Restless and Wild

by

Accept

Edit

Accept were and are one of the greatest and most underrated Metal bands of all time, and Restless and Wild is their masterpiece. As a kid in the early eighties I was a true metal head into the likes of Sabbath, Scorps, Priest and Maiden, but my whole world took a turn for the HEAVIER when I was kicked in the face by the double bass onslaught of Fast as a Shark! Metal had taken an evolutionary step towards true aggression and somehow everything else seemed a little tamer in comparison. These german metal maestroes captured everything that makes metal so appealing in my book, true musicianship,power, precision, touches of classical/gothic melody that doesen't deplete the noize factor,lyrics that exalt a rude and crude roughneck metal ethic(Ahead of the Pack,title track) vague occultic mysticism (Princess of the Dawn, Demon's Night) and balls out beer swilling anthems (Get Ready, Flash Rockin Man). This is pure blood & guts street level metal with no time for sissy poser wannabes, all filtered through an obviously foreign (german/european) sensibility thankfully devoid of american style concessions to glamor and rock stardom! Despite some opinions to the contrary Udo's vocals are a perfect compliment to the sound and lyrics. His audio and physical lack of beauty may have kept Accept from achieving "stardom" but in my opinion kept them perfectly on track as far as the aesthetics and ethics of true metal go. Accept remain today as they were then, obscure at best outside metal circles, and a joke to music snobs who don't know any better, but that's O.K. only the faithful have a right to know anyway...

When Accept released "Restless and wild" back in 1982, heavy metal was a very dominant musical genre. "New" bands popped up everywhere and some were better than others. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Saxon, Scorpions and of course Accept were proudly exposed in the form of patches on the long haired fans' jeans jackets.

This efforts starts with the furious "Fast as a shark" which has become more or less Accept's trade mark, and closes with a slower fan favourite by the name of "Princess of the dawn". In between there's plenty of heavy metal in the style of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Singer (some might object to call Udo Dirkschneider that) has a growling and rough voice with more in common with Brian Johnson (AC/DC) and Lemmy (Motorhead) than the likes of David Coverdale (ex Deep Purple, Whitesnake) or Ronnie James Dio (ex Rainbow, Dio). But Dirkschneider works just fine in Accept, and the rest of the band (especially guitar player Wolf Hoffman) can surely play. With songs like "Restless and wild", "Shake your head" and "Ahead of the pack", this is a fine example of traditional heavy metal. This effort might not be Accept's best work as some people claim but it would certainly be treat to anyone who's into this kind of metal. It's raw and it's unpolished and it will most certainly upset your neighbours as long they're not real metalheads.