Accept's 'Humanoid' - Album Review

Given that there have been a lot of strong releases from veteran heavy metal bands in recent years, including more than a handful of such from this year already, something new from the German legends Accept should have been expected. Unlike some of their peers, though, Accept have generally been pretty prolific. With the exception of their two periods of hiatus between 1989 and 1992 and again between 1997 and 2009, Accept have generally put out a new album every two or three years - with such being maintained in recent years despite line-up changes and the changing music industry. Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann may be the only founding member of the band left, but Accept have continued on through hardship and being written off plenty of times before - and their recent run of albums has generally been pretty strong. The band will always be known for their run of no-nonsense heavy metal albums in the 1980s, but outside of that classic era much of their best work has come more recently - with 2010's Blood of the Nations in particular often considered one of the greatest comeback albums in the genre. Whilst I like some of the albums more than others, everything which followed Blood of the Nations has been very solid. The band's last album, Too Mean to Die (which I reviewed here), came out in early 2021 - so was one of the albums which got a lot of airtime in my house during that stage of the pandemic. Accept's reliable and long-established sound was welcome at the time, but it was also an album which debuted a new line-up of the band and was their first with Hoffmann as the sole founding member left. The departure of bassist Peter Baltes, who had also been a significant songwriter for the band, could have really derailed Accept's excellent recent run - but Too Mean to Die showed that there was plenty of life left. The band have soldiered on, then, and last month they released their seventeenth studio album Humanoid - the sixth album of the current run. Humanoid features the same line-up as the previous album, albeit with third guitarist Philip Shouse not listed as a full-time band member and only credited with 'additional guitars'. In truth, I am not sure why the band brought Shouse on board in the first place. Accept are not a band with intricate enough arrangements to need a third guitarist - with Hoffmann and his co-guitarist (currently Uwe Lulis) having done fine as a guitar duo since 1976. What makes the Shouse situation stranger, though, is that he appears in the videos released from this album - but is not currently touring with the band, with Whitesnake's Joel Hoekstra filling in. Hoekstra in Accept makes even less sense given that Hoffmann handles all but a handful of the band's guitar leads and Hoekstra is a very flashy player. Regardless of this chopping and changing of an arguably superfluous part of the band, Humanoid is classic Accept. Most of the songs here are exactly what anyone familiar with the band would expect, although there is perhaps a bit more of an organic, classic rock-influenced sound on display here. Hoffmann's crunchy riffs and frontman Mark Tornillo's raspy voice sound as good as ever, though, but Humanoid does feel a little more diverse than is typical for Accept - which is perhaps a result of this current line-up really solidifying.

One of the slight differences about this album is how the band do not roar out of the blocks right away as would be expected. Opening track Diving into Sin is certainly a pretty typical Accept song once it gets going, but it opens relatively slowly - with some clean guitar melodies which build up atmospherically to the first proper riff. Eastern-tinged melodies inform the first riff and the song opens in a mid-paced manner with this slightly different vibe - but a more crunchy and hard-driving vibe soon takes over and the track becomes something more expected. Hoffmann and Lulis team up well for the song's mid-paced yet energetic verses - whilst the pulsing bass playing of Martin Motnik propels everything along. The song is pretty catchy, but it is perhaps not as molten as some of the band's other opening cuts. The chorus is typical Accept, though, with big gang vocals and Christopher Williams' precise double bass drumming, but the overall vibe does feel a little more paired back than usual - allowing those Eastern melodies and a more classic rock energy to permeate. This slight change of tack works well, though, and there is still plenty of crunch - and Hoffmann's guitar solo is his usual mix of melodic phrasing and classical influences. The song then ends how it began, with the Eastern-esque clean guitar melodies seeing the song fade to an atmospheric close. The title track follows and it immediately feels more typical of the band's core sound. It feels heavier and pacier than Diving into Sin, and it also opens with some busy guitar playing from Hoffmann. His lead playing is as recognisable as ever throughout this album and he really lays the gauntlet down during the song's opening moments - before a pacy verse takes over and Tornillo shows yet again why he was chosen as the band's singer when they reunited in 2009. His gruff tones are more AC/DC-inspired than his predecessor, but he perfectly suits Accept's core sound - with the pacy verses here benefitting from his rasp. The song is relatively dynamic, too, thanks to a slower pre-chorus which is built around some snaking, groovy guitar melodies - before Williams speeds things up and the chorus is pretty fast, with anthemic hooks and more big gang vocals. The solo is another excellent moment, too, and builds on the guitar leads which opened the song - with a more controlled first half focusing on neo-classical melodies before a second more chaotic section contains lots of whammy bar tricks and noises.

