Accept
Balls To The Wall

THE REVIEW

It seems strange to me that no one on DeBaser has reviewed this album yet, so I'm going to do it. The album was released in 1984, after that masterpiece known as "Restless And Wild", during the golden period of the Teutonic band.

The first song is the title track. The exhortation to destroy the Berlin wall is evident both from the lyrics and the video that accompanied the release of the song, but let's start with the description of the piece. A powerful guitar riff introduces the voice of the little man Udo Dirkshneider, initially soft and muffled, then gradually more powerful until the chorus where the voice is joined by the rest of the group's backing vocals. The song continues in a rather linear fashion until the very tight solo at the end of which the chorus repeats in a low voice "Balls To The Wall" and Udo sings with a delicate voice? then the chorus changes, becoming church-like, the singer’s voice grows, and the song restarts furiously from the chorus. After this musical apotheosis, you hear a drum and bass intro that begins "London Leatherboys". The drumming has an almost military rhythm, and Udo sings with a hoarse voice. It seems that the song will end as it began, but no, because immediately after the chorus, the rhythm changes and a very beautiful and powerful solo arrives, after which the piece reprises from the chorus, which is repeated until the end. There isn’t even a moment to catch your breath when "Fight It Back" kicks in with a wild and aggressive riff, followed by Udo's scream and the relentless rhythm section. The piece is similar to the previous ones but is still very good, and Stefan Kauffmann keeps the beat with the double pedal. Then the solo is something spectacular, with artificial harmonics that drive you crazy.

The fourth track is "Head Over Heels", which opens with an ominous bass line. This piece is slower than the previous ones and has a very catchy chorus. The choruses are the main characteristic of Accept. "Losing More Than You Never Had" is an irresistible piece that is easy to hum along to. When it seems like it might be repetitive, a rhythm change shatters that idea, leading to a brief instrumental interlude that brings back the chorus and the conclusion of the piece. Now comes the real masterpiece of the album: "Love Child"!!!!!!!!! A riff pumped up to the max, an aggressive voice, a chorus for insane Headbanging: these are the three features that make up this piece, not forgetting the solo, which is something epic. It is definitely in pieces like this that Accept show their best. "Turn Me On" and "Loosers And Winners" are two tracks, as usual, wild, raw, and powerful with choruses to sing until your tonsils explode. Now a delicate arpeggio disrupts everything: it’s the intro of "Guardian Of The Night", which then starts like all the other tracks. This is certainly a good piece, but it is not among the best on the album.

Now a slow bass pulse opens "Winter Dreams", a sweet, slow, and beautiful song. Here, Accept demonstrate their ability to transition from aggressive pieces to calmer ones with truly disarming ease, and Udo gives us one of his best performances using a really beautiful voice. This is a song to listen to in winter in front of the fireplace. This is the end of "Balls To The Wall", an exceptional album and a worthy successor to "Restless And Wild". I apologize to the readers if I was too concise in describing some songs, but since they are not very different from each other, I did not want to burden the reading with unnecessary and exhausting descriptions. Well, now I’ll leave you with a quote from the lyrics of "Balls To The Wall":

"Too many slaves in this world
Die by torture and pain
Too many people do not see
They're killing themselves, going insane
Too many people do not know
Bondage is over the human race
They believe slaves are always lose
And this fear keeps them down
Watch the damned - God bless ya
They're gonna break the chains
No, you can't stop them - God bless ya
They're coming to get you"