Accept

Following his 1987 exit from the German power metal band Accept, vocalist Udo Dirkschneider formed U.D.O. with guitarists Peter Szigeti and Mathias Dieth, bassist Frank Rittel, and drummer Tomas Franke. The group's debut album, Animal House, was in fact written by Dirkschneider's former bandmates in Accept. Fans of Accept should enjoy the first solo album from lead singer Udo Dirkschneider, which employs all the crushing power of that band's Teutonic metal sound without the latent pop influences. Udo's unmistakable howl leads the charge on Animal House, while his backing band do an uncanny job of copying Accept's immaculate metal crunch. Of course, the fact that all the songs were written by Accept and producer Deaffy may have something to do with the familiarity of the sound.

When Udo Dirkschneider sang lead with the West German metal band Accept, it was clear that AC/DC's Bon Scott was his primary influence. And the headbanger took his love of Scott with him when he departed Accept and formed his own band, Udo, in 1987. Though not as strong as his work with Accept, Faceless World is a decent album that employs mildly gothic imagery at times. Not content to simply crank up the volume and hit us with power chords, Dirkschneider and friends make melody a priority on "System of Life," "Stranger," "Blitz of Lightning" and other songs on this exuberant CD. Faceless World may not be Balls to the Wall (one of Accept's best releases), but it isn't anything to be ashamed of either. Who could have predicted that only three year's after Faceless World came out, this type of rock would have lost so much ground to alternative rock?

In addition to their still ongoing successful "Back To The Roots" Tour, DIRKSCHNEIDER released "LIVE - Back To The Roots - Accepted!" on August 4th (EU) / August 18th (USA) as DVD/2CD, BluRay/2CD and Gtf. Triple Vinyl in two different colors. After putting out the live double CD last year, fans were asking for a visual output, so finally, in December 2016, the show in Brno (Czech Republic) was recorded for that purpose. Besides many classics from Udo Dirkscheider's Accept era, there's a cover version of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as bonus track on the CD and Vinyl. The singer with the charismatic voice had his musical breakthrough with ACCEPT in the early 80s. "It's still so much fun to sing these songs live, they are a part of my biography, but nevertheless it's about time to turn that page. There was so much talking and speculations about me and ACCEPT, so this is kind of a musical statement from my end - which seems to be very interesting for the fans who came to these shows."

The long-awaited live album from Dirkschneider's 'Back To The Roots' was released on October 28th via AFM Records. During the tour rock legend Udo Dirkschneider was presented a 'Sold Out'-Award for the extremely successful Dirkschneider tour, where 31 out of 48 Europe shows were sold out! 'It's unbelievable, I never expected this tour to be so overly successful', Udo comments, 'It's beautiful to see how many people walk with me on my personal way of saying goodbye to the ACCEPT chapter.' The singer with the charismatic voice had his musical breakthrough with ACCEPT in the early 80s. 'It's still so much fun to sing these songs live, they are a part of my biography, but nevertheless it's about time to turn that page. There was so much talking and speculations about me and ACCEPT, so this is kind of a musical statement from my end - which seems to be very interesting for the fans who came to these shows'.

Three disc set compiling, comparing and contrasting three giants of guitar blues, B.B., Freddy and Albert. Although they share a name each guitarist has his own particular and inimitable style. Riley, or B.B. is a Blues institution while Freddy maintained a massively influential position on the British blues boom having Eric Clapton and Peter Greeen as disciples. Albert, with his flying V in tow, was capable of taking four notes and writing a volume. 'He can say more with fewer notes than anyone I've ever seen', said Mike Bloomfield. We have no presidents here, but three musical monarchs will more than suffice.

David Reece has seen a lot in his career. In addition to his solo albums, he gave bands like Accept, Bangalore Choir, Bonfire and most recently the Sainted Sinners the special magic of his voice. He brought Andy Susemihl into the band for his latest masterpiece. Under the motto "Ex-Accept meets Ex-U.D.O." fans can look forward to a concentrated metal experience. Reece and Susemihl complement each other perfectly on "Cacophony of Souls". This is passion that's skill, this is metal! Together with Malte Frederik Burkert on bass and Andrea Gianangeli (drums) twelve great songs were created, including the "Metal Voice", which was composed especially for a US radio show.

David Reece has created quite some classic albums during his eventful career. He left his mark on bands like Accept, Bangaloire Choir, Bonfire or the Sainted Sinners and enriched the albums with his charisma and unique and outstanding voice. And the new album "Blacklist Utopia" will soon become a fan-favorite as well for sure. The super successful collaboration with Andy Susemihl (a. o. Ex-U. D. O. ) as guitar player, songwriting- and recording partner, which already made the predecessor album "Cacophony Of Souls" an absolute listening pleasure goes into the next round. And David Reece seems to have found an almost inexhaustible resource of fantastic vocal-lines and thrilling choruses, while the band creates the music made-to-(David Reece)-matter so to say. Also Bass Player Malte Burkert has established as a constant songwriting partner and new drummer Francesco Jovino (Ex- Primal Fear, Ex- U. D. O. ) gives the album an additional kick and metal-touch! Ex-Accept meets ex-U. D. O. is ready for the next round.

The new album by Swedish Metal band Bullet entered the swedish charts at #1 in the Hard Rock Charts, #4 in the Physical Charts and #30 in the album charts. These are the best entries since 2012. In Germany the album entered the official Media Control album Charts at #45 which is the best entry in their career. Swedish metal act Bullet released their first new album since 2014!! Bullet from Växjö have been on the metal scene since 2001, released five excellent studio albums to date, toured most European countries several times, opened for AC/DC in front of 55,000 people in 2009 and played some of Europe s most prestigious festivals, such as Rock Am Ring, Graspop, Sweden Rock, Rock Hard, Keep It True, Headbangers Open Air and Wacken (twice!). The band has eaten dirt in the true sense of the word and transformed it into musical gold, as their programmatic album title hints. Our new songs are about life on the road, about freedom, adventure and the endless fun that passionate metal bands have, Hampus Klang explains…

Digitally remastered 2 five star albums on a single CD from the King of the Blues from 1969 and 1971 and both are home to King's signature song "The Thrill Is Gone". The original studio version was on "Completely Well" and the live version on "Cook County Jail". Both records on their own are simply two of the brightest highlights of the master's career, but this coupling makes this disc a double-your-pleasure affair!