Accept - Balls to the Wall

Balls to the Wall is Accepts follow up to 1982s Restless and Wild. It keeps the Priest meets AC/DC influence. Not as much speed metal on this album and a lot more slow, heavy melodic tunes on this album.

Band - Accept

Album - Balls to the Wall

Genre - Heavy Metal

Year - 1983(4?)

Country - Germany

Well that’s certainly an eye catching album cover isn’t it…? Anyway, the album kicks off with the title track. It’s that song that everyone thought was AC/DC for some reason as well as the only Accept song most people recognize. It’s a great, moody midpaced tune and far better then most of what AC/DC ever did… It’s catchy and heavy. The bridge section after the solo is a great sing along part. I love the guitars harmonizing with the group singing. Bass is great in this song as well. Next up is London Leatherboys, yes, LONDON LEATHERBOYS. Anyway, this tune has a pretty catchy verse and the chorus is nothing to scoff at either. Udo sounds pretty crazed in this one. A bunch of good solos in this tune as well. Fight it Back is a speed metal tune. The verse is very vocal driven with single power chords played to back Udo up. The riffing really picks up during the chorus’. By the way, Udo waits like a madman in this tune! Sounds amazing! Soloing is, as usual top notch. Head Over Heels starts off with some bass plucking, the goes into a midpaced riff. It’s a pretty melodic tune, not very heavy for the most part though. Soloing makes up for that though. I swear these Accept guitarists are so underrated! Next up is Losing More Then You’ve Ever Had. Long ass song title but a pretty good song! As with most of the songs on this album it goes more of a melodic route over the pounding heavy riffs of the previous album. It sort of sounds “ballady,” It’s a pretty slow tune and very melodic. Love Child is a great, up tempo tune. Great melodic pre-chorus thingy! I love that part, the guitar and vocals are totally in tune then it breaks into the chorus! It’s a really catchy song as well as some great riffing and soloing. Turn Me On is next. it starts off with a good, heavy riff. It’s also worth noting the riff is a very typical “metal” riff. Lots of people have imitated it and I’m sure Accept weren’t the first to use it either. The chorus is very melodic (and just a little cheesy sounding), then it goes back into the slow, heavy riffing and then more brilliant classical soloing. The bass line really stands out in this tune. It’s nothing special but it’s very driving and heavy so it fills out the sound nicely. Next is the ripping speed metal track Losers and Winners. Ok maybe not THAT ripping but it’s pretty awesome anyway for 1983 and today! In 1983 the only real competition was Metallica, Slayer and Venom when it came to the high speed shit. Nice fast riffing and like the other tunes on this one, really catchy melodies to go with the furious riffing. Guardian of the Night is slow and heavy. It once again shows the importance of Bass in Heavy Metal. Winter Dreams starts of with some acoustic guitar and bass. It’s not long before some electric guitar comes in but it’s still mostly acoustic. This tunes a ballad. It’s a nice, sort of relaxing tune. You can hear a bit of influence from some of Priest’s Ballads.

This album is rather different from the previous. It’s more focused on melody then speed and heaviness. Not to say this isn’t a heavy album, it is, but its heavy in a different way. The riffing is great and the songs are composed brilliantly. The soloing is off the charts amazing! These guitarists should get way more credit for the skills shown on these last two albums. I love the guitar playing on this record. The drumming is good, nothing special though hjust drumming as drumming should be. There are a few cool fills throughout the album though. The bass playing stands out at times more then it did on the previous record, lots of cool basslines on this album. Udo sounds as good as ever. He isn’t quite as maniacal on this record, but he has him moments. Especially in Fight it Back. There are two very badass screams delivered in that tune. Udo really deserves a place with the other great vocalists of metal. Once again, a great album from a very underrated band. Pick it up along with the previous if you dig old school metal. Oh and don't let the album cover turn you off, its a great album.

Here are four tunes to wet your whistle.

Kreator - Endless Pain

Kreator is a Thrash Metal band from Germany. They are very influential, along with slayer, Possessed and the other two Teutonic terrors for the creation of Extreme Metal. Their first studio album, Endless Pain, is a wild ride through the kingdom of Thrash Metal!

