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Classic Review: Accept - Balls to the Wall
Accept
www.acceptworldwide.com
Balls to the Wall

Label: Sony
Year released: 2001
Duration: 56:02
Tracks: 12
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
5/5


Review online: September 29, 2001
Reviewed by: Pierre Bégin
Readers' Rating
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Rated 4.58/5 (91.54%) (78 Votes)
Review

When we talk about masterpieces, here's one! This album is in my all-time top 5! How can you start an album better than with the title track "Balls to the Wall"! This is Accept's best-known song. A heavy riff that marked its time with a powerful chorus. Accept were at their best with this album: The superb melodic and emotional solos of guitarist Wolf Hoffman in "Head Over Heels", "Love Child", "Turn Me On" and the powerful choirs (an Accept trademark) in "Balls to the Wall", "London Leatherboys" and "Losers and Winners".

Udo's voice is also at its best, for example in "Losing More Than You've Ever Had" and "Winterdreams". Above all, the force of this album resides in the solid song structures and the excellent riffs. We can feel a great chemistry between the musicians. The tracks are mostly mid-tempo except for "Fight It Back" which is faster and has an excellent bass track. The beautiful acoustic song "Winterdreams" ends the studio album in a remarkable fashion.

This album has been Gold-certified in many countries including the US, which is an accomplishment considering that Accept's style was really out of the ordinary. The lyrics (sometimes controversial for the time) were credited to the alias "Deaffy" which was revealed many years later to be Gaby Hauke, the band's manager and also Wolf Hoffman's wife. The sound quality of this album, produced by the band and mixed by Michael Wagener is still remarkable (even for the original, non-remastered version) and has nothing to envy to more recent productions. In Fact, Hammerfall said they recorded their album "Renegade" in 2000 with Michael Wagener because they had "Balls to the Wall" in mind.

This album is simply pure heavy metal. There are no weak tracks. The remastered CD contains two bonus tracks: live versions of "Head Over Heels" and "Love Child", both recorded in Tokyo in 1985. A must-have.

Track listing:

1. Balls To The Wall 05:43
2. London Leatherboys 03:57
3. Fight It Back 03:34
4. Head Over Heels 04:25
5. Losing More Than You've Ever Had 05:09
6. Love Child 03:34
7. Turn Me On 05:12
8. Losers And Winners 04:20
9. Guardian Of The Night 04:24
10. Winterdreams 04:55
11. Head Over Heels (live) (bonus track) 05:52
12. Love Child (live) (bonus track) 04:57

Additional Information

- Originally released in 1984
- Includes 2 bonus tracks

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Interview with Wolf Hoffmann (Guitars) on October 16, 2010 (Interviewed by MetalMike)
Interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann on June 15, 2015 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann on July 22, 2017 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Interview with guitarist Wolf Hoffmann on February 16, 2023 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
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