Editor's Choice ...
And this time ... "Balls to the Wall", the fifth studio album by "Accept", released on December 5, 1983.
A year after the incredible breakthrough album "Restless and Wild", "Accept" returns with this excellent album that finally established them as one of the great and influential metal bands of the 1980s.
This album earned the band wide international recognition, gaining gold status in a number of countries, including the United States, where it even entered the Billboard 200.
In this album the band puts an emphasis on the melody, while slowing down the pace a bit, compared to the previous album, adopting a much more honed and polished sound. This is a much more accessible album aimed for the general public, with catchy melodies and sweeping riffs that will make you wave your fists in the air to the sounds of the metal anthems in it. On "Balls to the Wall", "Accept" forms the sound that will accompany it on the next excellent albums, including "Metal Heart" and "Russian Roulette", on which beyond the focus on melody the vocal harmonies were pushed forward in the final mix.
We mentioned "Metal Anthems", so the theme song "Balls to the Wall" is definitely the ultimate example of that. A perfect riff, sweeping rhythm, amazing production and a melody that will not leave your head and will not make you stop singing.
The amazing guitar work on this album is simply noteworthy. This time we have guitarist Herman Frank alongside Wolf Hoffmann. It's Herman's only album with the band until 2010, when he will return to the band. The combination Hoffmann and Frank is perfect and combines honed riffs alongside mind blowing solos. Listen to them in the song "Fight It Back", which happens to be the closest in style to the previous album, and you will understand what we are talking about.
This album strives for perfection and does not have a single song that we can define as weak or a filler. Even the use of electronic drums in part of the song "Losing More Than You've Ever Had" will not make us change our minds. Udo Dirkschneider is at his peak here. His singing has always been powerful, but on this album he really surpasses himself and proves that he definitely deserves to be included in the list of great metal singers of the period, and we are not only talking about the powerful part of the singing but also his softer side, like in the excellent "Head Over Heels" and "Winter Dreams".
All lyrics on the album were written by the band and by Deaffy, which later turned out to be a fictitious name used by Gaby Hoffmann, the guitarist's wife and band manager. The lyrics are mostly about "sex" and "politics". Songs like "London Leatherboys" and "Love Child" were perceived as songs about homosexuality, especially in light of the album cover that focused on the loins of a man who was seen wearing leather clothes, but Udo denied that, saying that the song "London Leatherboys" Refers to motorcycle gangs.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music.