When U.D.O. released the Live From Russia 2 CD set a couple of years ago, although it contained many Accept tracks, most were of the lesser known or rarely performed ones. Responding to the wishes of the fans calling for live versions of "classic" Accept tunes, Udo Dirkschneider and company have released Nailed To Metal - The Missing Tracks. Recorded on the same tour, this single CD set curiously contains live versions of Holy and Raiders Of Beyond, both already on the Live From Russia package and I'm not sure why they were included again here. The band revisits the Holy album again with the track Thunder In The Tower. An interesting version of X.T.C. is included in this package and was originally done on the Eat The Heat album by Accept which featured David Reese on vocals. Aside from the track Hard Attack from Accept's Predator album, the rest are pure Accept classics. The band rips through Metal Heart, Fast As A Shark, Princess Of The Dawn, Restless And Wild and, of course, Balls To The Wall. A drum solo is included as well that is nothing more than filler that really isn't necessary and could've been omitted. The live versions of the Accept songs are pretty solid but without the soaring solos by Wolf Hoffman, especially on Metal Heart, they're lacking compared to the live Accept versions.

This CD is going to be included in the upcoming DVD also called Nailed To Metal which will feature most of the Moscow concert that the Live From Russia package came from as well as videos and a virtual history of U.D.O.. It's great to see the German metalmeister still going strong and also keeping the Accept flame still burning with a large portion of his live set still being made up of Accept songs. The fact that former Accept drummer (and now guitarist) Stefan Kaufmann is still with U.D.O. is great because it keeps the old Accept chemistry still alive. As a stand-alone release, there's already enough live versions of the old classics available already but the DVD package which will also include this CD as well as another with other audio tracks should be a good buy. This release is just for the serious fans........