Stalingrad is the Teutonic Terrors follow up to 2010’s metal comeback of the year “Blood of Nations, and the second with lead vocal powerhouse Mark Tornillo. By now everyone knows that Tornillo is a more than worthy successor for original vocalist Udo Dirkschneider.  Stylistically not much has changed on Stalingrad. Producer extraordinaire Andy Sneap is once again at the helm so you know the album sounds amazing. There are heavy guitars, crushing riffs, “Balls to the Wall” metal anthems, “Fast as a Shark” drumming, and screaming vocals with a ‘Metal Heart”. In other words, it’s Accept!!  The album begins with the appropriately titled “Hung, Drawn, and Quartered” to the anthemic title track “Stalingrad” to the metal swagger of  “Hellfire”, this is a band that is at the top of their game. On the song “Flash to Bang Time”, Wolf Hoffman and company show the young metal bands of today how it’s done; fast and heavy!  “Shadow Soldiers” is an epic metal track in classic Accept fashion with passionate vocals, melody, and a fist-pumping chorus. The headbanging continues with “Revolution” and “Against the World”. The excellent rhythm section of Peter Baltes and Stefan Schwarzmann get into a groove on the blues-tinged “Twist of Fate”. My favorite track would be “The Quick and the Dead” an anthemic metal classic-to-be, with rapid-fire drums and a strong guitar melody and Tornillo’s ferocious vocal prowess. The albums final track ‘The Galley” is a mid-tempo song with a middle-eastern feel to it. The subject matter deals with a galley of slaves rowing a barge. You can almost picture this when the chant of “Row! Row! Row!” begins! The song ends with some tasty guitar work from Hoffman. What more needs to be said about “Stalingrad – Brothers in Death”? If you’re a fan of classic Accept and you haven’t given the Tornillo-led line-up a chance yet, you need to hear this album! In my opinion, there shouldn’t be a “Tornillo vs. Udo” debate between longtime Accept fans. Udo was the original that has his own great band with U.D.O, and Accept has moved on and created another Metal Masterpiece that stands up to anything in their headbanging catalog.    

Rating: 9.0