ACCU§ER — The Conviction (review)

Album · 1987 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2020-05-07
siLLy puPPy

ACCU§ER (non-stylistically ACCUSER) is one of the many speed / thrash metal bands that emerged from the heavy metal 80s in Germany. Coming out of Kreuztal near Siegen, this band was formed as a result of an 18-year old Frank Thoms (guitars, vocals) hooking up with the 16-year Rene Schutz sharing an interest for heavy metal and thus they started a band called Expect No Mercy. This original project was nothing more than a de facto tribute to Dio and Iron Maiden but after a few years these guys adopted more of the thrash elements of early Slayer and Metallica. After drummer Volker Borchert joined and Schutz parted ways, Eberhard Weyel joined as the bassist / vocalist and ACCU§ER recorded and released its first album THE CONVICTION which came out in 1987 on the ATOMH label.

Although ACCU§ER is considered one of the early Teutonic speed / thrash metal bands in Germany along with Kreator, Sodom, Protector and Destructor, on THE CONVICTION there are must as many holdovers from the NWOBHM influences and melodic elements from the Iron Maiden and Dio days. For example despite the thrashing riffs that barrel along at breakneck speeds there are still plenty of those Judas Priest sustained chords between the rampaging riffing and bass and drum freneticism. Like many extreme bands verging on power or thrash metal, ACCU§ER sits on the borderline between straight up speed metal and the early thrash metal of Slayer and Metallica. This album came out in 1987 and by this time both those bands had released bonafide masterpieces therefore THE CONVICTION sounds a bit late to the proto-thrash part by about three years but nevertheless delivers an excellent album of rampaging metal albeit a tad derivative.

If your impressions were to come solely from the album cover art then this very well may turn you off before you experience the music because IMHO it’s horrendous however once you push play this is a veritable stampede of excellent metal tracks that offer the best of balls to the wall speed metal along with early thrash leanings that include the incessant riffing machines, grizzled vocal style and occasional melodic clean guitar intros with harmonics. In many ways ACCU§ER is in the same league of other German acts such as Exumer, Protector, Grinder and Deathrow however although originality wasn’t this band’s strong suit these trio of metal maniacs sure managed to crank out an authentic period piece of strong metal tracks that crank out seven tracks up to 11 and run over the 41 minute mark.

The majority of the tracks are by the books speed / thrash metal with all the usual riffing bombast, bass and drum rhythm sections and subject matter that take some of the more horrific themes of extreme metal but remain safely on the cusp of good old fashioned rebellion for rebellion’s sake feel good metal. One of the highlights is the 10 minute title track which takes on more musical elements and offers time for explorations of melodic variations much in the vein of Metallica’s more ambitious albums although not quite reaching the heights of anything on “Master of Puppets” although some of that album’s thrash metal signature sounds also played a role here. Overall this is a really decent relic from the 80s that is marred only by its rather generic sound done much better by more creative contemporaries. Despite that though this is a really fun album to crank on as it perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the era when 80s heavy metal and speed metal were transmogrifying into the more extreme harshness of thrash.