Accept vs. U.D.O. Who ya got?

The last time I wanted to do one of these technical difficulties ruined it. Hopefully we fair better this time. Alright so in one corner we have Accept version 3.0 with Mark Tornillo on vocals and in the other corner we have U.D.O. with....you guessed it Udo Dirkschneider on vocals. Just like an aging boxing lying to the world that they are retired Accept wanted to give it another go and Udo didn't want to try another failed reunion therefore Wolf and Co. decided to go with an obscure frontman to carry on the legacy. Who made the better career move?
In this corner is Accept with a frontman that looks like a homeless biker. And in this corner Udo who looks like an aging very tall midget. Blood of the Nations vs. Dominator after the jump.

1. Beat the Bastards vs. The Bogeyman: Accept has always been known for their riffs and the intro to Beat the Bastards is no exception. Mark does have a rough edge to his voice. Not quite as rough as UDO but I can see why these guys picked him. Yep this is classic Accept songwriting. Anthemic in a traditional metal way. Mark actually has a range on his vocals. The bogeyman starts very gothic like and slow. Choral humming and piano. Crushing riffs come in. Udo might not miss Accept but he loves the riffs just as much. Kind of a cheesy chorus in the vein of old Judas Priest. Fuck I miss traditional metal like both of these bands. This is very refreshing. Both songs kick ass but Bastards isn't quite as cheesy. Point to Accept.

2. Teutonic Terror vs. Dominator: I've actually seen the video for Teutonic so I'm sort of familiar with this song from the gate.I'm probably going to eat my words on this album because this song is kicking ass too. More on that after this is done. I've always loved the chanting background vocals from Accept and it appears in spots on this tune. A bit on the cheesy side but I enjoyed it. Another punishing riff opens up on the title track for Dominator. Udo can still belt it out for his age. I think this matchup is going to come down to lyrics honestly. Even with Accept being cheesy U.D.O. manages to outdo it on the choruses. No surprise seeing the name of the tracks. Another close one but Teutonic I guess isn't as generic as Dominator. Point to Accept.

3. The Abyss vs. Black and White: Almost 7 minute song for Accept here. Actually all of these songs are long by Accept standards. Whoa! A scream to start out with Mark. And now clean vocals from him. Nice range dude. A more mid tempo song on this one. Save the world song it appears. Ugh. I hate those. Are both of these songs going to be socio-political tunes? It's evident Udo's song is not a cover of Michael Jackson. Udo starts clean singing. Never been a strong suit of his. I like the alternating between slow and kick in the teeth on this track.It reminds of the song 'Dogs on Leads' from Metal Heart. I think I enjoyed UDO's song more. Point to U.D.O.

4. Blood of the Nations vs. Infected: Reeling from all of these riffs from both sides. Accept wants to save the world but then follows up with a song about war and revenge. Make up your mind guys. Very anthemic and I guess patriotic song. Very cheesy Manowar type of song. Industrial sound to start Infected off with. Pretty punishing wall of sound on this track. Not as cheesy as Accept's effort. Point to U.D.O.

5. Shades of Death vs. Heavy Metal Heaven: If I could give points for just the song titles Accept would be winning by a landslide so far. Shades starts very soft and acoustic. Longest song at over 7 minutes. Oooo...keyboards over a crushing riff. Almost symphonic. I'm wondering what Mark's vocals sounded like 20 years ago. It's almost too bad he was stuck with a band called TT Quick. Jesus what a stupid name to a band. No wonder he was stuck in obscurity for so long but I bet his vocals packed a bigger punch.Anyway a very cool song. Udo's side is a typical anthemic song filled with "I'm a god with silver wings" type of lyrics. It's fun for what it is but Accept takes this one. Point for Accept.

6. Locked and Loaded vs. Doom Ride: Fast paced song from Accept. This would be what people would call a filler song. Generic title and nothing too awesome about the track. Udo's side has a better riff and hooks. The chorus is sort of cheesy but overall this is a better song of the two. Point for U.D.O.

7. Time Machine vs. Stillness of Time: This is a bonus track on the U.S. release of Blood of the Nations. Slow tempo intro. Vocals are kind of evil. Then Mark rips into his vocals. Cool catchy chorus though I'm getting tired of both sides including the name of the song in every chorus. Takes a bit away from the overall track. Piano intro on Udo's version of time. Pretty epic intro after the piano interlude. Ah the token track where Udo sings with his gravel vocals very slow. Not a fan of this because he gets this warble in his throat that's annoying. Cool music but compared to the other track this is kind of dull on the vocal parts. Point to Accept.

8. Kill the Pain vs. Devil's Rendezvous: Accept's turn at a slow ballady intro. Almost like a Italian folk song. Nice solo. Yeah Mark is a pretty competent vocalist as evident on the softer passages. It's been a long time since I heard a ballad this good. Udo ruins it by laughing at the beginning of his song. Kind of a boogie woogie song of all things. Is this a German folk song or a cover? It's different I'll give it that. I wasn't expecting this. I'm torn because this song is cool in it's own right. I'll give a point to Udo for this because it's unique and fun.

