Accept’s Too Mean To Die: steel-booted ferocity from Germany’s second greatest classic metal band

Forefathers of German metal, Accept have made an impact on the thrash, hard rock and their hometown scene over four decades. The suggestion that the Udo Dirkschneider-fronted era(s) could be recaptured seemed inconceivable until New Jersey’s Mark Tornillo joined, and five albums later Accept are as peerless as they ever were. Too Mean To Die is crammed with gnarly yet hummable nuggets of ferociousness, polished to perfection by producer Andy Sneap, who miraculously pulled the album together across thousands of miles despite lockdown restrictions. You want proof that metal’s past can be transposed into the present? Look no further.