Hard to believe this is already the sixth full-length with Mark Tornillo at the mic. Accept has been hammering away with consistency since the Germans’ rebirth in 2010 when Blood Of The Nations hit the shelves. While some lineup changes have occurred in the meantime, Accept has roared ahead with Wolf Hoffman steering the ship and Andy Sneap behind the production desk.

Issues of sameness and lack of creativity have been complaints of recent material, but Accept does what they do best – muscled, riff heavy German metal. The recently turned 70 Mark Tornillo is rough and tough as always with his vocals and the team of Hoffman/Uwe Lulis do their damage on guitars with melodicism, a dose of fierceness, and Wolf’s penchant for classical influences seeped in. 

The AI theme only comes to play in the title track, but the rest plays out with songs about fighting through obstacles, life, and the Germans’ favorite sport – drinking! “Straight Up Jack” is a fun song added to the Accept catalog and should go over well live. “Ravages Of Time” is a reflective strummer and “Man Up” has clean, Southern type chords that brings to mind some of Gotthard’s twangy rockers.

Accept is known for always having an up-tempo jolt to close the record and “Southside Of Hell” is no different with blazing, creative guitar work and the Egyptian intro to opener “Diving Into Sin” is a clear winner. “Frankenstein” and “Unbreakable” sport those trademarked driving rhythms.

Humanoid flows better than the last two efforts, and as usual – some tracks stick out more than others. Their last truly great, outstanding album was Blind Rage, but Humanoid is a worthy addition to the Accept canon.