Warthur Accept's Stalingrad: Brothers In Death is a storming traditional heavy metal album which offers few surprises but a decidedly acceptable level of consistency. Aside from the themes lifted from the Soviet national anthem slipped into the title track, there's few radical departures or experiments on Accept's part, but if you are in the market for business as usual, hard-edged 80s metal style with some NWOBHMish traits, that's precisely what you will find here, though if you are averse to cheesiness in your metal you may find it patchy. I'm in two minds about the title track myself: the lyrics evoke the bitter struggle that characterised the actual siege, the music makes me think of Manowar striding through the shelled-out streets of Stalingrad in their loincloths.

UMUR "Stalingrad" is the 13th full-length studio album by German heavy metal act Accept. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in April 2012. It´s the second album release after their 2009 reunion and also the second album with new lead vocalist Mark Tornillo. The band have again chosen Andy Sneap to produce the album, which was also the case with "Blood of the Nations (2010)". He has not surprisingly created a dark, heavy yet clean sound production that brings out the best in the music. "Stalingrad" is through and through a really well produced album.

"Stalingrad" features some lyrical themes evolving around World War II, but it´s not as such a concept album. The music is traditional heavy metal done the Accept way. Pounding and raw rythms, heavy and catchy riffing, blistering solos and Mark Tornillo´s raw rusty voice in front. He really has an impressive voice and vocal range. His singing style is more varied and less hard on the ears than Udo´s singing style. While the music is very traditional I´d still like to mention how sophisticated it actually is. The tracks never get dull or sound uninspired, because Accept are able to put in songwriting details, solos and vocal acrobatics (those high pitched screams are just amazing), that keep the music exciting all the way through the 51:34 minutes long album.

Tracks like "Hung, Drawn and Quartered", "Flash to Bang Time" and "Against the World" are killer material, but that can actually be said about the full album, so I guess it´s slightly unfair to the rest of the tracks to mention highlights.

"Blood of the Nations (2010)" was a great album and proof that Accept were back in business with a vengeance, but "Stalingrad" is to my ears an even stronger album. The musicianship are on a very high level, the songwriting is inspired and the sound production powerful, dark and heavy, so "Stalingrad" is through and through a strong album release by Accept, fully deserving a 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating.

adg211288 Stalingrad (subtitled Brothers in Death) is the thirteenth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept. It is the second album since their 2010 comeback with Blood of the Nations, which was the group’s first studio album since 1996’s Predator. Having spent so long on hiatus and returning without vocalist Udo Dirkschneider in the line-up I think Accept generally exceeded any and all expectations in 2010 and 2012 sees them still running on a high with Stalingrad.

Stalingrad is pretty much the logical continuation of Blood of the Nations. The former album was about as strong a dose of traditional heavy metal that you were like to find, and Accept don’t appear to have lost any steam between the two albums. If you were to ask me to choose between them, I would say Blood of the Nations is the better album of this new era of Accept, but that view may be slightly coloured by the fact that Blood of the Nations had that comeback wow factor to it, not to mention the totally killer track Teutonic Terror.

Of course, Stalingrad brings with it many highlights of its own. Hung, Drawn and Quartered kick starts the album, and you really need nothing else to let you know that Blood of the Nations was no fluke, and that bands can return after so many years without their long time frontman, and still deliver the goods. Further tracks such as Against The World and the title track only serve to showcase this even more. This is classic heavy metal done by one of the true masters of the genre. Great riffs, extensive soloing, powerful vocals, is there really anything not to love about Accept? A great album tier rating is easily deserved.

8.2/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

Kingcrimsonprog Stalingrad is the thirteenth full-length studio album by the German Metal band Accept, and their second since reuniting and working with new frontman Mark Tornillo (of T.T. Quick fame) following up on the critically acclaimed comeback album Blood Of Nations from 2010.

The quality of the songwriting is excellent and the band make a superb job of mixing ballsy up-tempo tracks of purely driving classic Heavy Metal and longer dynamic tracks that shift tempos and explore clean and acoustic territory as well. There is enough variety so it isn’t all just the same, but enough consistency that you’re getting a pure and succinct experience.

Like Blood Of Nations before it, Stalingrad takes the classic Accept sound and modernizes it slightly. Don’t misunderstand, it isn’t overly contrived to be youthful, but it is energetic and vital with any cheesiness removed. The record touches on a few metal styles, with hints of Thrash, Speed and Power Metal all creeping in in small doses alongside the classic Teutonic Metal style off the early Accept albums.

Basically; imagine all the best elements of bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Megadeth, Overkill, and others condensed down into one album of tasteful guitar melodies and soaring leads, gang-backing-vocals and hard crunchy riffs. Mark’s gravely low voice and occasional high notes come across as a brilliant mid-way point between Lemmy influenced singers and Halford influenced singers and suit the music remarkably well.

The production, from Andy Sneap is also utterly perfect for the album and makes the music sound both powerful and clear, with crunchy feeling on the palm muted riffs and a clean sound on the leads. It isn’t as dynamic as a 70s or 80s production job but it is a fantastic example of what a modern job can sound like when done right.

Overall, if you like Accept and especially their new line-up then this is a must-have record; if you like traditional heavy metal then this is really worth exploring and finally if you like any other metal in general then you should consider giving this record a chance. Its solid, its meaty, it’s the perfect mixture of very Hard Rock and straight-up Metal and I highly recommend it.