Accept Profile

While Scorpions might be regarded as Germany’s greatest contribution to the rock music world, many people forget about the oft overlooked Accept. With a deep back catalog brimming with classic hard rock anthems, the Germans' career has certainly hit a few bumps along the way, but their recent resurrection has shown there is still plenty of fight left in the under-rated metal gods.

With the seeds of the band planted back in 1968 in the small German town of Solingen, Accept’s career didn’t properly kick off until 1976, with key members Wolf Hoffmann (guitars) and bassist Peter Baltes joining up with vocalist Udo Dirkschneider. However, their ascension up the metal ladder didn’t happen overnight, with it taking their third and fourth albums Breaker and Restless And Wild to truly start getting the band widespread attention.

With the release of 1983’s Balls To The Wall, the German five-piece had truly kicked down the door into the metal mainstream, with no little thanks to the absolute classic title track, which helped earn the group a gold record in the USA. Follow up Metal Heart was almost as powerful as the previous LP, but cracks had began to show, and after 1986’s average Russian Roulette, Dirkschneider departed from the group.

Over the next two decades, things were up and down in the Accept camp. Dirkschneider returned to the group after the weak Eat The Heat featuring David Reece on vocals. With their original vocalist back in the fray, the group fired off three studio albums (Objection Overruled, Death Row and Predator) between 1993 and 1996, but none of the releases had the same fire and impact as their record’s back in the band’s golden years.

After a run of completely forgettable albums in the '90s, many people had understandably written Accept off as simply a relic from the '80s whose flame had burned out. A brief, yet very successful return on the Europe festival tour scene in 2005 gave fans hope for a full-blown rebirth, but that was extinguished shortly. Things began to move very quickly and suddenly in late 2009 though, with another reunion announced, this time with the relatively unknown Mark Tornillo taking the reigns as vocalist and frontman.

Working with uber-producer Andy Sneap, Accept’s comeback album Blood Of The Nations (2010) was everything a true fan of the band had dreamed about – cracking tunes, thunderous drums, driving guitar riffs, juggernaut production and Tornillo’s extremely impressive and fitting vocal attack. Needless to say, the metal world sat up and really welcomed them back with open arms, with the band undertaking an extensive tour schedule across Europe, the USA and Japan.

Judas Priest, Scorpions, Saxon

Peter Baltes – Bass
Wolf Hoffmann - Guitars
Herman Frank – Guitars
Stefan Schwarzmann - Drums (ex-Helloween, ex-Krokus, ex-Running Wild, ex-U.D.O)
Mark Tornillo - Vocals

Former Band Members

Udo Dirkschneider - Vocals (1968-1987, 1992-1997, 2005)
Jörg Fischer – Guitars (1978-1982, 1984-1988)
Stefan Kaufmann - Drums (1980-1994)
David Reece - Vocals (1988-1989)
Ken Mary - Drums (1989)
Jim Stacey - Guitars (1989)
Michael Cartellone -Drums (1995-1997)

1979 Accept (Brain)
1980 I’m A Rebel (Elektra)
1981 Breaker (Reprise)
1982 Restless and Wild (Portrait)
1983 Balls to the Wall (Portrait)
1985 Metal Heart (Portrait)
1986 Russian Roulette (Portrait)
1989 Eat the Heat (RCA)
1990 Staying A Life (RCA)
1993 Objection Overruled (RCA)
1994 Death Row (RCA)
1996 Predator (RCA)
2010 Blood of the Nations (Nuclear Blast)
2012 Stalingrad (Nuclear Blast)

Staying A Life
While they have a couple of stone-cold studio albums in their back pocket, Accept’s finest release is the classic, underrated live album Staying A Life. Recorded in Osaka in 1985 on the Metal Heart album tour, from the opening title-track of that album, to the power-house closer ‘Balls to the Wall’, the band is on absolute fire through. With a fantastic sound – especially drummer Stefan Kaufmann’s cracking snare drum – Staying A Life is a great place to start for new fans, and the track-listing features some of the greatest metal anthems of the '80s.