As a guy who grew up with the sounds of Accept blaring in the background, I know how important it is to keep a restless and wild metal heart and not be afraid to get one’s balls to the wall when necessary. Legendary frontman Udo Dirkschneider decamped following Accept’s Predator outing, bringing an end to a cherished era in Germanic metal. The man has certainly kept himself busy since then, focusing on his U.D.O. solo project and going on to release 17 albums of Accept-adjacent metal. While I’ve always had love and respect for Udo, I didn’t love all the U.D.O. output and felt it could tend toward recycled, tepid 80s metal at times. After being fairly unimpressed by 2018s Steelfactory and disliking 2020s U.D.O. / Musikkorps der Bundeswehr team-up, I missed 2021s Game Over opus entirely. I’m back in the game for Touchdown, but I’ll admit I cringed when I heard the title and saw that godawful cover. Do I want a legendary metal figure singing about American football? Not really, though I’m a lifelong football fanatic. Surprise, surprise though, as U.D.O.’s 18 album is a ripping, rocking joy and the best thing he’s put on the field in a long, long time. Score!
As Touchdown began to reveal itself I was thankful for 2 things: how much like classic Accept the material sounded and how little it had to do with sports of any kind. Songs like rowdy opener “Isolation Man” find an interesting equipoise between classic Accept and the hard rock ethos of Jorn with an ear toward catchy vocal and guitar hooks without sacrificing grit and venom. The guitar work by Andrey Smirnov and Dee Dammers is extra slick, incisive, and impossible to resist. They drive songs like “The Double Dealer’s Club” and “Fight for the Right” through your skull and out your arse with highly infectious noodling and riffing. “Forever Free” is hard-rocking fun with a positive message and an inspired vocal performance from Udo, and “Sad Man’s Show” is one of the most pissed-off songs the man has done in forever. It’s brimming with deft guitar work and it will stick in your head like a red-hot railroad tie.
Elsewhere, “The Betrayer” sounds like Threshold collaborating with King Diamond at times, which I didn’t expect on an U.D.O. platter, and “Better Start to Run” rocks out with guitar lines that are 100% classic In Flames. Needless to say, Touchdown has a lot more firepower than the usual U.D.O. release, and all 13 selections are surprisingly good, even the title track, which is thankfully the sole football-related cut. Some of the material feels like a throwback to the Restless and Wild era and there’s more than one “Fast as a Shark” moment for long time to Accept fans to chomp into. At a hefty 54 minutes, one would expect Touchdown to wear thin before the end, but I’m happy to report this is not the case. The energy level and healthy abundance of hooks keeps things farm fresh throughout and the album doesn’t feel long at all.
Mr. Udo himself sounds energized and youthful with his trademark screech in fine form throughout. Oddly enough, at times his delivery reminds me of Mark Tornillo who replaced him at the helm of Accept. Strange things are afoot in the world of Teutonic metal! As fine as Udo sounds, the big wow factor on Touchdown is provided by the lusty stadium rock-ready guitar work by Smirnov and Dammers. They are all over this thing with rollicking riffs and catchy solos which often sound like they fell off a recent Jorn album. This gives the material a brawling, good-timey vibe and keeps things plenty powerful. I especially enjoy the classical influences that surface in their playing, borrowing a big page from the Wolf Hoffman book of classic Accept-isms. The band is on fire throughout and you can tell they had fun recording the album. This stuff would go over really well live too, no doubt.
I didn’t expect to find much on Touchdown to shake my brain, but my grey matter has been well shook by the amped-up, uber-anthemic, guitar-driven wattage Udo and friends brought to the party. This is easily the best release with Udo involved in ages and I expect to be spinning these tunes for a long time to come. This is indeed a touchdown and deserves a gratuitous end-zone celebration by all involved. Impressive stuff from one of metal’s elder statesmen.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Atomic Fire
Websites: udo-online.de/news-98.html | facebook.com/udoonline
Releases Worldwide: August 25th, 2023
