ACCEPT: THE INEVITABLE

DETROIT—I first heard of Accept by way of Rock-a-Rama— which is a page way in the back of CREEM, originally established to review records that might otherwise be overlooked, now existing to keep Richard Riegel out of debt to the Greater Cincinnati Power & Light Co. Mr. Riegel somewhat light-heartedly described their American debut album, Balls To The Wall (CBS/Protrait), as “gaymetal.” I couldn’t imagine what Mr. Riegel was talking about until I saw the cover of the album and listened to (for instance) “Love Child,” featuring truly oblique lyrics like “Feeling the power of lust when the guy’s passing by.” At which point I realized why Mr. Riegel is a veritable magician of analysis.

Who are these people that Mr. Riegel and I would devote our hard-earned insight to? A fivesome of German people, that’s who they are. From Cologne, on our side of the Wall. A band founded some seven years ago by their melodically-named singer, Udo Dirkschneider. A band called “the finest heavy metal export from Germany since the Scorpions” by the German publication Pop/Rocky (just in case you thought CREEM was a stupid name).