Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date EU: January 29th, 2021
Tracklist:
Zombie Apocalypse
Too Mean To Die
Overnight Sensation
No Ones Master
The Undertaker
Sucks To Be You
Symphony Of Pain
The Best Is Yet To Come
How Do We Sleep
Not My Problem
Samson And Delilah (Instrumental)
More than 10 years ago, the author of these lines headed for Uden. The reason? The revitalized Accept had announced a club show at De Pul. At that time there was a lot of buzz because the band had reunited with the exception of Udo Dirkschneider and Stefan Kaufmann in their ‘ Balls to the Wall’ line-up. The show in Uden was Accept’s eighth concert of the ‘Blood of the Nations’ tour and although the album was not yet released, the first new songs were very promising.
More than a decade later Accept publish their in the meantime the fifth album in their new era and a lot has happened. One by one Stefan Schwarzmann and Accept veterans Peter Baltes and Herman Frank left the band which also means that Wolf Hoffmann is the only remaining founding member. Together with Mark Tornillo, he represents the core of today’s Accept.
All over renewed and grown to a sextet Accept are releasing with ‘ Too Mean to Die ‘ their new album. ‘The Undertaker’ and ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ had already indicated a typical Accept album and that’s what it became in its entirety. The latter song is also the opener for ‘Too Mean to Die’, followed by the blazing title track and the rocking ‘Overnight Sensation’. This triple makes it clear right at the beginning that Accept have not lost any of their power and drive. Hoffmann’s signature guitar sound grooves through the entire album and provides together with filigree solo parts a cornerstone for this longplayer. It is worth noting that Accept have Uwe Lulis and Philip Shouse two more guitarists in the line-up, which gives Accept’s sound more density and who, with a little more breathing space, could offer Accept even more variety.
‘Sucks to Be You’ comes with a nice booming groove followed by ‘Symphony of Pain’ which is everything but no painful experience. Accept is firing on all cylinders and once again it is Tornillo’s raspy voice that has become an indispensable part of the 2000 Accept.
More soulful notes are introduced with ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ before hard-hitting drums start ‘How Do We Sleep’. As with ‘The Undertaker’, the typical Accept choirs are a feature of the whole. With ‘Not My Problem’ and the slower rolling closing track ‘Samson and Delilah’, 53 minutes of Accept come to an end on ‘Too mean to Die’. The latter track, an instrumental, features an Arabian Night-tinged melody line and some other references find their place as well.
After listening to the album several times, the insight arises that Accept has not lost any of their strength on this album. There are no real innovations, but all songs on ‘Too mean to Die’ are 100% Accept anthems with all the unique features the band has established over decades. This album fulfills all expectations. Not more but certainly not less.
Written by: Markus Wiedenmann
Ratings: (8/10)
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