Album opener “Hung, Drawn and Quartered” announces the intention quickly with aggressive riffing, a big gang vocal chorus and singer Mark Tornillo delivering some of the lines in a more Udo-esque snarl. It’s a great way to start the record, but the energy doesn’t hang around the way it did on Blood of the Nations. I’m not sure if the band felt fans wanted more of the old sound on this one or what, but the regression is, at times, a little disappointing, especially given how awesome the last record was.

The title track runs more along the lines of Blood of the Nations, with some interesting harmonies, a catchy chorus and more of an epic feel overall. You can tell that the band was trying to do something special with this song, and they achieved it.

That’s where things start to taper off a little for me, though. “Hellfire” is a great traditional metal song, no doubt. There’s a really good Wolf Hoffmann riff and Tornillo delivering some solid snarls and shrieks, but it comes off a little flat and recycled to my ears. The same could be said of “Against the World.” And that’s the problem with much of the record for me. Outside of a couple of duds, the songs here are all solid representations of what Accept’s classic sound is about, but I find myself wanting a little more.

There are some really strong songs scattered around the album. The dark and melodic “Shadow Soldiers” is a favorite. No, it doesn’t go out on a limb away from the Accept sound, but I really dig the leads from Hoffmann and Herman Frank and it’s one of those songs that illustrates Tornillo’s talent. This definitely wouldn’t have been the same song with Udo. Along the same lines, the blues-flecked groove of the beginning of “Twist of Fate” delivers a little bit of a, pardon the pun, twist, and I really like the energetic riff of the chorus and how it plays off the rest of the song.

I’ll readily admit that my slight disappointment in this record probably comes more from unrealistic expectations on my part than from any failing on the part of the band. The truth is Stalingrad is a really good Accept record and a satisfying serving of traditional metal. It’s just that Blood of the Nations had such an impact on me, an admittedly casual Accept fan, and Stalingrad doesn’t deliver that same kind of gut-punch. Those records don’t come along every time though, and that’s probably just me whining. The album rocks, and fans of the band’s classic records should definitely enjoy Stalingrad.

 This record rocks, plain and simple. The sound will be very familiar to fans of Accept’s classic material, yet it doesn’t sound dated or hokey. It’s everything that I want in a traditional metal album – heavy, melodic and catchy as hell.

Blood of the Nations busts out of the gates with “Beat the Bastards,” a song that I’ve found quite cathartic on the drive home from work. Like most of the record, it’s got a meaty riff that will put fans in mind of the band’s popular records and finds new singer Mark Tornillo doing a pretty good Udo Dirkschneider impression (though not nearly as annoying) as he screams out the chorus: “Cut the ripcord/ don’t look back/ burn the bridges down. Grab the hammer/ clench your fist/ beat the bastards down.” After a day of shoveling shit at the office only to have more dumped on you, a couple of minutes blasting this tune out and screaming along is a must before going home to the family.

That leads right into one of the catchiest tunes on the record, “Teutonic Terror,” with its militaristic chorus march and gang vocals. I dare you to listen to it just once and not find yourself humming the chorus in your head all day. There’s also a nice bass riff from Peter Baltes early on in the song that lays down the groove for it.

While Tornillo’s vocals won’t disappoint fans of the Udo era, they’re not nearly as screechy. Tornillo has a raspier, slightly gruffer sound to his vocals that I find quite appealing. He even ventures near Jon Oliva territory every now and then in his higher registers, as on the screams toward the end of “The Abyss,” which has a bit of a progressive vibe. The title track also has a bit of an old-school Savatage bent on the verse with a Manowar-ish gang vocal on the chorus.

Much of the record is what you’d expect. Songs like “Rollin’ Thunder” and “Pandemic” are rooted very much in the early 1980s and wouldn’t have been out of place on either of those records mentioned in the first paragraph of this review. “Locked and Loaded” is a fast shredder of a song that might remind fans of “Fast as a Shark.” But there are some different touches here and there.

“Shades of Death,” which clocks in as the longest song on the record at almost seven and a half minutes, opens with a dark acoustic passage that builds slowly into another big guitar riff. It features symphonic synth pieces that seem a little odd at first, but end up working, and again shows a slightly progressive slant. Ballad “Kill the Pain” features a surprisingly soft and subtle acoustic opening that serves as a bit of a contrast to the rest of the record. There’s a slightly Spanish flavor to the song, and it gives Tornillo a chance to really shine. There’s no way that Udo could have ever pulled off a song like this. Then, there’s a pretty straight-up, old school hard rocker in “New World Comin’,” which might serve as a small nod to Tornillo’s roots. “Bucketful of Hate” opens with an interesting music box-sounding piece before blasting into a raging rocker that again shows Tornillo’s strengths as a singer.

Despite the fact that founder and guitarist Wolf Hoffman now lives primarily in the U.S. and Tornillo obviously brings an American flavor, the band retains its Germanic roots, particularly in the choruses and gang vocals. In truth, there’s not really a negative I can find on this record. It’s rock-solid and, in my opinion as a very casual fan, perhaps Accept’s best work ever. It incorporates all of the elements that the best classic metal is built on and updates them just slightly to the modern era.