ACCEPT – 'Too Mean To Die' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Zombie Apocalypse

2. Too Mean To Die

3. Overnight Sensation

4. No Ones Master

5. The Undertaker

6. Sucks To Be You

7. Symphony Of Pain

8. The Best Is Yet To Come

9. How Do We Sleep

10. Not My problem

11. Samson And Delilah

I hadn’t heard of ACCEPT before I started listening to this, and it turns out that’s ignorance on my part, since they’ve been around since the seventies, and that automatically gives them quite a lot of credit, because whatever I think of them, they clearly have an audience and know what they are doing to still be releasing albums now, some 45 years on!

And this album certainly doesn’t sound like a band who are resting on their laurels – they come out strong with the opener “Zombie Apocalypse” and keep going throughout the album, keeping you entertained throughout. Their sound is sort of what you’d expect – a classic 80’s Hair Metal kind of sound – but it manages to sound modern as well, thanks to the production and the sheer timeless skill of all musicians involved.

However, as we know, it doesn’t matter how good your musicians are or how well polished your sound is, it all comes down to the songs, and this album was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Whilst the opening track comes out strong in terms of style and feel, the song itself was sort of forgettable for me, and I was a little worried that would be the case for the entire album. The second track “Too Mean To Die” was a step up, and definitely one of my high points of the album, as it was memorable and fun to sing along with!

And there are other highlights too - “No One’s Master” is legitimately one of the best songs I’ve heard in recent memory, with it’s beautiful riff, perfectly crafted chorus and amazing solo. And if you don’t like the opening of “Symphony Of Pain”, then I think you might be listening to the wrong genre of music. Genuinely perfect Guitar solo opening into a bonecrushing riff into a superb song, and “Not My Problem” is, once again, an absolute banger.

One thing I admire about this album is that it is not afraid to take risks. Not the crazy type of risks that rarely if ever pay off (like completely changing genre for one song in the middle of an album or whatever), but while ACCEPT are very adept at the more traditional 80’s style Metal headbanger, they experiment here with some bluesier work, some slower, more modern tracks – some of which work and some don’t as well, but at least they aren’t content to just sit on their laurels.

It’s not a perfect album - “The Best is Yet To Come” is an uneventful ballad, “Overnight Sensation” just doesn’t work for me, and as I mentioned at the start, “Zombie Apocalypse” is immediately forgettable, but these are minor nitpicks.

On the whole this is a solid album from an extremely long lasting band – and I suspect my opinion will mean nothing to those loyal fans who would have bought it regardless, but I would encourage you to give this song a listen if you are a fan of long haired, head banging, riff-filled 80’s Heavy Metal.