FRANK BELLO And BILLY SHEEHAN To Guest On ACCEPT's 50th-Anniversary Album; First Songs Revealed
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At this weekend's Guitar Summit guitar show in Mannheim, Germany, ANTHRAX bassist Frank Bello and MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan revealed that they have both recorded separate guest appearances on the upcoming 50th-anniversary album from legendary German/American metallers ACCEPT.
Tentatively due in early 2026, ACCEPT's upcoming effort will cover the band's entire musical history. The anniversary LP will contain a carefully curated selection of the best ACCEPT songs from the last five decades, re-recorded — partly with well-known surprise musical guests and colleagues — as well as with some rare tracks that have not been played so often before.
Frank said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "My friends in ACCEPT, the band ACCEPT — I love the band ACCEPT. You guys know the band ACCEPT? I've been a fan forever. So they were kind enough to ask me to play a song on their 50th-anniversary record. I did a song, it's called 'Save Us' [from ACCEPT's second album, 1980's 'I'm A Rebel']. It's an old-school song. Some good, fun bass lines in it. And the funky thing [I mentioned in an Instagram clip I posted from the sessions a couple of days ago], I found it fun and challenging."
Billy, for his part, said: "I just did four songs on the ACCEPT 50-year-anniversary tribute record. ACCEPT was one of my favorite heavy metal bands of all time. Thank you, Germany. [Laughs] I did 'Fight It Back' [from 1983's 'Balls To The Wall' album], 'Restless And Wild' [the title track of 1982's 'Restless And Wild' album] and two others; I forgot. So that's coming out."
Last year, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann told Metal Journal about the band's upcoming 50th-anniversary LP: "I can't tell you anything yet, because it's way too early. I can just tell you it's gonna be a massive thing. And I don't really wanna get into it yet because I'm not really here to talk specifics about it. It's still in the planning stages. It's gonna be amazing. I think it's gonna be some really big names that are gonna be participating in that. And you'll have to wait. Sorry. It's just too early."
As for whether ACCEPT had already "selected" the guest musicians who would appear on the album, Wolf said at the time: "Yes, we have selected a lot of it. Not all of it, but we have selected a lot."
Back in April, Wolf revealed to Mark Strigl, that longtime ACCEPT producer Andy Sneap would not be involved with the band's upcoming 50th-anniversary album. "He will not be on this one, because he asked for a year off from us," Wolf said. "I asked him, I begged him to produce his album, but then we found a good buddy of his. His name is Zeuss [Chris Harris]. He's producing it."
Hoffmann continued: "[Andy is] kind of part of the family now, but he's been touring so much with [JUDAS] PRIEST [as that band's touring guitarist], and he's been working so much in the studio last year. I think he did SAXON, he did PRIEST, he also did DREAM THEATER — he's done a bunch of stuff. So when I said, 'Hey, can we work this year again?' He said, 'Man, can I please have a year off?', which is understandable."
Regarding ACCEPT's upcoming 50th-anniversary tour, Wolf said: "It's gonna be a retrospective of the whole 50-year career and, of course, it's gonna feature a lot of the important stuff from the '80s and some deeper cuts. And we're gonna perform with guest singers and guest players, and it's gonna be super exciting, like a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You only have one shot at a 50-year anniversary… I don't think we'll get a chance for another one."
Sneap produced ACCEPT's last six studio albums: "Blood Of The Nations" (2010),"Stalingrad" (2012),"Blind Rage" (2014),"The Rise Of Chaos" (2017),"Too Mean To Die" (2021) and "Humanoid" (2024).
Zeuss has previously worked with ROB ZOMBIE, HATEBREED, QUEENSRŸCHE, SHADOWS FALL, DEMON HUNTER, OVERKILL and REVOCATION, among many others.
