And here we have the invention of thrash metal. Accept were an odd choice to be the torchbearer for the movement. Their debut album was a product of the 70s, a juiced up hard rock similar to what the Scorpions and UFO were up to. They followed this with the lackluster I'm A Rebel, a decided move to AC/DC style hard edged boogie rock. Then came Breaker, and Accept were clearly starting to prove they might be a show horse after all. It's here they introduced their love for Judas Priest as much as AC/DC. This all lead to Restless and Wild. It's almost as if the group decided they had nothing to lose and went for broke.
Starting off with the Nazi symbolic folk song 'Ein Heller und ein Batzen', Accept represented what many German youngsters felt - we've had enough of this crap - and vocalist Udo Dirkschneider proceeds to scream his head off in a rage of pent-up anger while the band unleashes thrash metal to the world. They let the genie out of the bottle, and the song resonated worldwide with every angry youth regardless of nationality. 'Fast as a Shark' is ground zero. Just the way the album opens would become de rigueur for thrash to come. That of a soft or irrelevant opening followed by a crushing attack of raging guitars. In retrospect, Accept weren't thrash at all, and the remainder of the album doesn't really reflect a similar sound. 'Fast a Shark' could be seen as an amped up variation of Judas Priest's 'Exciter'. No matter, it was the sound created that sparked the imagination of hundreds of budding metal musicians. One of those groups would be Metallica, and the following year they unleashed Kill 'em All to be arguably the first full throttle thrash album. If you look at a site such as RYM, you'll notice that thrash became a phenomena very quickly after that. It started right here.
I suppose if that's all Restless and Wild brought to the table - that is to say, their opener only - then it would be of historic interest and little else. That is fortunately not the case. They never let go of the heaviness, which also captured the imagination of a restless youth so to speak. The title track is the perfect follow up, slowing down the proceedings while maintaining the galloping heavy riffs. There are no weak songs to be found, every one of them has purpose to go with the heavy sound. And they're perfectly placed in the track order. This is the only album where AC/DC didn't seem to inspire them. That style was reintroduced on Balls to the Wall, a much more tame (albeit successful) follow up.
Two other songs to call out. One is 'Neon Nights' that closes off Side 1. Here they tap into the thoughtful side of the Scorpions, but with an extra dollop of heaviness. And then perhaps the crown jewel of them all is 'Princess of the Dawn', a track that you could make the claim inspired Epic Metal. It has all the earmarks of a Manilla Road or Cirith Ungol type work. Progressive in its composition, and heavy in its output.
The cover is also predictive - they lit the match that set the heavy metal genre into flames. Restless and Wild is as groundbreaking as they come.
Let's talk about the alternate cover. What on earth were they thinking (label I presume)? The Brain cover is perfect in every single way possible (I mean just look at it!). And when the album was released worldwide it just showed the band playing live. It looks like a live album release. What a dumb decision that was.
Ownership: 1982 Brain (LP). Black label; 1987 Heavy Metal Worldwide (CD). Alternate cover.1983 (acquired); 1/8/24 (review)
One of the most important European metal albums, Accept surprised everyone with their 3rd opus. After a couple of ordinary hard rock albums, Breaker turned up the amps and broke out the riffs for a head turning "did you hear that?". I bought this album real time (the US Passport version) and its impact was profound. I'm surprised I did though, as I unfortunately purchased I'm A Rebel prior, one of the worst buys of my initial forays into the underground during high school. I'll have to hear it again at some point, but it was absolutely not what I wanted at the time. I must have heard a track on the radio from Breaker to compel me to go back to Accept. Over time I lost interest in this kind of metal and sold off my copy in the early 90s - probably along with the 1980s Scorpions albums.
One thing to note is that the original German version has a different running order than the American press. And this is important because the opening three tracks here pack a wallop when thrown together. Opener 'Starlight' reminds me of Judas Priest's 'Grinder' and is a great way to open the album. But the second track - and it is the second track on the Passport version as well - is the title song. It is this song that has one of those memorable riffs that would become heavy metal's ultimate trademark. And 'Run If You Can' fulfills the great opening sequence. From here the album doesn't maintain it's blistering pace but almost all of it is very good. Only 'Midnight Highway' can be skipped - a moldy relic from their I'm a Rebel past. Naturally that was the opener on the US version. Oddly my rating for this album didn't change. I was expecting a major revelation here, but no - my memory of it from 30 years ago was pretty accurate. I just appreciate more now its historical significance.
Back to 1981: I had become an established Accept fan. Good timing, because their next album was the masterpiece - the one that blew the doors off the metal scene and created the expanding universe as we know it. That of course would be Restless and Wild, and unlike Breaker, I never got tired of that album and it remains one of the treasures of my collection.
Ownership: 1981 Brain (LP). With lyric / picture inner bag. Black label. 1981 (first acquired); 10/25/22 (review)
Russian Roulette (1986)
Balls to the Wall (1983)
Definitively a very strong keeper and indispensable on its Brain edition!
ReplyDelete:thumbs up!
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