ALBUM REVIEW: Accept - "The Rise Of Chaos"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 04/08/2017

Label: Nuclear Blast

A

“The Rise of Chaos” is precise, prescient, presented superbly in terms of artwork and production and, more importantly, rocks as hard as anything I have heard this year. A tour de force.

“The Rise of Chaos” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Die By the Sword

2). Hole in the Head

3). The Rise of Chaos

4). Koolaid

5). No Regrets

6). Analog Man

7). What’s Done is Done

8). Worlds Colliding

9). Carry the Weight

10). Race to Extinction

The Review:

Accept are back with a new-ish line-up and ten new songs. I'll put this out there straight away: I am a big fan of the Mark Tornillo fronted “new” Accept. “Blood of Nations” and “Stalingrad” were every bit as good as the Udo-fronted band's classics from the early eighties. “Blind Rage” was a very big commercial success for the band, but I found it a touch measured, a little too melodic and, well, just not quite heavy enough for my tastes (although “Stampede” is a true classic opener).

“Restless and Live” followed it as a very fine live 'career best of' and really gave great value for money for the fans. With “The Rise of Chaos”, the band deliver ten tracks over 45 minutes or so... and each track is balls to the wall metal!

No ballads here, and the record itself is a balanced mix of the hardest of hard rock (AC/DCon steroids) and the most Germanic of metal. Opener “Die by the Sword” has all the Accept trademarks in place; sandpaper lead vocals, Teutonic choir vocal backing, razor sharp riffing and rock solid rhythm section. It's a fine statement of intent and the record maintains that momentum throughout. It's a focused and often furious listen.

The song themes range from the dark and dystopian (the title track) to a more light-hearted, if curmudgeonly, view of the world (“Analog Man”). This is not a concept record per se, but as well as looking back to the past for comfort it also references darker events in “Koolaid”, via the Jonestown Massacre. For the most part, though, the record is firmly rooted in the present. The title track is a damning indictment of where the world is in 2017 and this is perhaps one upped by the storming “Carry the Weight”- a fleet of foot hook fest with some very contemporary political references. Is this the first metal album to reference Brexit?! Maybe.

The record is not as relentlessly dark as “Stalingrad”, but perhaps hits a note similar to “Blood of Nations”- but for my money this is a more intense listen. It's so focused and so relevant to the here and the now that I think the band have a real winner on their hands. Instead of pursuing more melodic writing, the band have gone back to their true strengths: riffs as tough as steel and hooks as catchy as anything else out there.

I can't find anything to fault on this album at all; the production is superb and state of the art, the individual performances of old and new members alike are stunning (Wolf Hoffmann is as flawless as ever, Peter Baltesditto, Mark Tornillo excels) and while the band may have lost Hermann Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann (a huge shame- even if we got The German Panzer out of their departure) they have gained Uwe Lulis and Christopher Williams on guitar and drums respectively.

If you happen to be a fan of old school metal in the vein of early Maiden, Dio-Era Sabbath, NWOBHM's best acts, Judas Priest and so on, then Acceptwill be right up your strasse, the band have managed to really breathe life into the latter part of their career and recapture the spark and inspiration that made them Germany's truly classic metal band in the 80's. The band are not thrash, but have the heaviness to appeal to any fan of, say, Overkill. They are not hard rock, but your average AC/DC nut would find much to enjoy here. “The Rise of Chaos” is precise, prescient, presented superbly in terms of artwork and production and, more importantly, rocks as hard as anything I have heard this year. A tour de force.

“The Rise of Chaos” is available here

Band info: facebook