Band - Kreator

Album - Endless Pain

Year - 1985

Genre - Thrash Metal

Country - Germany

The record kicks off with the title track. The drummer and guitarist both sing on this record. Ventor, the drummer does lead vocals on this tune.  Lots of great riffs in this tune, along with plenty of time changes as well. Great start to a solid thrash album. Next up is Total Death. This time Millie, the guitarist is on vocals. They switch between each song so this will be the last time I make note of it. Another great head banging tune! I prefer Millie’s vocals personally. Next is Storm of the Beast. It starts with a sweet drum intro and goes into some midpaced riffing. Then it kicks into high gear! The tune slows down again for a cool bridge section and speeds up once again for some awesome shredding! Lots of great riffs as always in this tune. Next is Tormentor. Its fast and relentless and very evil sounding, especially during the chorus where the vocals are downright demonic! Actually scratch that, the whole song is demonic! Son of Evil comes next and with it more speed! Very punky vocals on this tune and a more Speed Metalesqe riff. At the midway point it becomes more midpaced just to speed up again for more relentless thrashing! Wild solo in this tune as well. Flag of Hate comes in with some more badass riffing and more evil vocals from Millie. Awesome song as usual. Cry war starts off slow and heavy, but as usual that never lasts long… It quickly goes into the usual blazingly fast pace and as usual its awesome. They switch back to the slow and heavy as well throughout the song which is great, it makes you anticipate the ball breaking, hand banging fast pace! Another crazy solo in this one as well, this album is a bit of a shred fest not much in the way of melodic guitar playing, but really who gives a shit! Next up is Bone Breaker, and guess what! It kicks ass! Oh and the next two songs? They kick ass too! Living in fear has a pretty epic, heavy intro then goes into, you guessed it fast, heavy riffing with lots of riff changes to keep it interesting! Finally we get to Dying Victims which actually starts with clean guitar! Its odd, but then the sweet riffing truly begins, then the evil ass vocals that Millie always delivers.

I sort of got tired of saying basically the same this for every song, I mean really this is just simply awesome Thrash Metal. Every song here is great. It’s all fast, heavy, evil and has lots of great shredding solos. It’s really everything a good Thrash album should have. The riffing is top notch, lots of different riffs throughout, plenty of riff changes in each song. Soloing is great, bass is decent drumming is top notch. Both vocalists are awesome in their own way. Millie is very harsh, rasp and evil sounding. His vocals are almost black metal sounding at times. Ventor on the other hand, sings slightly cleaner and has a somewhat punky, American thrash sounding style. Both compliment the songs they sing on perfectly. Overall, this is an amazing Thrash album. If you like Thrash then this album is pretty much essential. Get Pleasure to kill as well while you’re at it.

Here are four tunes (Two Millie fronted and two Ventor fronted) for you to check out

Accept - Restless and Wild

Accept is an underrated Heavy Metal band from Germany. The best way to describe their sound is Judas Priest with a gruffer singer and a little bit of AC/DC thrown in for good measure. They have the twin guitar attack down to a tee and the riffs vary from simplistic AC/DC type riffs to speed metal assaults! Their 1982 album “Restless and Wild” is definitely one of their greatest albums and one of the first speed metal albums. NOTE: There are two diffrent covers to this album one a European version another the American version I'm using this one because it looks cooler =)

Band - Accept

Album - Restless and Wild

Year - 1982(3?)

Genre - Heavy/Speed Metal

Country - Germany

The album starts off with some weird German music but quickly comes to an end and you hear quite the scream! Then the speed metal assault Fast as a Shark kicks in! Great, fast riff and an awesome, melodic chorus. The solo is very classically styled as are most of the solos from Accept. Another thing that stands out in this tune are the backing vocals. They’re just really cool… After that relentless tune we’re treated to the title track. Great mid paced, heavy riffing in this tune. The vocals are great, very restless and wild indeed and more well done backing vocals in this tune as well. Ahead of the Pack is another fast tune. More great riffs and catchy chorus section in this one. I really love the riffs in this song and how much they compliment the vocals and fill out every bit of the sound. The bridge section is awesome, lots of great soloing and the complimentary twin guitar attack! Shake your heads is a midpaced rocker with some atypical riffs throughout. Not a very interesting song in my opinion. Perhaps I would “shake my head” more if the song was better… Though, the chorus section and the drumming are quite heavy. It gets better during the solos of course, but that’s to be expected from Accept. Next up is Neon Nights, not to be confused with Neon Knights… that’s a different song entirely. This tune starts of with come clean classical guitar playing, then goes into a cool phaser/warp effect thingy that sounds quite awesome! This is another midpaced tune, it’s a bit of a balled (though the guitars are very heavily distorted still) with some emotional singing which is a change from Udo’s more maniacal singing from the first three tracks. Great solo section, more classical styled soloing as a matter of fact parts of the solo are actually classical pieces.  Afterwards it speeds up to a proper fast head banging speed! Just to end… Oh well. Next up is Get ready, the tune starts of with the Living After Midnight drumbeat… yeah you know the one. Anyway, it’s a bit of a commercial sounding song; the main riff is very “party metal” feel to it as does the rest of the song. Not a bad song per say, but I doesn’t really sound like the same band. Next Demon’s Night kicks in! Now we’re back to some proper Accept! Great song, mostly midpaced throughout the verse but speeds up during the pre-chorus and chorus sections. More great riffs and aggressive yet catchy singing! Next up is Flash Rocking Man. It’s another relentless, fast tune. The main riff is actually one of the most common speed metal riffs out there; the bridge has some very thrashy sounding riffs. At the end is a very badass scream that’s could put Helford to shame, sometimes… maybe. Don’t Go Stealing My Soul Away is a very hard rockish AC/DC sounding tune. The chorus is catchier then the plague! Not much to say about it, good solo catchy chorus. Finally we get to the epic tune of the album, Princess of the Dawn! It’s a midpaced, moody tune with lots of great soloing throughout. Its definitely one of the best songs on the album. The song and album end very abruptly though, like right in the middle of the very last “princess of the princess of the princess of the dawn.” It’s weird.

