Metal Underground.com

Did you ever not realize how hungry you really were until after you had the first bite of a nice, juicy steak? That's the experience a lot of listeners are going to have with Accept's latest album, "Blood Of The Nations."

In this case, you won't realize how hungry you were for the big riffs, choruses and solos that dominated Accept's early-'80s heyday until you hear the opening blast of "Beat The Bastards," which recalls the 1980s without sounding dated at all. It sets an almost impossible standard for the rest of the album to meet — but damned if the band doesn't give its all in trying to do so.

The elephant in the room, so to speak, is that there's a new guy behind the microphone. As far as replacement vocalists go, Mark Tornillo is more a "Ripper" Owens than a Blaze Bayley, if you catch my drift. He's got a terrific sound that will no doubt mesh well with Accept's back catalog on stage, while bringing his own touches to the new material. Only the most hardcore fans are going to listen to this album and decry the absence of Udo Dirkschneider. Besides, even though we've "lost" Udo, we've gained back guitarist Herman Frank, who, along with mainstay Wolf Hoffmann, tears it up on nearly every track.

In general, the songs that work best on the album are the faster tunes like "Beat The Bastards," which has an almost Motorhead-ish feel, and "Teutonic Terror," with its almost martial movement. "Locked And Loaded," "Rollin' Thunder" and "No Shelter" will all satisfy your need for speed quite well.

Sometimes, you've got to eat a little salad with your steak, and, in this case, that means a handful of slower tunes like the partly acoustic "Kill The Pain" and the more electric "Shades Of Death," which slow things up, but still give Tornillo a chance to show off some impressive vocal chops.

Andy Sneap, perhaps best known for his work on the last couple of Megadeth albums, is quickly becoming one of my favorite producers in metal. On this album, he manages to take the loud "gang choruses" so prevalent in the 1980s, and actually make them fit in a modern context. This album sounds spectacular.

With "Blood Of The Nations," Accept has created an album that's far more than acceptable — it's phenomenal. Whether you were a fan in the "Balls To The Wall" era, or are a newcomer to this band, you'll find much to love here.