A personal favourite of mine here, though, is Frankenstein - which was co-written by Lulis. Given that he wrote a lot of material for his previous bands it is strange that this is his first writing credit with Accept - but he has contributed to another classic-sounding Accept track here which mixes trademark riffing and a more dynamic arrangement. The chorus is perhaps one of the album's best, with a surprisingly melodic vocal hook which is offset by a mid-paced groove and stomping gang vocals, whilst fast-paced verses chug along nicely and a linking pre-chorus section with chiming clean guitars and some stop-start drumming shakes things up. Most of Accept's songs generally are pretty hooky, but this one feels hookier overall - and harks back to the smoother sound of 1985's Metal Heart somewhat. Those who like their Accept a little shinier will enjoy this one; and there are also multiple guitar solos here - all of which are pretty shreddy and up-tempo. Man Up, which follows, feels a little bit more meat and potatoes following the opening run of songs which certainly felt a little more varied than Accept can sometimes be. The fourth song here does open with some clean guitars, which are then incorporated into the main riff, and the track in general is less heavy overall - with that classic rock influence on display. Whilst the mid-paced chorus is a bit more traditional, with its big gang vocals, much of the rest of the song feels like those bluesier AC/DC songs during the Bon Scott era which were a bit slower-burning and more bass-heavy. Motnik's bass is certainly present during the verses, and he seems to really drive everything, whilst Tornillo channels the Brian Johnson era of AC/DC with his rasp. Whilst the chorus is pretty memorable thanks to the gang vocals and its overall groove, the rest of the song does feel a bit lacklustre compared to Accept's usual fire. There is not enough metal here for me and it feels too bluesy for a band who usually shake the foundations with their riffing. The Reckoning gets things back on track, though, and the pace is upped here to create the barnstorming classic Accept sound. The bass pounds away under the locked-in riffing of Hoffmann and Lulis, whilst the simple drumming of Williams is a lot groovier than it first appears. There are some proper groovier moments later during a slower pre-chorus, but overall this is a snappy track with lots of hard-hitting crunch. Gang vocals are even used during the verses here to add some additional vocal punctuation whilst the chorus packs a real punch thanks to its faster overall pace and less reliance on a stomping sound than usual. The whole song just seems to have more of an urgency to it overall - and the arrangement is one which feels a little more expansive, too. Accept have often done songs which are a little longer than typical to allow the arrangement to breathe and this is one such piece - with another excellent two-part guitar solo showing Hoffmann's class as a player.

Another real favourite of mine is the foot-stomping and hooky Nobody Gets Out Alive. It is another track with a slight 1980s sheen to it, but it still feels like classic Accept - and there is plenty of weight behind all of the riffs. The main riff is hooky and heavy, and this is one of the few songs here which does not really slow down ever at all. There are no breath-catching pre-choruses or clean bridges here really, with everything being full of crunch. Accept have been writing songs like this for years but when everything falls into place the band's core sound can still excite - and the chorus here is one of the album's best with its huge gang vocal hooks and overall melodic approach. Ravages of Time slows things down and goes for more of a ballad-esque approach. The song opens slowly with some clean guitar melodies and a mournful drum groove - over which Tornillo sings in a surprisingly emotional manner and Hoffmann adds some slow-burning guitar leads. It does get heavier as it goes along, but it never really kicks off in a big way. This is a song which revels in its slow-burning arrangement - and as a ballad from Accept is quite a rarity they always add a moment of difference on any album they appear on. The chorus feels weightier, and that is when the song gets somewhat heavy, but the band always return to the clean guitars for each verse - and even the chorus feels mournful despite its heavier backing. The lack of a big guitar solo is surprising, but the lead work throughout is still very effective. Unbreakable gets back to a heavier sound, but the song is perhaps not as full-on as it could be - and it is another which seems to channel that classic rock influence mentioned earlier. The arrangement is less metallic and hard-driving than much of Accept's catalogue but there is still plenty of weight here, and the song feels heavier the closer it gets to the chorus. The chorus is very much classic Accept with more gang vocal hooks and molten riffing - but earlier in the song the guitars feel more organic and some of the riffs feel like they could have come from a UFO album, thanks to their groove and the strong bass presence beneath them. This is no bad thing in my opinion. Whilst Man Up did not quite work for me, this song does - and I like the mix of a more organic sound with a classic Accept chorus. This album is not the first time that Accept has included some classic rock influences of course, but it does feel a bit more prevalent here - and it does make Humanoid a bit more varied overall.

Mind Games ups the pace again and returns to that 1980s sound referenced earlier. It is very much a classic Accept track but it is one of those songs of theirs which feels a bit smoother overall. The guitar tones here are still razor sharp, but the verses are less crunchy - with big chords ringing out and changing in a more anthemic way behind Tornillo's strident vocal hooks. Given how hooky this song is it surprises me that it was not one that stood out from the off. It took a few listens for me to be drawn to this one, but it is now another real favourite. Perhaps it is because it falls near the end of the album, but for whatever reason it did not jump out at first - despite one of the most anthemic choruses on the album which does up the crunchiness following the approach detailed during the verses. It is very much a chorus made to be sung along to live and the song is a real winner in my opinion. Straight Up Jack returns to a more AC/DC-influenced sound with pumping bass throughout the verses and riffs which have plenty of room to breathe. It is not as heavy as some of the songs here as it is another which goes for a more classic rock-inspired sound. The chorus is crunchy and punchy, but the verses certainly see the overall sound paired back somewhat to allow Motnik's bass to shine. The verses are very bass-heavy, then, with the guitars pushed into the background - but they resurface throughout, particularly during the chorus up the heaviness. It is a fun song, but compared to some of the others here it feels a little rote - again with more of a meat and potatoes sound despite the fun chorus. The album then comes to a close with Southside of Hell, which ups the pace significantly and goes for a thrashier sound - something which Accept have often flirted with throughout their career. Despite a slower pre-chorus section which helps to build tension, the rest of the song is pretty molten and fast-paced - with lots of fast-paced riffing and some strong guitar interplay. There are lots of little interesting riffs and leads throughout the song, particularly during the verses to accent Tornillo's vocals, whilst the chorus is a classic Accept stomper at a faster pace than is typical - which gives the album some real closing fire. It is not the strongest song here but is is one of the album's most furious moments - and its hard-driving attitude and fun chorus ensures that the album ends on a true metallic high. Given the subtle variety here, this album is a bit more interesting overall than most Accept albums - but there change is not drastic that the band's core sound has been lost. This still very much feels like Accept through and through - and the songs here are generally all catchy and worthy of headbanging along to in that classic Accept manner.

The album was released on 26th April 2024 via Napalm Records. Below is the band's promotional video for Humanoid.