Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The world will end in chaos, confusion and turmoil, regardless of how we see ourselves as an intelligent species, no matter that we have managed to shape the way we see our destiny, somehow what is real, what is absurdly convincing, is that all is eventually dust, all is headed towards extinction; not that we should accept this only possible outcome but whilst The Rise of Chaos is inevitable we arguably should at least that art/music/ anything that makes sense, can ease the burden, can release the tension found in a single person’s heart and hope it spreads like a vaccine, that the galloping drums of pure music and well laid out lyrics can stop the pain.
This should be the past, humanity should have found a way to deal with chaos but as the German Heavy Metal legends Accept have proved over and over again during their long and industrious career, chaos breeds chaos and confusion is the mother of bedlam, the only answer is to keep firing rapid shots, to take careful aim at the subject at hand and blast the interlopers and alien thoughts back to where they came from; to issue a binding decree that The Rise Of Chaos is to be heard and felt deeply, personally and with passion, and it is a passion that Accept excel at as they carry on the superb work since their great comeback in 2010 with Blood of the Nations.
Accept continue to rise, their ordered beauty in the studio is overflowing with rage and the intense display of humanity at its most vibrant, pulse driving, it is the electric shock when lethargy has settled in, bringing the listener to their senses once again. The world is falling apart, imagine the most beautiful scene in the world and then add the feeling of dystopia to the surrounding, it is not only batteries that corrode, humanity has that effect as well and we need to be reminded of it more often.
It seems strange to have an album stick rigidly to the ten track format, especially in an age when bands are forced to cram as much as possible into the space provided, the customer always wanting more for their money, never satisfied; perhaps that is the point and if it is then it is marvellously proved, sometimes the more you have just means the more greedy you become in the future.
In tracks such as Hole in the Head, No Regrets, World’s Colliding, Carry the Weight and Race To Extinction, Accept truly engage with the subject at hand, they issue the warning with a stern voice, the la, often ignored by so many, is one that is thumped down, the crater created by the firmness of the fist is enough to shatter many illusions that are forced upon a world that took so many wrong turnings after it came together to defeat a common enemy.
The Rise Of Chaos is Accept once more at their boiling rage best, a proper Metal album of observation and punishment to those who take wrecking the world as their right; chaos in flight.
Ian D. Hall