Overall, a great album from a rather unknown band. The guitar work is simply amazing! Both riffs and solos are top notch and pretty unique and new for their time. The songs are composed brilliantly and very varied throughout the album. We get a good mix of fast, Speed Metal tunes, more midpaced Heavy Metal songs, some epic numbers as well as two songs that are more on the hard rock side. The tunes also have a great mix between aggression and catchiness. Some of the vocal lines and riffs are just catchy as shit! Udo is a very underrated singer. In my opinion he is one of the best in metal simply for this album alone! He sounds crazed and vicious at times but emotional at others. The drumming is very good but the bass is a bit buried. The bass playing is never anything particularly interesting just the same riffs as are being played on guitar Overall an awesome album from an awesome and underrated band, I implore you to track this album down as well as their next release, Balls to the Wall. Speaking of Balls to the Wall, that album will be coming up soon so stay tuned!

Here are three tunes for you to check out.

Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer

Black Sabbath’s 1992 album Dehumanizer is the third studio album to feature Ronnie James Dio on Vocals. It will also be the last until the band reformed as Heaven and Hell in the mid 2000’s. Dio first joined Sabbath in 1980 (after the Departure of Ozzy Osborne due to being a drug addicted child who can’t write music for shit) and with them Recorded two studio albums and a live album before leaving around 1983 and forming his solo band, Dio. During the rest of the 80s Sabbath became a revolving door of musicians and master guitarist Tony Iomi. They had a bit of success, though most people are still very much ignorant that there was even a Black Sabbath besides the Ozzy and Dio eras. Hell most people tend to think that there’s no Sabbath other then the Ozzy era! Those are the people I like to call idiots... Anyway Dehumanizer is a VERY underrated album that doesn’t get enough praise in my opinion. It’s a great album all the way through and it has top class musicians on it. It has the4 Mob Rules line up of Dio, Iomi, Butler and Appice

Band - Black Sabbath

Album - Dehumanizer

Year - 1992

Genre - Heavy/Doom Metal

Country - (technically) UK

The first thing that jumps out as you is that awesome fucking album cover! Seriously, how can you dislike an album that has a cover like that? Any way…

The record kicks off with Computer God. A good example of where this record is going. It’s a very doomy song with great bass, guitar and of course great vocals from one Mr. Ronnie James Dio. After All (The Dead) is another Slow and doomy song with more emotional singing from Dio. TV Crimes is a fast, somewhat silly tune with simply orgasmic bass work! Geezer shows off like a mad man! If there’s any reason to listen to this song is the amazing bass work. Letters from earth is another dark, gloomy slow tune. More heavy riffs for our pleasure! It picks up speed half way through and we get to hear some more solos from master Iomi. Master of Insanity is one of the best here; it starts off with a great bass line and goes into a great, heavy tune. Great riffs all around this song as well as more great singing from the master himself and once again, great soloing from Iomi, not that its any surprise. Time Machine is an upbeat heavy tune with some sweet riffing and soloing. Sins of the Father starts off with some very Ozzyesque singing from Dio which is quite interesting in itself. The first part of this song wouldn’t sound very out of place on one off the early Sabbath albums. The song is another slow doomy one after about a minute or so in. But then it changes again! The song gets a bit faster and a bit more technical with lots of cools riffs. Very heavy tune that one! Too Late starts off with a very cool balled intro and, as usual very emotional singing from Dio. The song proper kicks in around 3 minutes, its still basically a balled tune. But you won’t care one the soloing starts. After the soloing it goes back to being all balledy. It's an alright song. I is another super heavy ass kicker, with some truly angry vocals from Dio. The riffs and drumming are immense, very epic tune. Finally, we get too buried alive, a song far too heavy for words! Very evil sounding vocals from Dio and an even more evil sounding main riff along with lots of little guitar fills from Iomi. The pre-chorus riff is pretty sweet as well, sort of sounding like a much slowed down thrash or speed metal riff. Nice bridge part with some top notch soloing!

Overall, this album kicks ass! If you love Dio era Sabbath, Doom Metal or even Dios solo band this is highly recommended! Iomi’s guitar work is masterful with plenty of shredding along with some very bluesy melodic parts he’s best known for. The riffs are heavy as hell most of the time and very well composed. Butlers Bass work is orgasmic at times. Bass really stands out on this record, it rarely simply follows the guitar and Geezer is almost always all over the place filling out the already heavy as all hell sound. Drums are good, nothing special though. Ronnie James Dio (RIP) is of course, top notch here. His vocals are very emotional and at times, very evil. Dio is simply the greatest vocalist in Metal. Bow down to the master! Great, great album, if you haven’t heard it, seek it out, along with the rest of the Dio era Sabbath albums. Any Sabbath era other then Ozzy’s is criminally underrated as far as most mainstream Metal interests go. Yes even the amazing Dio era is somewhat obscure to most non Metal heads.

Here are four stand outs from this album