In interviews with the band both at the time of this album’s release, and in the time since then, this is the point where Accept decided to make the music they wanted to without an outside influence trying to coerce their decision making. Lead vocalist Udo Dirkschneider was quoted as saying “Following our experiences with “I’m a Rebel” we made it our goal not to be influenced musically by anyone outside of the band this time”, while guitarist Wolf Hoffmann said "Maybe we knew that the old approach from the record before didn't work very well. So we were saying 'fuck it, let's just do what we think is right. Let's not try to be somebody else, let's not try to have a radio hit anymore.'"
With producer Dirk Steffins returning to provide the same service again, the album was recorded during December and January, and this time released in quick time, finding its way onto the shelves in March 1981, and looking to be the album that truly break the band, with the suitable title of “Breaker”.
There is little doubt when you first listen to the album, that the direction of the music from the band has gone up a notch in speed and aggression, offering a point in difference from what had come on the first two albums. and yet there is enough in the music on a few of the tracks that harks to the past and suggests that there were still a few tendrils grasping onto the structures that hold them to that previous period.
The album kicks off on a great note with “Starlight”, zooming in with a terrific opening riff as the entry point to Udo’s vocals, that immediately reach new heights from the outset. It does offer a new platform for the band from the opening two minutes, a harder and heavier sound with good momentum through the track that differentiates from previous albums. It is Accept for the new decade, with the basics of the band elevated to create that. This is followed by the excellently faster paced title track “Breaker”, which continues the reimagining of the band’s direction. Charging along with pace an attitude, driven by Wolf Hoffman and Jörg Fischer’s guitars here that give an early insight to a future sound of Helloween’s guitar sound. Udo’s vocals are pumped with anthemic qualities that drive the best Accept songs. It is a terrific song with excellent bass riffing from Peter Baltes and his rhythmic parter on drums Stefan Kaufmann, and a winning formula to start the album. “Run If You Can” expands on this again, combining another great opening guitar riff with a catchy chorus sung energetically by Udo, and another solid bass line from Baltes that tightens everything together nicely. The duelling solos also show a touch of Judas Priest about them. Another terrific song.
“Can’t Stand the Night” moves away from the excellent tempo driven aspects of the opening of the album, reigning back in the harder and faster side to fall back to what tends to try and be a hard rock ballad, drawing on aspects of a previous version of the band and its earliest tracks. Udo stretches his vocals upward to match the style of track being composed here, though to his credit he tries to retain credibility in the framework of the song by adding some of his grittier vocals to keep it above the lower end of the scale of these songs. It is the longest song on the album which also doesn’t help matters. It is also then dominated by the following track which closes off the first side of the album, “Son of a Bitch”. This is a classic Accept track, if only for young kids who want to release some pent up anger. The expletive-laced vocals, according to all reports, were written to be spewing their venom at record companies in particular, and they make for easy repetition after a few beers and this turned up loud. Probably not as effective at age 56 as it was at age 16, but still enjoyable in the right company. It gives an aggressive and fist pumping conclusion to side A of the album.
“Burning” jumps straight out of the blocks with a very AC/DC-like fast paced guitar and drums, evoking images of Bon Scott and Angus Young performing it. And that is not meant in any way to be derogatory to either band, because even though the similarities are obvious, it is still a great track, with Udo out the front urging on the crowd with terrific anthemic vocals again and great guitars and rhythm. Yeah, this could be an AC/DC song, but Accept has always had that kind of sound in admiration of the band anyway, so they may as well take advantage of it and make the most of it. On “Burning”, they do exactly that. “Feelings” drops back a notch with a mid-speed tempo but a heavier riff which settles nicely into the groove produced by Baltes bass and Kaufmann’s drumbeat, and is driven along by Udo’s vocal power in verse and chorus. Once again, the image of the frontman out there pumping his fist upwards and outwards as he sings is undeniable while listening to the song. It is another excellent track.
“Midnight Highway” is the second change up the band throws at us here on this album. It moves back to a very 1970’s commercial rock tone which is immediately noticeable in the guitar sound, and then the bridge being sung by Peter Baltes, changing the tone of the song completely. It isn’t terrible, it isn’t even average. But it is very noticeably different from everything that has come before it on the album. It sounds like it should be on the soundtrack of a 1990’s teenage coming-of-age movie, one that dives back into those old 1970’s styled songs to get its point across. It is up vibe and energetic enough, but it has changed style.
