Bloody hell! If ever there was a case of the oldies showing the young ‘uns how it’s done this is it.

Hot on the heels of 2010’s stellar ‘Blood of the Nations’, ‘Stalingrad’ shows the Teutonic metal masters firing on all cylinders lending further credence to the notion that their much awaited comeback was no flash in the pan. In fact the German legends sound better than ever and have clearly been revitalized with Andy Sneap manning the boards. ‘Stalingrad’ sounds meatier than a 100 pound Wiener schnitzel and packs more bite than a starving Rottweiler, all the while comfortably standing toe to toe with some of the very best material that the band has penned over the decades.

Mark Tornillo is slowly but surely vanquishing the shadow of Udo Dirkschneider that still seems to hang over everything Accept do. The former TT Quick screamer can do no wrong here as he tears through each track like a hot knife through butter.

Blazing out from the front is the rampaging ‘Hung Drawn and Quartered’ which goes straight for the jugular like Judas Priest’s Rapid Fire on steroids. Wolf Hoffman is in unbelievable form, churning out riffs and magnificent solos as if he were passing out joints at a stoner convention.

The title track features vintage Accept gang shouts with a strong tip of the hat to their much revered classic ‘Balls to the Wall’ making it one of the best songs the band has ever written.
The quality of songwriting doesn’t let up even remotely with the moody ‘Hellfire’ and the devastating ‘Flash to Bang Time’ making Primal Fear fanboys duck for cover.

As impressive as the opening four tracks are, it is the album’s center that truly catapults it from being exceptionally solid to something much much more. I will gladly stick my neck out and say that ‘Shadow Soldiers’ is destined to become a bonafide Accept classic. Written firmly in the vein of the much loved ‘Princess of the Dawn’ this track will have Accept aficionados weeping for joy into their denim jackets.

And which Accept album could possibly be complete without a couple of anthems that make you want to get off that bar stool and shout obscenities at the guy in the tie next to you? Lucky for us it’s a thumping  one two punch with ‘Revolution’ and ‘Against the World’ ensuring that air guitaring like a mongoloid in front of the mirror won’t go out of fashion any time soon.

Things get a little quirky towards the home stretch though with ‘Twist of Fate’ sounding like Alice Cooper ghost wrote a couple of verses while ‘The Quick and the Dead’ sports a main riff that bizarrely sounds like Motley Crue’s ‘Wild Side’. Regardless, both tracks are great although a slight step down from the intensity that preceded them.

Unfortunately the album ends on a bum note with ‘The Galley’ coming across as a bit boneheaded despite featuring a stunning solo and a sublime acoustic outro.

Despite these minor gripes ‘Stalingrad’ will absolutely wipe the floor with just about anything released this year and should sit quite comfortably at the top or thereabouts when the ‘best of 2012’ lists roll out.

9/10