THE METAL HEART BEATS ONCE AGAIN
For anyone that has not yet discovered the “new” Accept you
are seriously missing out!! Maybe you
were unaware that they were back or you by-passed the disc thinking it was just
another lack-lustre offering from a band struggling to regain their days of
glory. Pay attention!!
Long time band members, Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes along
with Herman Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann have recruited the talents of Mark
Tornillo (formerly of T.T. Quick) to step into vocal duties left vacant by Udo
Dirkschneider. They unleashed
Blood
of the Nations in 2010, their first recording of new material in fourteen
years, to an incredibly positive reception from critics and fans the world
over. Andy Sneap (having worked
previously with bands like Megadeth, Arch Enemy, Testament and Onslaught) was
at the helm for this reformed incarnation’s premiere work of art, steering them
to their highest charting album to date.
In Canada
Blood of the Nations debuted at #53 on the Nielsen Soundscan Top Hard Albums
chart.
Stalingrad, again with Andy
Sneap, dropped in April 2012 and is not so much of a new album, but more of a
direct continuation of
Blood of the Nations and certainly a worthy follow-up.
Stalingrad debuted at #81 on the US Billboard Top 200. The much anticipated North American Teutonic
Terror Attack Tour with fellow German metalheads, Kreator sees the iconic
Germans on the continent for 23 dates between September 5
th and
October 4
th!! And then two
weeks later they return to Europe for another 18 shows in 27 days and then to
Japan
for three straight nights!
I was able to catch their performance at The Phoenix Concert
Theatre in
Toronto
(one of only three Canadian dates on the roster) on September 12
th,
2012. As the tour is entitled "Teutonic Terror Attack 2012" and Accept has a tune from the
Blood of the Nations CD called
Teutonic Terror anyone would think and expect that they would be the headliner on this show. As a rabid Accept fan, mere words cannot begin to express my disappointment when I strolled into the club and as I surrendered my ticket I could hear Accept's
Hellfire playing. "Don't worry," I said to my buddys, "it must be a recording of pre-show tunes. There's no way they'd be on stage at 8:30pm!" How wrong I was! It was indeed my German heroes on stage so early! Holy crap, as the headliner they shouldn't be on stage until at least 10pm, are they on German time here? I left my buddys in the crowd, forewent the beer purchase and wormed my way to within one person away from Wolf Hoffman's side of the stage. In talking to the guy next to me I was able to determine that I had not missed much as
Hellfire from the
Stalingrad CD was the second tune. We had only missed
Hung, Drawn & Quartered! The classic
Restless and Wild was next up to the delight of the crowd, the sweat already beginning to roll off Hoffman's shaven head. "Write a letter, you'll feel better" claims
Losers and Winners from the iconic
Balls to the Wall record. Mark announced that they'd like to do a couple from the latest CD as the opening notes of
Stalingrad rang out, followed by
Shadow Soldiers. They sounded tight and you could tell that Peter (Baltes), Mark (Tornillo) and Wolf were having a great time as they pounded through my personal favourite track off of the
Blood of the Nations CD in
Pandemic. A deep cut from 1981's
Breaker found them launching into the title track from that record and then into another newer song with
Bucket Full of Hate. The boys looked happy to be on stage, especially guitarist Wolf Hoffman. His broad smiles and facial expressions enticed everyone in the crowd into loud cheers as he started the familiar opening riff to
Princess of the Dawn. From some angles he even resembled Bruce Willis as the familiar blue glow from dozens of cameras and cell phones spotted the audience.
Up To the Limit off the
Metal Heart CD was a bit of a pleasant surprise.
Teutonic Terror brought a surge from the crowd as they chanted along, making axe chopping motions to coincide with the line from the chorus. The
Metal Heart pounded in next and during the guitar solo, in the bask of the greenish stage lighting, Wolf almost looked a little like Golum from
Lord of the Rings as he bent low to the stage, staring out into the audience. The "Hidey-hi-ho" intro warned that the almost thrash number
Fast as a Shark would be next. Perhaps their best known song,
Balls to the Wall brought cheers and a sing-along from the Phoenix Concert Theatre attendees, but alas it would signify the end of Accept's set as they thanked the crowd and moved off the stage without returning for an encore.
Although new singer Mark Tornillo's raspy tones easily handle the classic Accept compositions and he does not sound all that far removed from Udo Dirkschneider, I was extremely disappointed in the misleading tour name and still long to see my German heroes in the full on headlining concert that they deserve.
Accept has managed to stay true to their roots while at the
same time re-inventing themselves with these two newest releases and I highly
recommend you give them a listen, especially Blood of the Nations!
While Accept is rejuvenated and soldiering forward, having
some of the best success of their career, former front man Udo Dirkschneider,
co-incidentally born on the same day as the release of
Stalingrad,
April 6
th, is continuing to enjoy a productive solo career.
Udo is fresh off a headlining performance at Wacken Music
Fest in Germany (which was broadcast as a livestream on Thursday August 2nd)
and has recently released his fourteenth CD entitled Celebrator on May 4th,
2012 with DVD/CD package Live in Sofia due out September 28th,
2012.
Cheers,
The Meister
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