Classics? - Accept : "Restless and Wild "

Here is a new column where I am going to give another listen to album long hailed as classics and see if they have rightly earned their places in the revered halls of hollowed metal worship. This German band I have always respected, and liked some of their stuff but never clicked with me I picked this album because it does have my favorite song "the Princess of Dawn" on it. I caught these guys in the late 80's opening for W.A.S.P , but Udo wasn't in the band so it almost doesn't count. I always thought of them as a poor man's Judas Priest and while I can hear that on the opener "Fast as a Shark" , I like the title track better. Udo 's rasp gives them more of an edge than most Priest, though Halford is twice the singer he is.

"Ahead of the Pack" kind of wants to be "Heading out On the Highway"  which only proceeded this album by a year. The riffing is pretty straight forward arena metal, which now almost borders on hard rock when put in the context of today's metal. I like the reverse delay put on the song before the solo. As 80's metal guitar solos go , they are not memorable, but tasteful for what it is. "Shake Your Heads" has the deliberate Scorpions like beat with the pulsing bass following it. Udo's goes up higher into more of  AC/DC like register. The sing along chorus is a little on the silly side and if some did that today it would seem dated.

I think their songwriting is at it's best on a song like "Neon Nights". It has a darker side than the more cock rock bluster we have heard on this album up to this point. I think Udo's voice sounds great in the lower croon here as you can feel more emotion in his singing. But then there is the clownish "Get Ready" . You tend to forget about this song as it's followed by the much heavier "Demon's Night". This song hits all the right places for when it came out. For 1982 this was some pretty heavy shit and you can hear how it certainly influenced a band like Exodus.

When it comes to song titles it certainly doesn't any dumber than "Flash Rocking Man"  It is dumb Camaro drinking beer rock, "Don't go Stealing My Soul Away" is marginally more metal. Lyrically it is not as silly. Then comes the best song" Princess of the Dawn". The longest song on the album has some stunning guitar interplay.In how this album finally pans out I'll give it a 9 so it falls short of living up to "Sin After Sin" or "Number of the Beast" if we are talking about what the truly classic metal albums are, but to know where your metal came from it's worth a listen or 3.