Herman Frank plays the second lead guitar to Wolf Hoffmann in Accept on their two latest albums Blood Of The Nation and Stalingrad. He was also in the band for one album, Balls To The Wall, and one tour back in 1983. He also had his own band Hazzard, that didn’t do much, he had a nine year stint in German hardrockers Victory and made one album with Sinner. That is his claim to fame. He also, for some reason, got himself a solo deal.
Not to rain on the guy’s parade, but no matter how a good record he has made, I find it pretty hard to see anybody rush out to get hold of a copy of one of his solo albums. I mean, the guy’s name doesn’t really speak volumes for anything as he hasn’t really made a career out of it before. And yes, he has one other solo album under his belt, the thunderous Loyal To None from 2009.
Because the fact is, that album was very good. And so is this. The opening words to this review might have sounded a bit negative, which wasn’t what I was after. I was more thinking that I find it really cool that there are record companies out there which actually sign artists because of the facts that they make good music and not hoping for a multi million sale or something.
If you’re an Accept fan, you’ll probably swallow this one whole. Just like it’s predecessor, this album is full of hard and agressive metal that sometimes sounds more like Accept than Accept themselves. Which makes you wonder why Frank isn’t credited to any of the songs on Accept’s latest album. Is it so important for Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes to be the only songwriters in that band that they’re willing to dissmiss some of the killers that Frank has written? Apparently. Because there are songs one here that would fit Accept like a glove. And even, in some cases, kick the shit out of some of the songs used for Accept.
“Roaring Thunder” are one of those, Accept all the way and the same goes for the mind blowing title track. These two would have been among the best songs on Accept’s new album, had they been included. “Starlight” is brilliant metal, “Falling To Pieces” is slower, still metal and very catchy, “King’s Call” is really heavy shit that are in the vein of Accept’s “Teutonic Terror” and “Lights Are Out” is fast, heavy and furious. Very good stuff. And then there’s “Black
Star” that differs a bit with its slow and heavy kind of 70’s kind of metal.
His name might not be up there with the most famous ones. In fact, there are probably a whole lot out there who doesn’t even know who the man is, but for anyone who’s into hard melodic metal and are into Accept, then it would be a smart thing to check his albums out.
Jon Wilmenius (8/10)
Tracklist:
01. Roaring Thunder
02. Right In Your Guts
03. Ivory Gate
04. Vengeance
05. Starlight
06. Falling To Pieces
07. Raise Your Hand
08. Waiting
09. Hell Isn’t Far
10. Kings Call
11. Lights Are Out
12. Black Star
13. So They Run
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