Dirkschneider Balls To The Wall Reloaded CD Review

When I was a young kid, we’d go to the local K-Mart and or Mall and I’d buy records/tapes based off the covers. I’m sure a lot of the older folks out there did this, it was even better if they had them divided into genres. On one such occasion I bought an album called Balls to The Wall by Accept, not for the cover, because let’s face it, it was shit, it still is. However, the album was in the Metal section and the song titles were interesting enough. When I got home and dropped the needle in the grooves, my world was forever changed, and I went back and grabbed the earlier Accept releases up and have purchased just about every album since or well until UDO left the group – I do have some of those releases, but I won’t lie, Accept without UDO has been and is still spotty at best. I know others feel different and that’s fine, but they’re wrong. UDO was and still is Accept as far as the classic sound and approach is concerned.

UDO Dirkschneider has had a very successful solo career, there’s not a dud in his discography, he’s always prepared, and he waves the flag of true Metal at every turn. We can’t say that about everyone from the way back… To celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of Accept’s Balls to The Wall release, UDO and his band Dirkschneider are performing the album in its entirety on their current tour. To go along with this, UDO got together with several guests and re-recorded the album.

I can’t lie, the old man in me isn’t exactly thrilled with the release of this album, not that it’s bad, it’s quite good musically and of course UDO is KILLER! But some of the pairings and the fact that every song is a duet for lack of a better word leaves little to be desired at times. And some of the vocalists don’t belong on the same stage with UDO much less trying to sing with and against him in a studio. I speak directly of Nils Molin of Dynazty as he duets on “Head Over Heels” which is one of the best deep cuts on an Accept album. Molin’s vocals are slack as hell here, generic and phoned in. The same can be said of Michael Kiske of Helloween on the tune “Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had”. Kiske is a monster vocalist in his own lane, but with UDO, he’s in over his head and severely outmatched. “Love Child” features Ylva Eriksson and while she too possesses a magnificent voice it doesn’t stand a chance next to UDO; it’s a bit embarrassing to be honest. It’s not all bad though there are some great moments to be taken in here – “Fight It Back” with Mille Petrozza of Kreator is glorious, but Petrozza has grit, and his raging voice can take the aggressiveness of UDO’S. This version is intense, I dig the hell out of it and while we’re at it, I can hear UDO influences in Petrozza’s voice that I’d never heard before. “Losers and Winners” features the almighty Dee Snider and Dee has never been known to back down or fuck around – you must get up early to out work him, he’s a BEAST and his presence here is awesome, I really dig the pairing – I would’ve never put them together. Tim Ripper Owens also holds up well on “Guardian of The Night”. Owens is another one of those monster vocalists that’s always prepared to destroy when needed.  The ballad off the album “Winter Dreams” features who else but the queen of Metal – Doro Pesch. UDO and Doro together have been a perfect pairing on several occasions, this is a can’t miss, I would’ve been annoyed out of my mind had it been another female vocalist.

Every track on this album is now legendary to me, I could talk about them all, all day in either form, but I’ll leave it up to you the reader/listener to judge this reimagining. As for me, I’ll probably listen to this on the rare occasion, it’s hard to beat the original and UDO in his prime can’t be fucked with at all. Some Accept fans will hate this, others will love it. It can and will stir up new fans and the original album will find new fans, which is fantastic given the album is 40 years old. If you haven’t heard the original, do yourself a favor and listen to it before you listen to this one.

~Black Angel