ACCEPT's 'Blood' Takes Top Honors In 'Metal On Metal' Listener Poll - Jan. 10, 2011
ACCEPT's "Blood Of The Nations" took the No. 1 spot in WJCU's "Metal On Metal" Top 25 year-end album countdown show, which aired live on January 7. OVERKILL's "Ironbound" finished second.

"It was a two-album battle right from the start," says "Metal On Metal" host Bill Peters.

"The drop-off in votes between the top two finishers and the third was significant.

"Out of the 1,265 votes placed, ACCEPT ended up winning by a solid 25% margin.

"Metal fans of all types — thrash, death, doom, black and traditional — listed the ACCEPT album as one of their Top 3 for the year.

"It's been a long time since I've had a clear-cut favorite crossover and dominate the poll like 'Blood Of The Nations' did. An unbelievable comeback story, especially considering the fact the band had been inactive for so long and were debuting a new lead singer (Mark Tornillo) to replace a heavy metal legend (Udo Dirkschneider). It was my album of the year as well.

"ACCEPT's live show in Cleveland last October at The Agora was also signaled out by my listeners as the best concert of the year."

"No doubt, American fans everywhere have given us the most surprising welcome, but Cleveland, Ohio has always been a breaking ground for many bands," says ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann when notified of the honor as he was traveling overseas to begin the band's 2011 European tour. "Thank you, Cleveland!!!"

"We are so happy and grateful," adds ACCEPT manager Gaby Hoffmann. "Thank you so much. I knew it!"

This was the 27th year of the poll, which is an annual tradition with metal fans in Cleveland and one of "Metal On Metal"'s most popular programs.

"It's my listeners' night to program the entire three-hour show," says Peters. "They really get into it and take the poll very seriously.

"The countdown show has taken on a life of its own since when I first started it for fun back in 1984. It has even been drawing a lot of attention worldwide. Dave Mustaine acknowledged MEGADETH's 'Endgame' victory last year by thanking the fans of Cleveland on his band's web site.

"Several of my personal top albums did not make the list this year but it was great to see some of my favorites, like GRAND MAGUS, HAIL OF BULLETS and AXEL RUDI PELL chart so high. It was also very nice to see Ronnie James Dio recognized with his DIO live release, along with support for several of our Cleveland bands' local releases.

"I have always been a strong supporter of our local music scene by giving bands regular airplay, interviews and promotion of their shows on the air. College radio, especially here in Cleveland, is one of the few media outlets they can always count on to be there for them."

WJCU's "Metal On Metal" can be heard every Friday night from 6:30 p.m to 9:30 p.m. EST on 88.7 FM in the Cleveland, Ohio area or streamed worldwide at www.wjcu.org.

"Metal On Metal"'s top albums of 2010:

01. ACCEPT - "Blood Of The Nations" (Nuclear Blast)
02. OVERKILL - "Ironbound" (E1 Music)
03. IRON MAIDEN - "The Final Frontier" (Universal)
04. HALFORD - "Made Of Metal" (Metal God Entertainment)
05. DEATH ANGEL - "Relentless Retribution" (Nuclear Blast)
06. DIO - "Dio At Donnington UK: Live 1983 & 1987" (Niji Entertainment)
07. BLIND GUARDIAN - "At The Edge Of Time" (Nuclear Blast)
08. ARMORED SAINT - "La Raza" (Metal Blade)
09. DIMMU BORGIR - "Abrahadabra" (Nuclear Blast)
10. NEVERMORE - "Obsidian Conspiracy" (Century Media)
11. GRAND MAGUS - "Hammer Of The North" (Roadrunner)
12. RED GIANT - "Dysfunctional Majesty" (Small Stone)
13. EXODUS - "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (Nuclear Blast)
14. HAIL OF BULLETS - "On Divine Winds" (Metal Blade)
15. AXEL RUDI PELL - "The Crest" (SPV)
16. HELLOWEEN - "7 Sinners" (The End)
17. MUSHROOMHEAD - "Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children" (Megaforce)
18. SCORPIONS - "Sting In The Tail" (Universal)
19. SABATON - "Coat Of Arms" (Nuclear Blast)
20. SHADES OF REMEMBRANCE - "Voices In My Mind" (S.O.R.)
21. MASTERPLAN - "Time To Be King" (AFM)
22. FEAR FACTORY - "Mechanize" (Candlelight)
23. VENOMIN JAMES - "Crowe Valley Blues" (Auburn)
24. TRIPTYKON - "Eparistera Daimones" (Century Media)
25. LOTUS PEDAL - "Lotus Pedal" (Lotus Pedal)

Cool. Blood of the Nations and Ironbound are both excellent.

The guys on That Metal Show on VH1 Classic were praising it the other day. I used to like Accept quite a bit back in the day. I may have to check this one out.

Wow - I haven't thought about Accept for a looooong time. Liked them back in the early-mid 80's - saw them with Dio a few times around (MSG, I believe). I'll have to check "Blood Of The Nations" out...

Blood of Nations is currently five bucks at the Amazon MP3 store

I haven't heard the new album yet, but I love TT Quick's 1st EP with Tornillo on vocals. He could easily fill UDO's shoes, and then some.

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The new Accept is a great album. One of my top 5 of last year. Wolf went right back to his mid-80's book of riffs.

Bands can survive the loss of a singer if the singer doesn't contribute much (hello, Nightwish). Accept is Wolf and Peter's band. So all they needed was a good screamer.

For my money, Ironbound was the best of '10, followed by Witchkrieg.