Style: heavy metal, speed metal
Label: Portrait
Year: 1982
Home: Germany
Members: Udo Dirkschneider ~ vocals
Wolf Hoffmann ~ guitars
Peter Baltes ~ bass
Stefan Kaufmann ~ drums
Balls To The Wall is the most commercially successful Accept album. Yet, their fourth album, Restless & Wild, that came just before had already made waves in the metal community & holds classic status among many. Restless & Wild might be called the lesser known wilder younger brother, that is forgotten only due to timing & not charting in the U.S.. It is an in-your-face wild messy ride along the lines of Judas Priest, Motorhead & NWOBHM bands. Brutal power metal that might be considered proto-thrash. Part of this lays in the face melting opener "Fast As A Shark" which features some of the first speed metal double bass drumming. Also of note, there was a change in membership with guitarists. All the guitars on the album were by Wolf Hoffman, though a second guitarist was credited on the album. Wolf needs credit for crafting a great album churning out excellent rhythms & leads. The guitars just growl & drool with thick distortion, while Udo screams like Rob Halford. I do feel like the emphasis here is more on the guitars, whereas the vocals took a bit stronger role on the next album. While Balls To The Wall has a different guitar approach that relied more on the dual guitar sound, whereas this feel often more like rhythm with lead over it. Both albums are 2 sides of the same coin & show a band musically in their prime just before commercial success took things to a new level. Personally, I prefer the later album, as I like my metal a bit slower & melodic, but if you like heavy, fist pumping, headbanging music that will keep your air guitars rockin' for hours, than absolutely do not overlook this forgotten classic. "Neon Nights" has an interesting guitar opening that fuses an acoustic guitar with a guitar with its speed manipulated a couple times. It introduces a mystical power ballad. Usually I don't say such things, but its not needed. The song is strong & the flow of the album is interrupted by this instrumental moment, not accentuated by it. This is the only thing I'd dump on the album, or put it after all the songs as an instrumental coda as its kinda cool. I like the fact the band has power ballads more the flavor of Dio than Bon Jovi. Songs that might be sung by vikings, over syrupy love ballads that the '80's would overflow with to its detriment.
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