Accept is back with their new album ‘’Humanoid’’, a band that has been going strong for over 40 years but continues to deliver new material in a fairly respectful time frame for long-time fans and new enthusiasts alike.

To be honest with you, I didn’t follow Accept’s career as I should have. I know the old material with Udo Dirkschneider obviously with the classics like ”Fast as a Shark” and ”Balls to the Walls” but I have never really listened to the band’s newer material. I don’t really know why, yet I have a lot of respect for the entire body of work and their influence on Metal from the 80s until now.

As soon as I heard the first notes of the first song from the new album, ‘Diving into Sin’, I knew I was going to hear something special. It’s even heavier than their material from the Udo era and that’s no small thing. I wasn’t expecting that, if it was more Hard Rock in the past, now it’s very heavy.

It has a lot of Middle Eastern influences in the first two songs, worthy of Metallica’s ”Wherever I May Roam”. I really liked it and it’s a little different because it’s a style that you don’t see used too much apart from bands coming from this region.

I didn’t know Mark Tornilo at all before listening to the album, I didn’t know what to expect especially when you’re used to Udo Dirkschneider’s voice, which sounds like Bon Scott on steroids. Mark Tornillo really has a special voice, I’ve never heard anything like it. His voice is remarkable but above all unique. He reminds me of singers like Bobby Ellsworth from Overkill or Steve Souza from Exodus. He has a snarl in his voice, a bit like Brian Johnson from AC/DC but there is something catchy in his voice, you are hypnotized by his voice and his presence on the songs, especially on ”Humanoid” ‘. You always want to go to the next song to see what he can deliver and it’s rare that I say that, especially for a band that has been around for four decades or more.

I think that honestly I really didn’t expect to enjoy the album like that. They are a band that has influenced a generation of bands in Europe and around the world but they can deliver the goods with material that seems old school but extremely refreshing. ‘Humanoid’ offers something for everyone. I don’t think there is any downtime, you have trouble catching your breath so much that it’s an attack on all the senses. I don’t have any favorite songs, it’s really difficult to choose one, the first single ”Humanoid” is particularly excellent and reflects the rest of the album well so if you like this song, it doesn’t matter.

As an Accept fan, there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re going to love the whole ‘Humanoid‘ album. I thought the band would recycle old material and sit on their laurels. Well, they have proven the opposite, they are still capable (and probably for many years to come) of making good music, which can please not only early fans but also people who are discovering (or rediscovering) the group in 2024.