Dirkschneider- "Balls To The Wall RELOADED"

Here we are with Udo making an interesting decision to re-visit the classic Accept album, but covering it front to back with guest appearances from a heavy metal Hall of Fame. The anthemic title track finds Sabaton vocalist Joakim Broden trading verses with him. Never really listened to Sabaton, so only weighing this against the original. Udo sounds like he can still pull off his Bon Scott-like squeal at 72. Taking some of the homo-eroticism out of "London Leather Boys"  Biff Byford of Saxon fame joins to make it more about heavy metal fashion than leather culture. Byford's voice does not sound as good as it is on the last Saxon album perhaps it's just out of his range these days at  74. It's a sobering reminder that all the elder statesmen of metal are now elderly. 

Mille Petrozza of Kreator is featured on "Fight it Back. He sounds like shit, and it's not Udo's best moment either which begins to make me wonder if he should not have just left well enough alone. Nils Molin of Amaranthe fares much better by bringing his Dio-like belting to "Head Over Heels". His voice does not have the grit of Udo's which makes the song feel darker when he utters the second verse.  Michael Kiske of Helloween fame still sounds great at 56. as he helps tackle "Losing More Than You've Ever Had" this is one of the album's strong points, though Udo does not really contribute much. Swedish singer Ylva Eriksson lends her voice to "Love Child" This feels more like a duet wondering the contrast of their voices but works pretty well. Her voice does give things a more commercial Pat Benatar feel. 

Danko Jones comes aboard for "Turn Me On". His voice has enough balls to keep things heavier. This was never the best song on the album even in its original form, so it works well enough here. Dee Snider's voice blends with Udo's well on "Losers and Winners" making it one of the album's strongest moments. Ripper Owens does not go as over the top as I expected from him on "Guardian of the Night". He can serve the song after all. The last song is a duet of " Winter Dreams' with Doro Pesch who worked well enough with the song, at 60 her voice is not belted with the same power as her early work, but I will have to check out her more recent work before making a final judgment on how her voice is holding up these days. I'll give this album an 8.5, rather hear him get back with Accept, so while this re-imagining is not something on my wish list, it's well done and there are strong moments, but prefer the original versions. 

pst22