• AllMyVinyl #133
• Band: Accept
• Album Title: Humanoid
• Release Date: 26 Apr 2024
• Date purchased: 22 Apr 2024
• Location purchased: Amazon
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

Accept has a few different eras, and the one we’re in now is quite strong, in my opinion.  I know a lot of people have tuned them out as some bands who have been around for a long time generally overstay their welcome. Then there’s the issue I see repeated of them being nothing ore than a cover band because Udo Dirkschneider isn’t there  Well, true, he’s not.  BUT..  I never bought into that.   Accept has a total of seventeen studio albums.  That ranges from the first (the self titled Accept) in 1979 up until this most recent one – 2024’s Humanoid.  For the last 14 years, they’ve been fronted by vocalist Mark Tornillo – who while yes – not Udo, does a killer job.  Tornillo is anything but an Udo clone, but he manages to bring his own thing to the part yet still harness the history and legacy of Accept so it doesn’t sound like something totally different (Hello “Eat the Heat” album).  Some of my all time favorite Accept songs from the band are from his era (Teutonic Terror, Stalingrad, etc).  Humanoid is the sixth studio album with Tornillo, and if there’s one thing his era has done well is being consistently good.

This consistency led me make Humanoid an auto purchase in April of 2024.  Bands I like I tend to get their stuff without checking it out first, and Accept is no different.  I do have an interesting history with this album despite it being brand new when I bought it.  You see in 2023 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and in the fall of 23 I had my treatments, and that went well, but my body reacted weirdly to the treatments, and in 2024 I was dealing with the side effects of all that.  It put me in a dark place mentally, and when this album came out I did listen to it once or twice, but was never in a place mentally to really digest it and enjoy it.  Time passed and other things came out, and Humanoid got shuffled to the back of line.  No fault of its own, but you know if you don’t have the mind space when something is new, other things tend to get your attention when they show up.  So when I listen to it today, it’ll be kind of like new, because other than the title track, I can’t tell you anything about any of the songs on this album, so my reactions will be “new” vs “oh yeah I remember listening to that in the past”.  BTW, I’m all good with the cancer – I was declared cancer free on 5 Jan 2025, a very VERY good day.

One thing about the lineup.  Accept’s original run lasted from 1979 to 1996.  Their 96 album “Predator” was the last one for quite some time.  The first one with Tornillo (Blood of the Nations) came out in 2010.  When they resurfaced then, the band had mostly members that had been there before – Wolf Hoffmann (g), Herman Frank (g), Peter Baltes (b), & Stefan Schaarzmann (d) – three of those being long time members. There was of course Tornillo replacing Udo.  So the lineup was fairly authentic.  After three albums (Blood of the Nations, Stalingrad, & Blind Rage) Hermann Frank & Stefan Schwarzmann left the band, leaving just Hoffmann & Baltes from the old days. They released Rise of Chaos in 2017.  I saw Accept on 2 Oct 2018 (picture below, I was right up front).  This show had Hoffman & Baltes – although I think it was 5 shows after mine Baltes announced he was leaving Accept.  Made me appreciate the show more.  They’ve had two more albums since then (Too Mean to Die & Humanoid), but both of them have only Hoffmann as the last original member still there.  Hoffmann’s been there since Accept was founded in 1976.  He’ll probably never stop, which is fine with me, as what Accept is doing now is good stuff.

Diving into Sin – This album starts off with a sound that isn’t a traditional Accept sound.   It’s a slower paced intro.  It doesn’t stay there.  Once the vocals start it has that more traditional Accept sound, largely due to the vocals of Tornillo, who now on his sixth studio album with Accept has carved out his own space here and isn’t just “the new guy” (those times have long passed).  It’s not the most memorable Accept song.  I won’t lie and say it’s bad, but the big hook here isn’t the strongest they’ve ever written (or even close to strongest on this album).  It feels like it’s the kind of song that would normally be in the middle of the second side of the album.

Humanoid – The first single from the album speaks to the same kind of themes that Black Sabbath did in “Computer God”.  That is computers, AI, and their influence on us.  The video itself has a bunch of AI generated imagery in it.  The song itself is quite good.  Good mix of various styles the band has exhibited over the years in the same song – the kind of thing I always enjoy.   The imagery in the video is kind of off-putting for me personally at times (mostly cuz my daughter is an artist, and is entering a career threatened by AI).  But the music itself I like.  It’s a pretty traditional sounding Accept single.  Catchy riff, and one I find myself jamming to while listening. Perhaps not the catchiest thing they’ve ever written (Balls to the Wall, Teutonic Terror), but I still really enjoyed the track.

I remember when the album was new and they put the video out, the band ran contests to give away some of the robot looking stuff they wore during parts of the video.  Always wondered what happened to that.

