German metal giants ACCEPT have shared "Fast As A Shark" — one of the most remarkable recordings in their storied fifty-year career. The track is part of their upcoming anniversary album "Teutonic Titans 1976–2026," due September 4, 2026 via Napalm Records, and it brings together an extraordinary lineup of heavy metal royalty: PANTERA's Philip Anselmo, METALLICA's Kirk Hammett, MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan, and SCORPIONS drummer Mikkey Dee, all trading riffs and thunder on one of the genre's foundational speed metal anthems.
"Fast As A Shark," originally released on ACCEPT's 1982 album "Restless And Wild," is widely credited as one of the earliest speed metal tracks ever recorded — a template that influenced entire generations of extreme metal bands. Hearing it reinvented with this cast feels genuinely momentous.
Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, the sole original member to appear on every ACCEPT record, reflected on the significance of the project: "There is no better way to celebrate this 50-year anniversary than to have our musical peers, friends, and inspirations come together with us." True to the song's Bavarian roots, this version reportedly includes the iconic oompah-style intro rendered with traditional German folk instrumentation before detonating into the familiar metal assault.
Kirk Hammett expressed his enthusiasm simply and directly: "A real honor to pay back the great inspiration ACCEPT had for me!"
"Teutonic Titans" is an extraordinarily ambitious project — nineteen reimagined versions of ACCEPT classics, featuring fifty guest musicians in total. Beyond the headliners on "Fast As A Shark," the album features Rob Halford of JUDAS PRIEST, Tobias Forge of GHOST, and Billy Corgan of SMASHING PUMPKINS, among many others. The breadth of that guest list tells its own story about ACCEPT's reach and influence across rock and metal.
ACCEPT's current lineup — Hoffmann (guitar), Mark Tornillo (vocals), Philip Shouse (guitar), Christopher Williams (drums), and Martin Motnik (bass) — has maintained a remarkably consistent and high-quality output since Tornillo joined in 2009, releasing five studio albums in that span alone.
Fifty years is an almost incomprehensible run for a metal band. From the early 1980s Teutonic metal scene through the stadium-filling behemoth they became, ACCEPT have never stopped swinging. "Teutonic Titans" sounds less like a nostalgia exercise and more like a victory lap shared with friends — the best kind of anniversary statement a band can make.
"Teutonic Titans 1976–2026" will be released September 4, 2026 via Napalm Records.