Customer Reviews

Balls to the Wall

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'd never heard of Accept until about two years ago, and even then, it's a band name that nobody ever mentions. I had no idea what the band's music sounds like aside from the scant reviews I've read of Accept's catalogue.

Balls to the Wall was supposedly one of the band's best records so I took a blind stab at it -- and was surprised at how sophisticated-sounding a record this was, given the bad initial impression that the dumb title gave me. And true, Accept can create a party groove as well as AC/DC, but Accept also succeeds in actually writing meaningful lyrics to go along with its loud ethic. The result is a singularly impressive metal record that somehow became a lost gem, known to many headbangers and guitar players, but rarely played. But it's very impressive hard rock: "Head over Heels" and "Fight It Back" features some of the hottest guitar work I remember hearing, the only complaint being a mix that doesn't quite favour the electric guitars enough, and on "London Leatherboys" and "Balls to the Wall" lead singer Udo Dirkschneider sounds like a cross between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson with his psychotic yells, which sound perfectly in place given the rough-and-tumble backdrop his excellent band (I single out guitarists Wolf Hoffman and Hermann Frank and bassist Peter Balter for praise) provides. Old-school metal has never sounded so good -- count me as a new, satisfied convert of Accept's.

On BTTW, Accept rerturned to a more melodic style, but not quite as melodic as their first album. The best songs here are "London Leatherboys," the title track, "Fight It Back," & "Love Child." This album is kind of a transition between "Restless & Wild" & their next 3 albums.

If you were around when this came out you know that it really rocked for its time.And still does today. One of my personal favorites.

I'm from a small town, and in it was one record store. The hippie that owned it was "up" on all the new music. I came in looking for Metallica, but it was sold out. Not wanting to lose a sale (Teeneager with money to spend), the hippie handed me this tape from Accept, he said "Buy this one, if you don't like it, I'll but it back". Never having heard of the band, but knowing the hippie knew his stuff, I bought it. I was so damned impressed after the first 30 seconds of music, I told all my friends about this band. If you don't own this album, you should. If you are a true Heavy Metal fan, this is one to put in your collection. Outstanding songs, great riffs, and a cool cd case. You cant go wrong with this one. I have all thier albums. This is one of my favorites. Come to think of it, that hippie turned me on to Megadeth too...I wonder if he's still in business...

The title cut is the only thing worth hearing on this album but the rest are tolerable.If you like what the Scorpions were doing around the time this came out you'll like this,too.But Udo's vocal style is unique unto himself...thank goodness.

Balls To The Wall is not only one of the greatest Accept albums of all times,it is truly one of the greatest metal albums of all time! In fact,along with "Holy Diver" from Dio,"Pyromania" from Def Leppard and "Headhunter" from Krokus,this is what I would play for someone who has never heard 80s style metal. It's really that good. Accept is one of my favorite bands and this CD has all the reasons for that. Udo has never sounded better with his trademark screaming vocals (no one sounds quite like him,no one,and that's the sign of a legend),Wolf is in top form as usual for great lead guitar work and the rest of the band is just awesome. As great as this is,it is not my favorite Accept album,that honor goes to the one that followed this "Metal Heart" but in all fairness I'm a sucker for melody and that was their most melodic album. However,when it comes to THE classic Accept sound,you simply can't beat this. It has the radio smash hit "Balls To The Walls" the amazing "London Leather Boys", and so much more. Every song on here is a classic and how many CDs can you truly say that about? This CD was my first taste of Accept. I was at a concert in 1983 (it was a Kix concert being from Pennsylvania where they played alot) and my favorite memory of that night was not the concert itself (which was great too) it was the CD they played before the concert. I heard this fantastic song called Head Over Heels,then I heard "Turn Me On" then I heard "Love Child" and then I heard "Balls To The Walls" and at that point I said "I have got to buy this CD" the next day I went to the record store and bought it and listened to it so much I wore out my cassette (thank goodness for CDs). To truly appreciate this masterpiece,you have to really crank up the volume.I recommend this to anyone just discovering Accept or hard rock music in general. It doesn't get much better!

The Pros:Everything. Of course the title track "Balls To The Wall" ,"London Leather Boys", "Head Over Heels" ,the very sexual lyrics to "Turn Me On" the very brave lyrics to "Love Child" (it took a lot of courage to write about homosexual feelings in a metal band),"Losers And Winners" and "Losing More Than You Ever Had".

The Cons:The only thing I can come up with for this,is the guitar sound is a little dryer than the previous release "Restless And Wild" but it still sounds great.The production is awesome and the songwriting is amazing.

The Bottom Line:I can't recommend this highly enough.It is a true masterpiece.The performance and the songwriting. The only other advice I can give about this is play it on 10 to get maximum effect.Donutman says so!!!

Accept totally rocks with aggressive sounding tunes and a massive wall of thick guitar tone. Udo is a unique vocalist to say the least, but it all comes together here perfectly. The twin guitar attack is to die for and the pounding rhythm section is full at right on the money. Gene Simmons from Kiss thought these guys kicked some serious butt back then and he wasn't wrong! Yes this is 80's metal at it's gnarly best!!

This release along with Metal Heart are their best cd's.

This album hammers. Buy it as soon as you can.

My reasons for the above simple statement are;

1) The title track - with copies of this album available for a mere half a dozen dollars - the title track alone is worth this much.

2) The fun doesn't stop there. Track after track of dead on, no holds barred hard rock. This album, like a bunch of Accept discs, is a little bit like listening to a best of collection of AC/DC albums. Sure the humour isn't there as much, but then you do get a slightly different attitude. Where AC/DC aspire to come across as dumb (hey, they're Australian - it's a national trait of ours), Accept don't bother with the affectations and deliver a slightly more metal take on things.

3) Further, this album is a stripped back blast, nothing too fancy, just awesome tracks like Guardian of the Night and Love child and the excellent and visceral Fight it Back. The solos are excellent throughout and there is genuine feeling in the slower numbers. The 'ballads' are quite able to take the listener to deep dark places just as much as the rockers.

All in all a top achievement by a band who were at the top of their game.

One of the best metal cd's of all time. If you like 80's metal like Iron maiden and Judas Priest, you will not want to miss this one. Do yourself a favor and buy it. There is not a bad song on it. This has been a regular in my collection since I heard it in 1984.

This was the last "acceptable" album by Accept. IT has strong songs ("Love Child" is first-class), a good ballad ("Winter Dreams") and other good songs. After "Balls to the Wall", Accept began his downfall into openly commercial metal, almost glam, from which it never recovered.