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Accept: Too Mean To Die
Accept - Too Mean To Die Album Art

Accept: Too Mean To Die

Heavy Metal
3.5/5.0

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Nuclear Blast Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 06.01.2021 | Released: 29.01.2021

As studio albums go, the last we heard from seminal German metal band Accept was 2017's The Rise Of Chaos. This was followed by Symphonic Terror, a live recording with orchestra from 2017's Wacken Open Air. Wherein Accept is perhaps playing catch up with former vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and his recent foray into sympyhonic metal interpretations of his own music. Now Accept returns with their sixteenth long-player, Too Mean To Die (sounds like an Udo title), which features, as usual some personnel changes. These include Martin Motnik on bass and Philip Shouse on guitar (who appeard on Symphonic Terror).

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Accept

For the lack of argument, we need not quibble about Accept and their sound: traditional heavy metal characterized by speed, blistering guitar solos, and raspy vocals soaked in bottom shelf whiskey and roofing nails. Meaning, sometime in the past, original guitarist Wolf Hoffmann decided that Accept would not be Accept if the band and fans did not "accept" Udo-like vocals. Enter Mark Tornillo. Ergo, nothing has really changed for current Accept in relation to their most recent albums.

You'll find the usual fast and heavy Accept metal with Not My Problem, Zombie Apocalypse, Too Mean To Die, and No Ones Master. Yet, I've always found I like Accept (and Udo for that matter) when they put more rock groove in their speedy metal and drop in a catchy refrain. I found this with Overnight Sensation, Symphony Of Pain, and The Undertaker with its various guitar segues and solos. More curious is the mixed musical anthem The Best Is Yet To Come which juxtaposes an acoustic first half with metal heaviness in the second half.

Essentially, Too Mean To Die continues to demonstrate that Accept can still sound like Accept without Udo Dirkschneider, just drop in a similar vocalist. (Does that make the vocal slot moot?) Accept and UDO seem to live in parallel yet alternate metal universes. By example, may I recommend the Starz/Amazon Prime show, filmed partly in Germany, Counterpart. But, editorial comments aside, if you've liked anything that Accept has done in the Tornillo era, you will absolutely enjoy Too Mean To Die. Recommended.




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The Bottom Line

Essentially, Too Mean To Die continues to demonstrate that Accept can still sound like Accept without Udo Dirkschneider, just drop in a similar vocalist. Ergo, if you've liked anything that Accept has done in the Tornillo era, you will absolutely enjoy Too Mean To Die. Recommended.

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