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Background
Taken from the Wikipedia page:
“Wolf Hoffmann explained the concept behind the album: "We had read an article that someone was working on an artificial heart and that one day everybody is going to have a computerized heart. It talked, in general terms, about how more and more of humanity gets sucked out of the daily life and more and more replaced by machine. It's not a new thing now, but then it was new. Humans versus machine, was the general vibe of the record." The original cover concept was for a hologram of a metal heart, until budget considerations resulted in a traditional cover. But fittingly for the futuristic theme of the album, Metal Heart was the first Accept album to be digitally recorded.
Hoffmann recalls Dieter Dierks as a very demanding producer: "We would do some pieces several dozen times trying to capture what he had in his mind for a specific section," adding: "Each song we tried different combinations of guitars, mic'ing and even strings!"
The song "Metal Heart" is well known for containing the cover of two famous classical themes: Tchaikovsky's "Slavonic March" (in the intro) and Beethoven's "Für Elise" in the main riff and solo. This song was covered in 1998 by Norwegian black metal band Dimmu Borgir for their album Godless Savage Garden. "I had no idea it would become as popular as it did," Hoffmann remembers of his contribution to the song.
"Midnight Mover", about a drug dealer, is one of the more commercial songs on the album and was selected for a memorable music video that anticipates the bullet time filming technique by a full decade. "Just ahead of our time again!" jests Hoffmann.
Despite the more commercially appealing sound of the album, it fell short of the sales figures of its predecessor Balls to the Wall in America. Udo remembers the Breaker through Metal Heart era as the time when the band got along best together. Thus this would turn out to be the last album of Accept's golden era, as cracks were soon to appear in the band's solidarity.”
Songs
Metal Heart (“***”): The first thing I like about this song is that the first 1 of it has a slow buildup to everything else. It’s creepy, and feels sorta like a heart beginning to beat for it’s first time. After the beginning minute, the meat of the song is given to you. In true Accept fashion, it’s loud, bombastic, metal, and induces head banging very easily.
Midnight Mover (“***”): As it states in the “Background section above”, Midnight Mover tells the story about a drug dealer, and it shows. The song is dirty, and flits from shadow to shadow so it doesn’t get seen by cops. The instrumentation feels very much like something you’d expect to hear from a typical Accept album of the time, only this one feels a little safe. Not like a sell-out kind of safe, but more like something that doesn’t try to break the mold of other songs, metal or otherwise. It is easy to see why this was a commercial hit: it makes for easy listening, it’s got a catchy beat, and was even used in a great video.
Up to the Limit (“***”): I didn’t want to say this at first. Hell, I didn’t even want to think about it! Sadly, I’m just gonna go with it.....Metal Heart is Accept’s version of Turbo. Yep, this what would happen if accept made Turbo first. That doesn’t necessarily make it bad: The instrumentation is good, and the singing is on par with Accept albums that were put out before hand. Sadly, it feels like they went with a more commercial appeal with this album, and Up to the Limit sounds like the start of it (Ironic, give that Midnight Mover was one of the more popular & commercial songs off of Metal Heart).
Wrong is Right (“***”): Wait, did I just step into a Udo album!?
This song doesn’t sound like it belongs here. Wrong is Right is far too fast-paced when compared to everything else on here. Though it varies from song to song, just about all of the other tunes are slower in pace. With that said, I love the energy in this song! It feels like an out of control power plant, and that a simple accident could make it explode, releasing it’s metal energy all over the place.
Screaming for a Love-Bite (“***”): Coming back to this album’s normalcy, Screaming for a Love-Bite dials things back in terms of speed & pace. It’s not quite as slows as some of the other songs on here, as it retains some of Wrong is Right’s incredibly fast pace. With that said, this feels to be the safest of the songs on Metal Heart. It doesn’t feel like it’s trying something new, it try to break from the pack, etc. There’s still a little value with this song, but otherwise I’d say skip it.
Too High to Get it Right (“***”): So now I’m listening to an AC/DC album!?
That’s actually a little unfair to say. This is still Accept, and this is their song. With that said, there is something off. Maybe it because the singing sound somewhat similar to Brain Johnson’s, or that the instrumentations sounds a little like a typical AC/DC song of the 80s, I’m not exactly sure. The point is that this song has two personalities, and doesn’t know which one to stick with. Catchy as hell, though!
Dogs on Leads (“***”): About as dirty as Midnight Mover was, Dogs on Leads goes for more of a sensual/sinister tone. The guitar remain low in volume for the most part, but you can definitely hear the beat very easily. The drumming has a very steady pace, and it doesn’t skip when it changes how low loud it is. The singing is pretty much the same as the drumming: the pace is steady, and doesn’t trip up when they change the volume. A good song to listen to when the lights are low, and a member of the opposite sex isn’t far away.
Teach Us to Survive (“***”): When the hell did the jazz come in!? Apparently, it came in here.
Now I’m not saying that Teach Us to Survive is a Jazz song. What I am saying is that there are jazz elements. You got drums in places that come across as jazzy, guitars that sound more James Bond than actual jazz, and the singing that has more of a heavy blues metal than jazz. Man, and I thought Too High to Get it Right was bipolar! Luckily, this one still has a catchy beat!
Living for Tonite (“***”): Now this sounds more like Accept!
Not that there wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with the previous songs. However, I didn’t feel that there were completely the band’s own music. With Living for Tonite (Yes, that’s how they spelled it), it feels like something that’s completely their’s. It’s got Accept’s instrumentation, it’s got their singing style, and it’s got their “Fuck You” metal attitude that’s still famous today. If you didn’t like how some of the previous tunes were wishy-washy, you’ll be happy with this one.
Bound to Fail (“***”): A nice way to end this album, Bound to Fail comes back to the standard Accept formula like Living for Tonite did. The title of this tune is a little cryptic: as it says above, Metal Heart was the last album of the band’s golden years, but at the same time this song doesn’t sound bad or pessimistic. In fact, it has something of a triumphant tone to it, which is heavily reflected in the instrumentation (Especially towards the end of the song). The singing has been scaled back a bit to make room for the instruments, but that doesn’t mean the singing is weak.
Overall Impression & Rating
It’s easy to see why Metal Heart is looked down upon by some. The production doesn’t feel like it was completely in the band’s domain, the songs don’t sound like they were completely made by the band, and overall sounds more like Accept just helped make this album for someone else. With that said, there are moments in certain songs, and a tiny few songs themselves, where it’s apparent that the band held sway. If you’re a fan of Accept, you’ll definitely come across this album eventually.
Metal Heart gets a 6.5 to 7.5 out of 10
See you all next time, when we’ll be dead again. Until then, stay Otaku!
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Sorry for the late posting. I got half of this review done last night, then forgot to finish it until a couple minutes ago.
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