9. Rolling Thunder vs. Pleasure in the Dark Room: The generic song titles from Accept seem to lead to filler songs. This isn't bad but nothing amazing either. Time to see if Udo's song is the token song about his weird sex fetishes. Go listen to old Accept songs to see what I mean. Vocoder with reverb on the vocals. Hmmm...this song is not fantastic either. By now if it doesn't stand out and makes me have to think of which I enjoy better then its a tie.

10. Pandemic vs. Speed Demon: Pretty rockin' beginning to pandemic. The lyrics are not talking about bird disease. Oh, this is a anthem about heavy metal. I was wondering when Accept would chime in with one of these. It's not as cheesy as a lot of these are. Udo's song on the otherhand is a gneric filler tune with a cheesy chorus. they might as well have done a new take on the Speed Racer theme. Point to Accept.

11. New World Comin' vs. Whispers in the Dark: Geesh another meh song. It doesn't suck but it doesn't wow me. Kind of bluesy in a way. Piano intro on Udo's album. Udo's clean vocals are actually pretty good here surprisingly enough. whoa then they ramp it up and make the first part heavy. Pretty cool. Point to U.D.O.

Well Accept's album had two more tracks then U.D.O.s so let's tabulate the score. 5-5-1. So we have a tie in every possible way.Let's go back and check Accept's remaining tracks.

12. No Shelter: This tune is standard fare by now. a fast paced rocker with the standard build of songs in this vein. I probably enjoy this better due to not having to alternate with another album. Still it's not really amazing but pretty standard.

13. Bucket Full of Hate: Cool title. Music box at the beginning. That means a kick in the teeth is coming. Yep...fast tempo song full of riff. Tempo slows for the vocals. Ok guys...you don't have to chant the chorus every time the singer says it. I know its a signature move but some of these songs are better without it. Song is not as good as it could have been.

So the moral of this story is that even if Udo had come back and these are the songs that were written it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference, the same as if wolf hoffman and crew went to Udos side with his songs. These guys are about as even as you can get. I am pleasantly surprised by the Accept performance. Mark Tornillo can definitely sing and has a better range then Udo. Not a bad intro so it'll be interesting to see what these guys do in the future. Let's see what the album sales are like in the first week to see if I truly eat crow from an earlier article.

And now Video time. Here is a video from each side to get an idea of what I was listening to.

Devil Music A-Z :Accept

Oh ya. Das Accept ist wunderbar nein?

I did an article on these guys awhile back when they announced their new singer. I've stopped caring that Wolf Hoffman and Joe Satriani have the same barber, or that Mark Tornillo looks like he parks his shopping cart full of aluminum cans outside before every gig. Between 1983 and 1986 these guys were one of my favorite bands. At the time I wasn't huge into thrash or or other forms of extreme metal, I was more of a traditional kind of guy I guess you could say and these German dudes were like the Scorpions ballsier brothers(pun might be intended). Udo's snarling vocals and the ass kicking riffs from songs like Too High to Get it Right or Fast As a Shark were about as heavy as I wanted to get and that was ok. Sure the synchronized guitar waving and the fact that Udo looked like a short U.S.O. soldier on leave were cheesy but it was ignored, the music was cool.

After the mediocre crap that was Russian Roulette I lost track until a few years ago and checked out the reunion stuff with UDO and it was ok...some good riffs...but you could tell their heart wasn't into it. So now they've reformed with this Tornillo guy from some band with a completely stupid name and it's still early to tell what kind of reception they'll get.But I've heard a few tracks and it's not bad but it sure as hell doesn't want me to revisit them like those three years we had in the 80's.

A little something something about Accept

I've been following this story for months now from Blabbermouth.

Here is my question. Does anybody REALLY think this is a good idea?

Don't get me wrong I loved me some Accept decades ago. I had the triad of popular albums and Metal Heart is still my favorite. This is why it bugs me when bands do stuf like this. But lets be honest,Metal Heart was the last success they had even with UDO at vocalist. He went on to his own band which did ok, the rest of the band replaced him to poor sales. Then in the 90's he came back and those albums weren't bad but not great either and again the world didn't care because it was the 90's and many bands died a slow death that decade. So Wolf Hoffman says that the band is defunct for good and he wanted to pursue other music ventures. End of story right?

Wrong.

Just like an aging boxer these guys don't know when to pack it in for good. Now they have this guy Mark Tornillo as a new vocalist for a reformed Accept.Why? No one has cared since 1986 so why would they care now with Udo not at the helm? I have no idea if this lineup will be any good. Maybe it will be but it's not going to sell especially with the lack of marketing these days. I'm just trying to understand why guys who've been around for 35 years and went away would want to in essence start from scratch all over again playing in bars and being middle bill on European festivals. Udo is probably the most level headed by this in my opinion. Go to 3:30 minutes into this clip to hear his comments on it from last year.



Stay down or call it something else and keep your dignity guys, don't be another Anvil.

Here is the vid with Accepts side of it so people can make up their own minds. The song featured rips pretty good as old school stuff but I digress.


Here is Accept back in the day for those unfamiliar.