The Rise of Chaos

REVIEW: Accept – The Rise of Chaos (2017 coloured vinyl)

ACCEPT – The Rise of Chaos (2017 Nuclear Blast blue and orange splatter limited vinyl edition)

Over the past decade, Accept have joined a rare pantheon.  They are among the few metal bands with “replacement singers” that have continued with honour, and without constant clamouring for older lineups.  Mark Tornillo has, over the course over several great albums, earned his place without question.  The Rise of Chaos (with producer Andy Sneap) continues the journey, full steam ahead.

The blue and orange swirl vinyl edition is a double record set, limited to 700 copies.  Not only do they look stunning, but they sound vibrant and crisp.  A 46 minute album could easily have fit on a single LP, so the fact they did a double means they wanted to ensure maximum musical reproduction for vinyl buyers.*

Wolf, Mark, Peter, Uwe and Christopher crush it throughout.  “Die By the Sword”, the initial assault, is a lightning strike of sharp riffing and Baltes’ bass undercurrent.  This is pure Accept:  gothic backing vocals and overhead screams!  “Hole in the Head” boils over with animosity, delivered molten.  Then, like a Panzer division at full speed, “The Rise of Chaos” rips the heads off anything still standing.

Flip sides.  “Koolaid” retells the story of Jim Jones and the cult of the damned, a topic previously explored by Manowar.  With a riff written as if out of 1984, it takes on a mid-tempo groove rock march.  Yes, it’s possible the best song on the Accept album is named “Koolaid”!  Then the heat put off by “No Regrets” will blister the skin, if the drums don’t give you a concussion.

Flip sides.  Taking it back to a sharp metallic groove, “Analog Man” is an amusing look at our high tech world.  “Now there’s flat-screens and 3-D, my cell phone’s smarter than me!” They go for an anthemic style with “What’s Done is Done”, and plenty of guitar harmony solos to go around.  “Worlds Colliding” has the “classic metal” sound, brilliant riff and chorus combined for a slick mercury-like sound.

Flip sides one more time.  Neither “Carry the Weight” and “Race to Extinction” let up.  It’s 10 more minutes of fast, heavy metal.  Make no mistake, this is one punishing metal album.  Is it a little paint-by-numbers?  Yes — Accept albums are getting that way.  Riffs might be interchangeable.  But when the albums are still this good, it matters little.

4.5/5 stars

 

 

 

* You could also choose from:

  • 45 RPM, 180 gram black vinyl.  “limited edition”.
  • 45 RPM, 180 gram vinyl – blue and red splatter.  300 copies, USA.
  • 45 RPM, clear vinyl.  300 copies, Germany.
  • 45 RPM, 180 gram red vinyl.  300 copies, Germany.
  • 45 RPM, 180 gram vinyl – green and gold splatter.  300 copies, mail order from Nuclear Blast only.
  • 45 RPM, 180 gram vinyl – orange and red splatter.  500 copies, mail order from Nuclear Blast only.
  • This one is 33 RPM, 180 gram vinyl – blue and orange splatter.  700 copies, USA.

 

 

 

 

QUIZ ANSWER: What was in LeBrain’s Bag?

The startling conclusion to What’s in LeBrain’s Bag?

You had a picture and five clues:

 

  1. There are two records in there.
  2. One is a double, one is a single.
  3. One is a new release, one is a reissue.
  4. One is Canadian content, the other is not.
  5. You can kinda make out one.

 

And we had a winner, immediately.  A man who knows his metal like he knows his haggis.  SCOTT, your HEAVY METAL OVERLOrD correctly guessed the first record (the new release, non-Canadian double LP) and wins a picture drawn by me!

It was…ACCEPT – The Rise of Choas.

I did what any sensible shopper should do before buying the album.  I looked it up on CD Japan to see if the Japanese version had any bonus tracks.  They did not, so I grabbed the double vinyl.  10 tracks, 2 records, orange and blue swirl vinyl, limited to 700 copies.  Those numbers add up for me!  I can’t wait to sink my needle into those.

 

 


Scott’s picture is a Schnauzer on an airplane!

The second LP (which I didn’t seriously expect anyone to guess) nicely fills a gap in my collection.  You see, I have CD remasters for every Rush album from the first one to Test For Echo…except one.   Roll the Bones continued to elude me,  so instead of CD, I opted for something possibly better:  200 gram vinyl LP remaster.  As far as I can think of, this is my first 200 gram vinyl purchase, though I own a few 180 grams.   Aaron correctly guessed Rush (with an initial guess of VoiVod) so I offered to draw him a picture of a cookie.  Sadly it turned out looking more like vomit (even when I added the cookie fumes), so I hope you will excuse the lack of a prize.

RUSH – Roll the Bones 200 gram remastered LP.  Now I have all the Rush remasters!

And now, the conclusion to the “How did Mike get the Max Webster The Party box set?”

Because, oh yes, I did get it.

Sunrise had it for $64.99, but I had trouble cancelling my Amazon pre-order at $89.99.  I bought my Rush and Accept records, and drew a prize:  a new fidget spinner!  (I think I have four now?)  I went home and kept trying to cancel my Amazon order.  An email said that the issue should be resolved in a few hours, so I sat tight.

Around 4:30 that afternoon, I got the email that my pre-order was successfully cancelled.  I hopped in my car; four minutes later was back at Sunrise.  I grabbed Max Webster, and drew another prize:  a Transformers mini-comic!

So, really, everything went down about as perfectly as you could imagine.  I got The Party box set and an extra prize for coming back.

The Party is very bare-bones for packaging.  There are no booklets, but the discs are housed in mini-LP gatefold sleeves with inner graphics.  For that reason, I am going to hang onto my remastered Max Webster debut CD on Rock Candy, which has an extensive booklet.  A buddy of mine named Scott has dibs on the rest of my old Max Webster collection.  Hey, it’s a lucky day for guys named Scott!

I have a lot of listening to do, which will hopefully lead to a little reviewing.  Hope you enjoyed this game!  Back to reviews tomorrow.