some albums out there with the same theme, but I cannot think of any right now). It is definitely a theme I am getting down with. Mother Russia, Josef Stalin...yeah, why not make some heavy metal songs with the inspiration from them.

The second main difference between Accept's two latest albums is that I actually find some weaker songs here, which I did not find on Blood of The Nations. Not exactly bad songs, just songs that were not in the same class like I expected. It is particularly the songs Shadow Soldiers and The Galley I am talking about, but as I just said, just because I did not like them does not mean that other Accept fans will not like them. Which songs are the best, then? It is very hard to just pick a few songs because of the great standard on Stalingrad, but if I had to choose three songs, they would be Hung, Drawn And Quartered, Revolution, and The Quick And The Dead.

Summary:
Well, what can I say that I have not said before? Despite the fact that Stalingrad does not reach the same level as Blood of The Nations, it is still an album of the absolute world class. An album filled with spot-on riffs and true heavy metal music. It may not be the classiest music nor the most innovative, but one things is though for sure and that is Accept knows exactly how good heavy metal music should sound like.

Best song: Revolution

Grade: 9/10 Hellfires

Also available in Swedish on: http://sharkruisher.blogg.se/?tmp=18185218

After Accept regrouped and finally realized their longtime vocalist Udo Dirkschneider was not coming back, they enlisted vocalist Mark Tornillo from little known eighties band T.T Quick. Tornillo’s ruff and gruff attitude and vocal style combined with Wolf Hoffman’s meaty guitar riffs rounded out an impressive comeback album talking about nations’ bloodied histories. The German heavy metal stalwarts have now focused their efforts on a single nation and put a stamp on the city named by the tyrant in honor of himself, Stalingrad.

The first salvo, “Hung, Drawn, and Quartered” starts the proceedings off with a bang with a great guitar intro followed by an aggressive riff. The boys pick up where “Blood of the Nations” left off with a strong, thick guitar tone and Tornillo sounds more aggressive in his vocal delivery. He even has some resemblance to the little man with the mighty voice who preceded him. The chorus in the up-tempo “Flash to Bang Time” and “The Quick and the Dead” showcase the Udo-side of Tornillo.

Hoffman is one the most underrated guitar players to wield the axe. The riffs he writes and the melodic solos he delivers are some of the best one could write. The solo in the title track sounds like the red army taking its march to its national anthem and the outro to “The Galley” provides some serenity to a furious album. He comes back with a biting riff in “Hellfire” which has stuck with since first giving it a listen. This is definitely one of the highlights of the album.

The best song is the fist-pumping “Shadow Soldiers.” It has a great, prideful riff and an inspiring vocal performance by Tornillo. The chorus is remarkable and I can see this going over very well in the live setting. The aforementioned “The Quick and the Dead” has a riff similar to Motley Crue’s “Livewire”, but it works and the drum performance by Stefan Schwarzmann is a highlight.

All the tracks flow at a steady pace, but the only ones that failed to grab me are the drab “Against the World” and “Twist of Fate.” The former is basically a standard metal cooker, but there is nothing of note that stands out. The latter is a slow burner which features some nice bass work courtesy of Peter Baltes, but it never reaches its full potential as it tries to strike an emotional chord, but it doesn’t happen.

When it’s all said and done, you cannot go wrong with this album. If you liked “Blood of the Nations”; then this will not disappoint and it does not overstay its welcome as the last one clocked in at long time while “Stalingrad” finishes at just under an hour. The German boys have hit their stride since regrouping with Tornillo as any listener will have no problem head-banging through the streets of Stalingrad.

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