Frankenstein – This song starts off with a great riff I really enjoyed.  I think I like this more than Humanoid, and had this been the first single, I might have gotten hooked in more when it came out.  I don’t have a lot to say about it other than I really dug the guitar work here.  It seems more guitar oriented than most Accept songs, which is an odd thing to say.  Accept is always known for their guitar work, but this time out just feels like more of the focus when I listen.  REALLY enjoyed this track a lot.  Given Accept has two credited guitarists on here, I’m not sure who is playing what, but I really dug it.  Especially the way the song finished.  GREAT track.

One side note – Whenever I think of a metal band doing a song named Frankenstein, I always think of Alice Cooper.

Man Up – Starts off with a guitar riff that reminds me of old fashioned blues riff but played on electric guitar.  It has a more of a bass sound mixed up front than Accept usually does.  This is a good change of pace song.  Doesn’t sound like the traditional Accept sound.  the bits that make that traditional sound are here, but reigned in – this is a more restrained Accept song.  But I really dig this too.  Love the rest of the band singing “Man Up” behind Tornillo in the chorus.  In some ways the ongoing riff reminds me of something Billy Gibbons would play.  Despite me dropping ZZ Top & Alice Cooper references so far, this is definitely Accept, but a different flavor that I really liked.  Good track as well.  It’s also the longest song on the album at 5:08.

The Reckoning – This started with a riff that I actually was like “I don’t know”, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced by a more Accept sounding faster song.  This song is the most Accept sounding Accept song on this album so far.  If you know Accept’s past history, you’ll recognize this song well.  It oddly doesn’t do a lot for me.  Not bad or anything, just kind of “there”.  Good solo, though.

Nobody Gets Out Alive – The opening riff reminds of of something that might have been around the Balls to the Wall era of Accept.  Not that actual song, but what they sounded like then.  The rest of the song kind of gave me a bit of an AC/DC vibe.  It has less of that “guttural background vocals” that Accept is known for.  The riffing reminds me of some other band’s sound I can’t put my finger on.  Song is pleasant enough, but not the most Accept sounding song there is. Once again, good soloing on this track.

Ravages of Time – Song starts off as if it’s the “slow dance” song.  Like you can really dance to Accept’s music. ha. :)  It is the slow song on the album.   The power level does raise up in the middle of the song, but it still doesn’t get to fast stuff.  Didn’t care for this.  Feels like it’s trying to do something and it doesn’t get there for me.

Unbreakable – Unbreakable is back to what we expect from Accept.  A fast paced song with straightforward riffing coupled with that growl-y Accept level of vocal delivery.  This is a song I have no memory of from when I got the album last year.  Should have latched onto this more, as it’s the kind of Accept song I like.  Good stuff – oddly the verse parts of the song are a stronger hook for me than the chorus – it’s usually the other way around for me.  Once again, good soloing – a good staple of Accept.  One thing about the solo – I kept thinking whoever was playing guitar was going to launch into Hall of the Mountain King in what they were playing.

Mind Games – The main guitar sound that runs through this sounds like something I can’t place – 80’s Iron Maiden maybe?  Hard to tell.  I found myself trying to figure that out during the entire song that I was too distracted to really listen to this.  You know how it’s near impossible to think of another song when one is playing?  That happened here.   Backed it up a bit and listened again – the song was just kind of “meh”.  Not the strongest song on the album, could have been left off I don’t think anyone would have missed it.

Straight Up Jack – This too feels like Mind Games in that the riffing and the traditional Accept sound is missing.  Another song that I don’t think would be too missed if it were left off the album.  Sounds like the kind of song I’ve heard a bunch of times elsewhere.  It’s also the shortest song on the album at 3:27.

Southside of Hell – The guitar sound I like with Accept is back here, this time it’s got a “galloping” sound to it which I always like hearing.  The main riff that runs through it is way more metal than the last couple of songs on the album.  Glad the album is ending strong.  Good faster paced song with a guitar riff I really dig.  The only thing missing here is that guttural background vocal thing Accept is doing – but otherwise a good banger to close out the album.

This review ended up being a bit shorter than usual, because I don’t have any background with the album, as I stated earlier, it was one that while it came out about a year ago, I never really got a chance to digest it, so most my thoughts here are based on my listen today. It’s not technically my first listen, but quite a few songs drew no memories today when I listened.

The second side has a bit more flab than I’m used to in an Accept album, but the stuff on this album that is good is just as good as anything else Accept has ever put out.  So there’s some greatness here, just more stuff that’s “meh” than usual on an Accept album.

Still, if you like the Tornillo era albums, you should definitely check this out as there’s a lot of goodness on here.  Balls to the Wall indeed.