Russian Roulette (Accept album)

Russian Roulette
Studio album by
Accept
Released1986
StudioDierks (Stommeln, Germany)
GenreHeavy metal
Length43:17
LabelRCA
ProducerAccept
Accept chronology
Kaizoku-Ban
(1985) 		Russian Roulette
(1986) 		Eat the Heat
(1989)
Singles from Russian Roulette
  1. "T.V. War"
    Released: June 1986 (Japan)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[2]
Rock Hard8.0/10[3]

Russian Roulette is the seventh studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released in 1986. It was again recorded at Dierks-Studios, but the band chose to self-produce rather than bring back Dieter Dierks as producer. It would be the last Accept album to feature Udo Dirkschneider as lead vocalist until the 1993 reunion album Objection Overruled.[1]

The album returns Accept to the darker, heavier sound of releases prior to the more commercial-sounding predecessor Metal Heart. Wolf Hoffmann explained the band's decision: "Maybe we were trying sort of go back to our natural and not polished Accept sound with that record. We weren't really all that happy with the polished and clean-sounding Metal Heart. I was sort of very happy with my guitar playing on that record and very happy with my parts, but I remember the whole vibe of the band was at the time that we don't want to go through this again with Dieter Dierks who had produced Metal Heart."[4]

Peter Baltes explained the album's title and front cover as an expression of the strong anti-war themes throughout the record, showing war as a game of Russian roulette: "It means - go and play the game y'know, what a silly game it is. One will die definitely."[5]

The digitally remastered CD edition includes live versions of "Metal Heart" and "Screaming for a Love-Bite" as bonus tracks, taken from the Kaizoku-Ban EP. The 2014 release from UK based record label Hear No Evil Recordings features live versions of "Neon Nights", "Burning" and "Head Over Heels", taken from the 1990 live album Staying a Life.

Track listing

All lyrics and music written by Accept and Deaffy.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."T.V. War"3:29
2."Monsterman"3:26
3."Russian Roulette"5:22
4."It's Hard to Find a Way"4:19
5."Aiming High"4:24
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Heaven Is Hell"7:12
7."Another Second to Be"3:19
8."Walking in the Shadow"4:27
9."Man Enough to Cry"3:14
10."Stand Tight"4:05
Total length:43:17
2002 bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
1."Metal Heart" (Live)5:24
2."Screaming for a Love-Bite" (Live)4:26
Total length:53:07
2014 bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
1."Neon Nights" (Live, Taken from Staying a Life)8:14
2."Burning" (Live, Taken from Staying a Life)7:29
3."Head Over Heels" (Live, Taken from Staying a Life)5:41
Total length:64:41

Credits

Band members
Production

Charts

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[6] 93
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[7] 3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] 5
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[9] 26
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[10] 16
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[11] 9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] 23
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 80
US Billboard 200[14] 114

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Accept Russian Roulette review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  3. ^ Kühnemund, Götz (1986). "Review Album : Accept - Russian Roulette". Rock Hard (in German). No. 16. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Accept - interviews". Metallian.com. 17 June 2002. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  5. ^ Sharpe, Gaz (1986). "Gambler GAZ SHARPE talks to Accept bassist PETER BALTES". Metal Forces (18). Archived from the original on 28 March 2002. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  6. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  8. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Accept – Russian Roulette" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  9. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  10. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Accept – Russian Roulette". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Accept – Russian Roulette". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Accept – Russian Roulette". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Accept Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 27 May 2023.