Let’s get the elephant out of the room. Many metal listeners believe it’s blasphemy for artists to re-record or reimagine older material. For those of you in that camp – Balls to the Wall Reloaded from Dirkschneider will probably not change those sentiments, despite all the guests who appear here. Now that everyone else wants to imagine how this will go, let’s dig into this ten-song platter with an open mind – and an open heart – as Udo and Peter Baltes (two of the original members when Accept released this in 1983) work with the current U.D.O. lineup and some supreme vocalists across the metal landscape to pay tribute to this pinnacle effort.
The duets carry weight to the past and present impact of these songs – the musicians doing their best to develop appropriate tones taking advantage of modern production techniques and yet not diminishing the riffs and tempos that put this in rarified air for that time period. Udo may have a bit more grit to his unique, one-of-a-kind voice, but it serves as a testament to the man’s lifelong metal affinities. Standouts change daily – one minute Saxon’s Biff Byford for “London Leatherboys” steady as two veterans in their 70s could possibly be, the next Dee Snider taking your head for a twisted ride on “Losers and Winners”. Surprises to some may include Danko Jones for “Turn Me On” or Kreator’s Mille Petrozza on the speedier “Fight It Back”, both ideal for the comfort level that these musicians sit in as far as their conventional deliveries and personalities that are more hard rock or thrash-oriented. The closing ballad “Winter Dreams” is another reunion of Udo with Doro Pesch, who many may remember appearing on the Man and Machine album in 2002 for U.D.O. for “Dancing With An Angel” – a touching number that squeezes out pure gold in the line-by-line tradeoffs to a lower register choral union that send chills up your spine.
Coinciding with the 40th anniversary tour of this album across Europe this year (and possibly other dates in many other countries), Dirkschneider relish the celebratory nature of specific albums that have touched the hearts of millions. Balls to the Wall Reloaded doesn’t rewrite history, but instead glorifies the power of heavy metal done purely for the love of the genre.