Drum roll please … or maybe a hearty dose of blast-beats! Tis the season to commence the good, bad and ugly of 2014! Of course we’re talking about BravePicks 2014, where all the staff put their collective metal minds together to build the ultimate lists including individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY),  Top 5 Brave Embarrassments, Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2015? and Metal Predictions For 2015. Only two more to go!!

BravePicks 2014

2) ACCEPT – Blind Rage (Nuclear Blast)

BraveWords scribe Carl Begai posed the following question in August when German legends continued their heavy metal tirade with current singer Mark Tornillo nearly 40 years into their career!

How about an Accept story that doesn't involve discussion about former vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and his personal issues with the band? On top of that, let's not talk about a possible reunion with the U.D.O frontman because, at this point in Accept's career, stirring that pot is just plain bad manners bordering on insulting. Nope, the focus here is on Blind Rage, the band's third go-round with singer Mark Tornillo, which the fans have been praising to high heaven according to guitarist Wolf Hoffmann. In fact, some diehards have actually gone on record calling Blind Rage the best of the three records in this "new" Accept's catalogue. Brave words indeed, particularly when stacking it up against Blood Of The Nations, the band's bold 2010 return that amounted to a "We're back!" eargasm for their legion of fans.

Interestingly, Blind Rage comes off as being somewhat less heavy in places compared to Blood Of The Nations and its follow-up, Stalingrad. Call it classic heavy Accept with more melody and dynamics thrown into the mix, just like the good old days of Breaker (1981) and Restless And Wild (1982). Almost as if Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes experimented with branching out from what they know works for Accept fans in 2014.

"I'm not sure we did," Hoffmann counters. "If anything I think we tried to hone it into what Accept really is. I think 'experiment' is a bad word to use. There are songs on Stampede that are more melodic, but all in all it's totally Accept to me. A good song is a good song, and we always try to concentrate on songwriting more than anything, and if things sound a little softer or more melodic here and there, so be it. We've always been about melody in our songs. As long as people like it I'm happy."
"Something interesting has started to happen," he adds. "A lot of people tell me 'I've been a huge fan since the '80s' or 'Restless And Wild has always been at the top of my list...' but this new era of Accept has started to overtake that. People are saying now that this new stuff is some of the best music we've ever done, and it's a huge thing if people start to feel that way."

Read more at BraveWords.

 

BravePicks 2014 Top 30

2) ACCEPT – Blind Rage (Nuclear Blast)

3) JUDAS PRIEST - Redeemer Of Souls (Epic)

4) BEHEMOTH - The Satanist (Metal Blade)

5) EXODUS - Blood In, Blood Out (Nuclear Blast)

6) AT THE GATES – At War With Reality (Century Media)

7) MAYHEM - Esoteric Warfare (Season Of Mist)

8) TRIPTYKON - Melana Chasmata (Century Media)

9) CANNIBAL CORPSE – A Skeletal Domain (Metal Blade)

10) OVERKILL - White Devil Armory (Nuclear Blast/eOne)

11) ARCH ENEMY - War Eternal (Century Media)

12) 1349 - Massive Cauldron Of Chaos (Season Of Mist)

13) SANCTUARY - The Year The Sun Died (Century Media)

14) OBITUARY - Inked In Blood (Relapse)

15) GRAVE DIGGER – Return Of The Reaper (Napalm)

16) ACE FREHLEY - Space Invader (eOne)

17) MASTODON — Once More ’Round The Sun (Reprise)

18) EDGUY – Space Police: Defenders Of The Crown (Nuclear Blast)

19) THE DAGGER – The Dagger (Century Media)

20) PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade)

21) UNISONIC - Light Of Dawn (earMusic)

22) PRIMAL FEAR – Delivering The Black (Frontiers)

23) DEVILMENT – The Great And Secret Show (Nuclear Blast)

24) MR. BIG - ...The Stories We Could Tell (Frontiers)

25) EYEHATEGOD – Eyehategod (Housecore)

26) STEEL PANTHER – All You Can Eat (Open E)

27) CALIFORNIA BREED – California Breed (Frontiers)

28) TESLA – Simplicity (Tesla Electric Co.)

29) PRONG – Ruining Lives (SPV/Steamhammer)

30) GAMMA RAY – Empire Of The Undead (EarMusic)