One of the first albums I bought was the Accept album 'Restless and Wild'. I was
completely overwhelmed by the first track "Fast as a Shark", in my opinion the
very first speed metal song ever. The excellent intro and then the mighty fast
riffs and it is still one of the best tracks ever written. We all know what
happened and with the departure of UDO, the band stopped for a while to come
back with their reunion album 'Blood of the Nations'. Since then we have
together with the band UDO two German bands that play the same kind of music. I
don't know if there is a healthy competition between the two, but for fans of
this style of music it isn't a punishment because both bands still releases
strong albums.
This 'Blind Rage' has to compete with the successfull predecessor 'Stalingrad'
and I think the fans will not be disappointed with this new album. The first
song starts rather fast and heavy in the typical Accept style. On several songs
the tempo is a little slower like on the tracks "Fall of the Empire", "Wanna Be
Free"and "From the Ashes We Rise". The background choirs in songs
like "Dying
Breed" and "Wanna Be Free" are a gain for the songs and give them a kind of epic
feeling. For the headbangers there are besides the opening track also "Trail of
Tears", "Bloodbath Mastermind" and "Final Journey". "200 Years" is again a
typical Accept mid tempo track and sees to the welcome variety in tempo. With "Final
Journey" they have one of the best tracks at the end, with a beautiful classical
solo (Edvard Griegs 'Peer Gynt Suite'). Andy Sneap took care of the production
and gave the album a very heavy sound.
Accept has released a classic heavy metal album that underlines that these 'oldies'
aren't over the hill yet. Well done!
