Reviews list for Accept - Restless and Wild (1982)

How much you enjoy accept is going to have a bit to do with how you feel about Udo Dirkschnieder's vocal appraoch. He's got a high nasal timbre that's like a slightly more aggressive version of what Brian Johnson does for ACDC. Personally I am fine with it but there are better out there. 

The album is top heavy, throwing the haymaker that is "Fast as a Shark" right out of box, and it is the heaviest thing on the album and a classic track. You also get the title track and "Shake Your Heads" in the first half.  The rest of the album up to "Princess of the Dawn" is just filler, but Accept's filler is still better than most bands filler. These other songs aren't bad just not exceptional in any way. 

"Princess of the Dawn" is a pretty good song but it's just a tad bit long for what it is. Accept is not a progressive enough band to be doing 6+ minute long songs. 

All in all if you like metal or 80s hard rock you're going to have fun with this. It's a good album if not quite legendary. The stars on it shine very brightly.

Very fun and solid Speed Metal release. Accept has never been the biggest or most well known band to me,  their biggest hit and album on their following album after this one (Balls To The Wall),  but are after a bit of line-up changes still release music today. They're fine and fully acceptable heavy metal, innovative and influential style that's not named Motorhead or Venom. I can absolutely hear the influences of later bands like the big four of Thrash, and German Thrash. I can hear Neon Nights in future Metallica songs, using a slower riff to bring a powerful mood into it. 

The veterans of Accept have had a winning streak lately (at time of writing), with a wonderfully received comeback in 2010's Blood of the Nations, and a seemingly unstoppable string of solid albums since then. Of course, the reason Nations and others made such a splash is precisely because of the band's legacy, and it's Restless and Wild, along with Balls to the Wall, that really made that legacy.

Certainly, this album shows a band having a blast, loud and clear, and good at what they do. Accept's sound here is often comparable to AC/DC in their cut-loose style of heavy rocking, but with a dollop more aggression here. "Fast as a Shark" even strays into solid proto-thrash territory, though most of the rest of the album doesn't quite go for that same level of vitriol. Still, it's ballsy, wild stuff from start to finish.

And really, how well that works for you is just a matter of taste and what you might be looking for at any given time. As you peruse the menu of late 70s/early 80s metal, are you after something fantastical (Ranbow), darker (Black Sabbath), maybe something with more of a punk edge (Motörhead)? If you fancy something a bit more straightforward and hard rocking, while still managing to take things a few notches heavier than German contemporaries Scorpions, this should do the ticket. Personally, I like my early metal a bit heavier, and while Restless and Wild does have some good numbers, it feels a bit too standard for its age, for me.

Choice cuts: Fast as a Shark, Princess of the Dawn