Accept "Restless And Wild"

Restless and Wild is the fourth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released in 1982 in Continental Europe and in 1983 in the US and UK. It was the first Accept album to not be recorded at Delta-Studio, the band moving to Dieter Dierks' studio in Stommeln. It is also the first Accept album in which Udo Dirkschneider sings every track, as well as the first in which manager Gaby Hauke ("Deaffy") gains credits for songwriting. Michael Wagener took engineering and mixing duties once again.

Jan Koemmet joined the band briefly before the release of this album, but did not participate in the recording. The guitar on the finished product is done by Wolf Hoffmann alone, although Herman Frank had joined the band by the time the album was released, and is credited on the album cover. 

The album is best known for the opening track, "Fast as a Shark", considered among the fastest speed metal songs for the time. 

Another well-known track is album closer "Princess of the Dawn", a tense song that Udo describes as "a Cinderella story" and "like a Lord of the Rings fantasy" with no deep meaning. Wolf Hoffmann achieved the haunting mandolin-like effect by recording the guitar at half-speed, then having it played back at normal speed. He describes the sudden ending as "an idea that didn't work so well." 

Versions of the album released outside Germany were issued with a different cover, replacing the picture of burning guitars with a shot of the band live in concert. American death metal band Cannibal Corpse has made a cover of the song "Demon's Night". It can be found on their EP Worm Infested. 

On 25 January 2011 the album was performed in its entirety at a special show in Switzerland. 

Restless and Wild has received mostly positive reviews. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic praised Restless and Wild with 4.5 out of 5 stars and called it Accept's "creative breakthrough." He then added, "The bottom line here is that this, like its successor Balls to the Wall, is an essential heavy metal album, and any fan worth his salt should own them both."

Restless and Wild was Accept's first album to chart in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands. The album failed to chart in the United States. 

Udo has agreed with the general assessment of Restless and Wild as a landmark heavy metal record, calling it "surely the most important Accept album". Wolf's praise is more reserved, calling it "just another record" and adding, "looking back maybe we think 'Fast as a Shark' was the first speed metal song ever, but at the time we sorta just had fun and we didn't think it was anything dramatically new. Obviously, maybe what was so cool about this time was that we weren't thinking so much. We were just ballsy and tried to do things without having much to lose." 

Track listing

All music composed by Wolf Hoffmann, Stefan Kaufmann, Udo Dirkschneider, Peter Baltes. 

Side one 

1. "Fast as a Shark" Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider, Baltes 3:49
2. "Restless and Wild" Robert A. Smith-Diesel and Accept 4:12
3. "Ahead Of The Pack" Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider, Baltes 3:24
4. "Shake Your Heads" Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider, Baltes 4:17
5. "Neon Nights" Deaffy, Smith-Diesel and Accept 6:01

Side two 

1. "Get Ready" Smith-Diesel and Accept 3:41
2. "Demon's Night" Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider, Baltes 4:27
3. "Flash Rockin' Man" Hoffmann, Kaufmann, Dirkschneider, Baltes 4:28
4. "Don't Go Stealing My Soul Away" Smith-Diesel and Accept 3:15
5. "Princess Of The Dawn" Deaffy, Smith-Diesel and Accept 6:15

Total length: 43:49 

Release dates:

October 4th, 1982 - Germany

March 1983 - U.S., U.K., Canada and Europe

Herman Frank is credited with playing on the album, but all guitars were recorded by Wolf Hoffmann before Herman joined the band.

Recording information:

Produced by Accept.

Recorded on February, March & June 1982 at Dierks Studios in Cologne, Germany.