Accept › Balls to the Wall

Accept: Udo Dirkschneider (vocals); Wolf Hoffman, Hermann Frank (guitar); Peter Baltes (bass); Stefan Kaufmann (drums).

Producer: Accept.

Reissue producer: Jeff Magrid.

Recorded at Dierks Studios, Cologne, Germany in July & August 1983. Originally released on Portrait (39241). Includes liner notes by Don Raye.

Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).

Audio Mixer: Michael Wagener .

Recording information: Dierks Studios, Cologne, Germany (07/1983-08/1983).

Photographers: Dieter Eikelpoth; Fin Costello; Gary Gershoff.

With their 1984 release, the pleasantly titled BALLS TO THE WALL, German metallists Accept set their sights on the last frontier the band had yet to conquer--America. Like their contemporaries the Scorpions, who also specialized in hard rock and hailed from Germany, Accept started out as a straight up heavy metal band, but as the '80s wore on, softened their high volume sound with a dose of melody.

While BALLS TO THE WALL introduced Accept to whole new legion of fans stateside, it wasn't the huge US smash they'd hoped for. Still, BALLS remains one of Accept's best releases, spawning the dark yet anthemic title track, as well as the screamalong ditties "London Leatherboys" and "Love Child."