Accept – Russian Roulette – 1986
My love for Accepts definite breakthrough album Balls to the Wall at the time made me buy a few more albums by Accept. I still have Russian Roulette on vinyl somewhere but I can’t say that I listen to it very often änymore. At least not on vinyl. But it was, more or less, Udo Dirkscheider’s last album with the band. Ok, they had a reunion a few years later and a couple of other albums came out. Three actually, Objection Overruled, Death Row, and Predator. But this did mark the end of an era anyway and the album that came out after this Eat the Heat was something Accept perhaps shouldn’t be too proud of.
Anyway, when I bought Russian Roulette I wasn’t too pleased with it. I didn’t think it was as good as its predecessor – Metal Heart and of course not as good at Balls to the Wall. But that is a lot of years ago now. Reviews reflect only what you thought about something in that moment when you actually did the reviewing. Therefore I might differ with my earlier opinion a bit when I write this today. And with that said, when I listened to Russian Roulette a few days ago, I can’t really tell what I was so unhappy about. There are lots of great songs and the sound is definitely Accept! Nice riffs with that characteristic male choir in the choruses. There is also one of the fastest Accept songs to the date of Russian Roulettes release – TV War! I would say TV War and Fast as a Shark from Restless and Will are the fastest songs the band did, at least up to 1986.
I remember that Russian Roulette was marketed as a theme album. The theme was supposed to be anti-war. I don’t know if I can actually make that conclusion, but if they say so, who am I to argue. There is a thread holding it together at some level but I don’t it’s enough to be considered a real theme. But as I said, who am I to argue.
My favorite track from this album is Monsterman which discusses the use of euthanasia. I don’t think that the lyrics take sides about if it’s right or wrong, it just showcases the debate that was going on at the time about it. I know that it’s now legal in some countries under certain circumstances. It’s still one of my all-time favorites when it comes to Accept songs and lyrics and I can’t imagine anything being more compelling and stronger than the line “for love I had to give you up”!
