Accept- Too Mean to Die (2021) Review

By Chris Hammond (Reviewed Compact Disc version)

Accept- Too Mean to Die (2021)
Label: Nuclear Blast
Style: Thrash, Heavy Metal

Current Band Members:
Mark Tornillo – vocals
Wolf Hoffmann – lead guitar
Uwe Lulis – rhythm guitar
Philip Shouse – third guitar
Martin Motnik – bass
Christopher Williams – drums

Tracklist

“Zombie Apocalypse” 5:35
“Too Mean to Die” 4:21
“Overnight Sensation” 4:24
“No One’s Master” 4:10
“The Undertaker” 5:37
“Sucks to Be You” 4:05
“Symphony of Pain” 4:39
“The Best Is Yet to Come” 4:47
“How Do We Sleep” 5:41
“Not My Problem” 4:21
“Samson and Delilah” 4:31
Total length: 52:11

Hailing from Germany Accept has had their “Balls to the Wall” since the late sixties when they were known as “Band X“. The band was officially known as Accept in 1976 by Wolf Hoffmann (guitarist), Udo Dirkschneider (vocals), and Peter Baltes on bass.

The band has been a major contributor to the German heavy metal scene that occurred in the mid-1980s. They have influenced a bevy of major acts such as Metallica, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, as well as fellow German acts Helloween and Rage.

The band’s fifth album Balls to the Wall (1983) would see them reach commercial success and even be certified gold in Canada and the United States. The song Balls to the Wall is still as catchy as it ever was and has remained an anthem for many metalheads.

Line change-ups and band breakups took their toll on band members and fans alike, Finally, there is time to rejoice. 2021 sees Accept reemerge in a big way with the album Too Mean to Die.

Too Mean to Die, the band’s sixteenth studio sees Mark Motnik take over bass and his heavy bass chords are a welcome edition adding more fuel to the already inferno Accept thrash sound.

The sound on Too Mean to Die is for the most part modern heavy rock and catchy as hell. Tornillo on vocals swaggers steadily with his grasp voice throughout every song. Three guitars on the album just add to the heaviness and they work magic on solos on “Overnight Sensation”, “Sucks to be you” and “Symphony of Pain”.

Slower, melodic songs such as “The Undertaker” and “The Best is Yet to Come” give the listeners a slower but no less delightful selection of well-delivered lyrics and music.

The best way to describe this album is by the song it is titled after, Accept is “Too Mean to Die” and their mission is to bash you in the earholes with killer guitar licks, vicious vocals, and deadly drums and bass.

This is one album that people will be singing along with for the rest of 2021, get it if you dare!
Rating: 5 sets of Balls against the wall out of 5
Release date: January 29, 2021