Blood of the Nations (Bonus Version)

Editors’ Notes

After reuniting with original vocalist Udo Dirkschneider for much of the '90s and '00s, Accept again tried a replacement singer for 2010’s Blood of the Nations. New vocalist Mark Tornillo was a double threat: he could wail with absolute abandon and also write lyrics. Since Accept’s former manager Gaby Hoffmann had written most of the group’s songs prior to 1996, this was the first time a native English speaker was in charge of the band’s verbal message. Blood of the Nations was written in the midst of America’s post-9/11 quagmire, making the dystopian war imagery that had preoccupied Accept since the early '80s suddenly relevant again. Even when the subject matter is as pessimistic as “The Abyss,” Accept comes out with such relentless muscle that the album can’t help but embody an inexorable life force. Many songs refer explicitly to war, as the band repeatedly equates the relentless attack of a military force to the relentless attack of Accept. Undoubtedly, the riffs here are an archetypal form of musical ordnance.