Accept
Restless And Wild

THE REVIEW

One cannot deny that Accept are destined for metal greatness.

Being one of the first German war machines, they hail from Solingen, in the Rhineland, an area rich in mines and crucial for the steel and metallurgical industry. I'd say that as a premise, it's already enough to play Heavy Metal. As if that weren't enough, it's a gray city, sad in its modernity, as the architectural works dating back to the Middle Ages were razed to the ground by Allied bombings in the last world conflict, and the post-war boom prioritized the reconstruction of factories. Given the context, it's no surprise that our band didn’t emerge as a pastoral folk group or something similar.

After light and hesitant beginnings under the sign of Scorpions and AC/DC, Accept were launched into the then-young metal movement with their third album "Breaker," in 1981, and delivered what can be considered their masterpiece "Restless And Wild" a year later. Our Germans are known for a sound perfectly suited to portray metropolitan desolation scenarios of which they are both bards and witnesses: powerful, squared, branded by a delicate rhythmic section like hammer blows on the anvil of a steelworks, with riffs now lightning-fast and piercing, now compact and armored. Completing the whole is Wolf Hoffmann's unique lead guitar style, balancing between darting noise incursions and melodic-neoclassical parts with a melodic and baroque flavor, and Udo's voice, an infernal growl that sounds like a Brian Johnson possessed by demons (I read an opinion about his singing that described it as “the cry of an alien giving birth"...well, I think that captures the idea).

The opening of "Fast As A Shark" is disorienting: about 20 seconds of what must be a German folk song, good enough to be the theme for Heidi. The bucolic scene is interrupted by a ferocious scream and an unprecedented, supersonic riff, which alone created Thrash and Power Metal. A melodic and liberating chorus then gives way to a solo that surely Helloween have studied and reviewed thoroughly: their "Twin Guitars" see the light here. In short: this song can be used as a definition for Heavy Metal.

The album as a whole still manages not to be overshadowed by its masterpiece: the title-track and "Ahead Of The Pack" both have dynamic and violent riffs and are branded with Accept's typical stadium chants in the choruses, "Flash Rockin' Man" and "Demon's Night" are mid-tempo tracks without scratches, with the former having a riff that will be plundered in many directions (an example for everyone is Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes To Midnight"), while "Get Ready" and "Don't Go Stealin My Soul Away" anticipate the band's course in following works with a more measured and classy sound. Finally, a special mention goes to "Neon Nights" with a touch of urban poetry both nocturnal and decadent, and "Princess Of The Dawn", a fantasy fairy tale with a medieval aftertaste, nonetheless articulated by a pounding arrangement.

Anyone who knows and appreciates our Germans' subsequent albums can rest assured, and anyone who loves metal and doesn't know Accept should self-punish in some way and get this album from one of the bands that helped forge the name of this genre, too often unjustly overshadowed by more renowned names.