Too Mean to Die

Album review

Since its reformation in 2010, with the vocals of ex-TT Quick member Mark Tornillo, Accept has not been idle and has released albums with the regularity of a Swiss watch. None of these have lacked panache. Blood of the Nations (2010) became a record unanimously revered by fans of the German combo. Too Mean To Die follows more or less the same trajectory by searching the band's past for what made it successful in the days of Restless and Wild (1982) or Balls to The Wall (1983). Overnight Sensation seems to come straight out of one of those efforts, with a Tornillo sounding increasingly like a replica of his predecessor, Udo Dirkschneider. The machine is well oiled: Wolf Hoffmann (guitar) is now the only master on board and has completely renewed the line-up (no less than three guitarists in the band now!) and this album proves a simple thing that might not have been so obvious: Accept and Hoffmann are one, everyone is totally interchangeable and the master is the only guarantor of the band's sound, which he fiercely defends (because it is not always easy to be seen as a dictator). If, indeed, individual performances are not the point (no exceptional shredder in the group, no room for showing off), everyone does their job with vigour. The tracks are wickedly well written (Sucks to Be You even looks set to be a future classic) and Hoffmann has clearly chosen the option of giving the band's fans what they expect: meat and potatoes. Except this time, they are getting sauce too, and it's damn thick. It is surprising (and reassuring) to see this kind of "Old Glory" still be able to rise to the peak of his talent and continue to bluff the listener with his old tricks (like taking clever excerpts from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony into Symphony of Pain, which is a little much but not unpleasant). Few bands with 45-year careers behind them manage to keep their skills so sharp. If the "rival brothers" Hoffmann and Tornillo (a left-wing German and a pro-Trump American) do not slip up in the coming years, their musical collaboration probably still has much left to say. © Charlélie Arnaud/Qobuz