Blind Rage

Although modern metal is built on a foundation of daring experimentation and technicality, the old gods of the genre worked in more intangible ways, building their sound on attitude and swagger. On their 14th studio album (the third since the band re-formed with new vocalist Mark Tornillo at the helm in 2009), the seeming unkillable Accept return to take listeners back to the tough old days of metal with Blind Rage. While the album's title evokes the idea of an uncontrollable beast wildly lashing out at anything nearby, the music contained within paints a different picture. Like a snarling guard dog on a leash that's just a little too short, the album feels restrained, but still dangerous, as if at any moment things could break bad and spin out of control. Seething and snarling, the album shows that the band still know how to pull the listener's strings. On track after track, Blind Rage dishes out aggression with an even hand, keeping the listener right at the edge of catharsis without whipping them into a frenzy. As many old-school metal revivalists have proven time and again, this trait is one that can only be learned with experience, something Accept have picked up plenty of over the last few decades. And even with Tornillo on vocals, Accept still sound the way you remember them sounding when they were at the height of their power, so even the lapsed, Balls to the Wall-era metalheads out there will feel as though they're picking up with the band right where they left off. ~ Gregory Heaney