But then... the crash arrives. A big 32 car pile-up on an icy motorway where everything gets destroyed. Because as you get to this point of the album and this begins, all you can think is “oh my god… what the hell is this?” What “this’ is in fact is the track “Breaking up Again”, and it is a tough ask to bear. OK, I accept (no pun intended) that there will be fans out there who think that this song is wonderful, that it is the perfect song to showcase the band’s versatility, and that it would help with breaking the band into different markets, at the very least in Europe. Well, I cannot and will not agree with that. This... is an album killer. Honestly, I thought we were going in the new direction, taking on the record companies and the radio stations and making a serious move towards that heavy sound that they were hoping would make them the success they should be! And this song is the antithesis of that. It is the antichrist of heavy metal. Now, I am a renowned deplorer of ballads of most varieties and in most circumstances. But this... this is just vile. I still cannot believe that this was allowed to make the album. Peter Baltes once again takes over the lead vocals for the band’s album’s ballad, and while he might sing well, his voice again is the counterpoint to what makes Accept... Accept! In my opinion at least. There is simply no way that this song fits on this album. It is the wrong style, the wrong tempo, the wrong genre. The wrong everything!!
The album then concludes with “Down and Out” which while it doesn’t fully recover from the insanity of the previous track, at least allows the listener to finish the process of listening to the album with a slightly less bitter taste in the mouth.
My arrival into Accept in regard to listening to their albums did not come until much later in life than when most fans would have picked them up. My first initiation to the band, like so many of my generation, came from the video for the song “Balls to the Wall” from the album of the same name. In Australia in 1986 there was a legendary two-night extravaganza when Channel Ten, on their Friday and Saturday night music program dedicated the weekend to heavy metal videos, and I was exposed to a lot of new bands and songs during that weekend that I had never heard of before. “Balls to the Wall” was one of those tracks. Still, as none of my friend group were fans of the band and no one had any of the albums, they remained mostly a mystery to me for some years.
In the mid-2000's I had begun to go back and track down bands and their albums that I had never really listened to, to better my overall music education, and Accept was one of those. And those first albums I listened to included “Breaker”, along with “Restless and Wild” and “Balls to the Wall” and “Metal Heart”. And I enjoyed them. And “Breaker” I felt had some really good songs on it, and the mix of older styles and new didn’t affect my enjoyment of the album initially, because I neither knew about the first two albums at that point, and was just enjoying the discovery of an old band. Yeah, it was a bit strange having a song without Udo singing on it, and that the song was so different from the rest of the album, but I just assumed this was an Accept-able thing for the band to do. (I’m here all week people, I’ve got dozens of them!)
Further exploration of the Accept catalogue came with the release of their comeback album without Udo in 2010, “Blood of the Nations”, which I adored on its release. And it made me delve deeper into Accept’s back catalogue, and further into the albums that had initially grabbed me. And that included “Breaker”. And the more I listened, the more I enjoyed it.
Over the last week I have both appreciated and studied this album a bit more intensely. This was an album I was glad to be listening to and reviewing again, but this time around I was more interested in what I actually thought about the album, rather than just playing it because I liked it. Mainly because whenever I have been asked about Accept and this album, my stated opinion has always been “I like it!”, but if questioned further, I don’t think I could have really elaborated on that. So listening to the album this week was as much to garner how I felt about the album, and why.
The conclusion? This could have been an absolute top shelf album, apart from three things – “Can’t Stand the Night”, “Midnight Highway” and “Breaking up Again”. The opening of the album is still terrific. The guitars sound great, Udo’s vocals are spot on, and the rhythm of bass and drums gives the songs a great bottom end. The lyrics are catchy and easy to sing along with. These songs are FUN! But these three songs change the tone of the album along the way. Even then, it is only “Breaking Up Again” that truly feels out of place and monsters this album with the weight of its averageness. Those three songs drop this album back in overall rating, and more is the pity. Take those out (which in the modern age you can do by easily skipping them) and it really does have the right energy throughout. Put them back in, and you have a promising album that points to a promising future.
This proved to be the solid springboard that saw Accept take great leaps over the next few years, producing albums that started to capture the attention of the music listening public. It remains an excellent album of its time, even with those couple of flaws in the mix.
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