Accept Revives “Fast As A Shark” With Four Metal Veterans

Daniel Okafor

Accept’s 1982 song “Fast As A Shark” now features Phil Anselmo, Kirk Hammett, Billy Sheehan and Mikkey Dee on a re-recording made for the German band’s 50th anniversary.

The track appears on Teutonic Titans 1976-2026, available now through Napalm Records. The anniversary collection contains 19 reimagined Accept songs and 50 guest musicians.

The recording keeps the premise plain: Accept songs, unusually loud company. The project needs precision, not just volume.

Who joins Accept on “Fast As A Shark”?

The guest list crosses several generations of heavy metal:

• Phil Anselmo, Pantera vocalist
• Kirk Hammett, Metallica guitarist
• Billy Sheehan, Mr. Big bassist
• Mikkey Dee, former Motörhead drummer

Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and vocalist Mark Tornillo anchor the session, connecting the current lineup with musicians whose careers unfolded within the metal tradition Accept helped establish.

Kirk Hammett fits the recording for a historical reason rather than a merely decorative one: Metallica emerged in the same period, when European heavy metal was helping shape the American thrash scene.

Phil Anselmo brings the vocal power associated with Pantera to an Accept standard, placing two distinct metal vocal traditions in the same song. Sheehan brings the bass playing associated with Mr. Big and other projects. Dee brings Motörhead’s full-speed drumming experience.

What arrives before the metal?

The added folk passage is not incidental. Before the guitars crash in, the original uses a scratchy recording of the traditional German song “Ein Heller und ein Batzen.” The device works as a metal fake-out, briefly withholding the expected loud entrance.

Hoffmann decided that this small piece of history deserved a fresh recording. A friend in Bavaria helped arrange a traditional woodwind ensemble (a group of wind players), giving the update an authentic oompah introduction, the rhythmic pulse associated with Bavarian folk music, before the metal begins.

“This song was so much fun,” Wolf Hoffmann said, with evident pleasure at how everything came together.

The new prelude preserves the old joke. It also preserves the sudden leap into volume. Both details make the remake specific rather than generic.

Why does the 1982 track still matter?

The original “Fast As A Shark” appeared on Accept’s 1982 album Restless and Wild. It became a defining recording of early speed metal, a branch of heavy metal marked by unusually fast tempos.

Its relentless double-bass drumming (rapid kick-drum patterns), lightning-fast riffs (repeated chord patterns) and ferocious vocals offered a blueprint that countless heavier bands explored over the following decade.

That history gives the anniversary project a sharper logic than nostalgia alone. The songs did not merely precede those musicians; they helped create the environment in which their careers took shape.

What does the anniversary collection attempt?

Across 19 tracks, Accept invited 50 musicians to revisit songs from their catalogue. Accept’s music helped define German heavy metal and influenced generations of performers worldwide. The project’s central tribute is hearing what other musicians can bring to those songs.

For Hoffmann, who has remained central to Accept’s musical identity, the project offers familiar songs filtered through the experience of musicians whose careers have lasted for decades.

The track’s guest bill resembles a metal festival after a few beers: a Pantera vocalist, a Metallica guitarist, a Motörhead drummer and a Mr. Big bassist on one record. Fortunately, somebody actually made it happen.

The next measure of the project comes across the other 18 reimagined songs: whether their guests sharpen Accept’s writing or merely crowd the originals.