Death Row

Death Row is the tenth album on which Accept takes in down-tuned heavy guitar and a cold, taut air, stepping greatly into a heavier, gloomier direction than before. Udo Dirkschneider’s distinctive voice is intact, but the songs prioritize a sense of pressure and tension over big sing-alongs. It strongly reflects the heavy mood of the mid-1990s. The riffs are dragged low, and the drums strengthen a claustrophobia with mechanical repetition. From the weight of the title track “Death Row” and the aggression of “Sodom & Gomorra” to the gloom of “The Beast Inside” and “Like a Loaded Gun” and “Dead On!,” the band’s hardness is shown in a dark face unlike before, and the length of fifteen songs emphasizes that weighty world. Unusual compared with its former bright metal anthems, a will to boldly adapt to the era’s heavy mood gives the whole a particular tension. Rather than seeking former brightness, following the sense of voice and riff sinking into the same dark tone reveals the record’s aim. Showing a new side of Accept, it is a heavy, engaging, ambitious work.