Stalingrad

Personnel: Mark Tornillo (vocals); Herman Frank, Wolf Hoffmann (guitar); Stefan Schwarzmann (drums).
Audio Mixer: Andy Sneap.
The venerable German outfit's 13th studio album, and second with vocalist Mark Tornillo, who does an awfully convincing Udo Dirkschneider impression when he hits the high registers, builds on the surprise success of 2010's Blood of the Nations with another solid set of muscular, no frills metal songs that are sure to send longtime fans into a flag waving frenzy. Focused, fierce, and surprisingly fresh, the 11 cuts that make up Stalingrad: Brothers in Death sound like they crawled up out of the war-torn sewers of pre-unification Berlin and into a new host. There's nothing subtle about opening up a record with a song called "Hung, Drawn and Quartered" or ending a track about one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare with the National anthem of Russia, but that's what made the 1983 smash "Balls to Wall" so effective. The core of this 21st century version of Accept remains the same as it was in the early '80s, employing a simple formula of dark, melodic melodies, war imagery, and somber yet powerful, military grade group vocals, and what's surprising, is how well it still works. ~ James Christopher Monger