ACCEPT have unveiled "Save Us," the newest preview of their 50th-anniversary album Teutonic Titans 1976-2026 — and the guest at the microphone is one nobody had on their card. Tobias Forge of GHOST takes the lead, backed by Frank Bello (ANTHRAX) on bass and Ray Luzier (KORN) on drums.
The record works chronologically through ACCEPT's formative years, from 1980's I'm A Rebel to 1989's Eat The Heat, rebuilt with a rotating all-star cast. No two songs share the same combination of vocals, guitars, bass and drums, with Wolf Hoffmann's riffs and Mark Tornillo's voice as the constant thread.
"Save Us," pulled from I'm A Rebel, was Forge's own request — and it caught Hoffmann completely off guard.
"Tobias was not really on my radar," the guitarist said. "Obviously, I know GHOST, and they're huge, but last year he turned up at one of our shows when we played in Stockholm, and we were chatting a little bit, and he said that his favorite song was 'Save Us,' and at one point he was considering using it as a cover song on one of their albums, but it never panned out. 'Save Us'? I don't even remember that song. Nobody has even mentioned that song! I had to go back and listen to it. After I saw a GHOST show, it all made sense to me. It really fits his style and I could really imagine him doing that song really well. He's right, it's a fun song!"
The rest of the guest list reads like a genre summit. Philip Anselmo, Kirk Hammett and Mikkey Dee tear through "Fast As A Shark." Rob Halford handles "Balls To The Wall" alongside Matthias Jabs. Billy Corgan and David Ellefson reimagine "Love Child." Also appearing: K.K. Downing, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, Hansi Kürsch, Chris Jericho, Ralf Scheepers, Billy Sheehan, Ola Englund and Jeff Loomis.
The album additionally features a re-recording of "Hellhammer" performed by ACCEPT's current lineup — Hoffmann, bassist Martin Motnik, guitarist Philip Shouse and drummer Christopher Williams — with Jason McMaster of DANGEROUS TOYS on vocals.
"Teutonic Titans 1976-2026" track listing:
- Fast As A Shark
- Balls To The Wall
- Aiming High
- Run If You Can
- Hellhammer
- Metal Heart
- Losers And Winners
- Save Us
- Up To The Limit
- Wrong Is Right
- Starlight
- Fight It Back
- Love Child
- Breaker
- Demon's Night
- T.V. War
- London Leatherboys
- Monsterman
- Restless And Wild