Eat the Heat  (Audio CD) 
by Accept

Udo definetly was an identifiable voice and a steadfast icon when you think of Accept, but Reece on this album showed a very clean, crisp, and downright powerful voice at times emulating such renowned metal screamers as Rob Halford or Manowar's Eric Adams. Different though, was that Reece had an image/style that was borderline "hair-metalish" which some people welcomed (he could have just as well fit into a Motley Crue or similar type of band at the time as singer), while more traditional Accept fans didn't like the new singers stlye, despite his more than adequate voice. More suprising than the fresh and welcome change in the vocal department was also a new rhythm guitarist Jim Stacey, who actually played nothing on this release but was the new touring rhythm guitar player. From what I have heard, he wasn't all too great live and he was by far no Jorg Fischer or Hermm Frank.

The album overall I would say is very good and with some songs you will get a sense of commerical vibe with a dileberate intent I would say to try a new change and maybe keep in tandem with some of the other heavy rock/hair metal acts "happening" at the time, but you WILL know this is trademark Wolf Hoffmann and Stefan Kaufmann behind thier respective instruments. The first and second tracks are excellent (the 2nd track you will sense the commerical sound, as if you could have envisioned it on the radio in 1989, but it still rocks really hard). I think the stand-out tracks by far are track 5 (D-Train) which is totally killer all-around, and track 10 (Hell Hammer) which showcases how truly powerful and crisp Reece was behind he microphone.

The rest of the tracks are okay but nothing to get into a tizzy over, some of the other song titles have a "prince" vibe to them but they are still quality metal tracks. For the tracks Ive listed above, this album on those merits alone is worth a buy especially for many of those fans out there who might have really appreciated some of the better hair metal with much beefier songs that say what Poison or Faster Pussycat was doing during that time, but may have not been exposed to this release or that of David Reece.

Overall I would say this is a pretty darn good album. It is no "Restless And Wild" or "Balls To The Wall", but it is better than even some of the stuff they released with UDO in the late 90s. However, this was the sole release with David Reece. The tour with WASP and Metal Church wasn't drawing too well and internal problems within the band led to Reece being dismissed at the beginning of the 90's and Accept going on a few years hiatus.
A few years later David Reece was rumored to have turned down an offer to join Judas Priest for the main reason of not wanting to go into another band as "a replacement singer" again -- traditional metal fans especially those who loved the "metal screamers" would more than likely I'd think appreciate Reece's work on this LP.

4 out of 5 for this album

0 of 1 found the following review helpful:

a reviewer from canton massachusetts  Feb 28, 2001
another great cd from germany's accept.this release was perfect for 1989,atad bit more melodic,but also more intense,and slightly more mature.also with a new singer david reese.highlights are hell hammer,and stand for what you are.wolf hoffmanns playing here is top form he was in his prime at this time.1 year after this peter baltes did a cd with don dokken.4 years after this accept re-hired udo.also some great cd's from around this time;europe out of this world,don dokken upfrom the ashes,steve morse power lines,and yngwie malmsteen live in leningrad.