Accept- Blind Rage review

 

Accept

Blind Rage

Rating: ****

Five years after their rebirth, German metal band Accept are back with another studio album. The new album, Blind Rage, is the band’s fourteenth studio album. It’s also the band’s third album since reforming with new singer Mark Tornillo, following 2010’s Blood of the Nations and 2012’s Stalingrad. Like the first two Tornillo albums, Blind Rage is another gloriously heavy album for Accept fans to sink their teeth into.

            The album fittingly opens with the vicious “Stampede.” The song starts off with a slow introduction before the band transitions to their hard and heavy sound. With the guitar work of Wolf Hoffman and Herman Frank and the drumming of Stefan Schwartzman, the song sounds like a stampede itself. This is followed by the chugging sounds “Dying Breed.” Lyrically, the song is clever as it name drops bands that have come before and after them by song titles. “Here’s to the rocking warriors/Here’s to our heroes and friends” sings Tornillo. “And those who have gone before us/We’re loyal straight to the end.”

            One of the most interesting things about Blind Rage is that the band goes back to the sound they had on their earlier albums. Sure, the entire album sounds like an old school Accept album but there are a few tracks in particular that do truly have a feel for the early albums. “Dark Side of My Heart” sounds like it would’ve fit on Balls to the Wall, with Tornillo’s bellowing vocal. However, the chorus has the catchy hooks that the songs on Metal Heart had. “The Curse” is another example, which features the lyrics: “It’s all about losers and winners/Not about who’s right and who’s wrong.”

            Accept show their love for history in the sludge sounds of “Fall of the Empire” and the fast-paced “Trail of Tears.” The band also delivers in anthems such as “Wanna Be Free” and “From the Ashes We Rise.” The former has some solid bass work from Peter Baltes while the latter has a strong chorus. “We’ve been knocked down; we’ll get up/From the ashes we rise” sings Tornillo and the band. “We’ve been kicked around; sure enough/We will survive.”

            Blind Rage is another great album from Accept. Personally, I think I might have enjoyed this one a little more than Stalingrad. The band is still in fine form and I wouldn’t mind seeing another album from these guys in the near future.