Review By Martin Curtis Arrangement By Alison Booth
Heavy metal giants ACCEPT recently performed at Wacken Open Air’s “Night To Remember” in front of 85,000+ fans. One of the crowd was long time English ACCEPT fan Martin Curtis, who kindly reviewed the show for us at Metal Shock Finland:
As a festival, Wacken is second to none. One of the reasons for going is because the organisers have an innate ability to make shows special, so that you feel privileged to have been there. In recent years, I have seen them do this with Doro and with Saxon, but this year’s Accept show was arguably the best yet.
Accept are a band that are on an absolute high at the moment – and I am old enough to remember the Udo years. Their song writing is first class, Mark Tornillo is a vocalist with a great sound and immense energy and Wolf Hoffmann is a legend who seems to be enjoying himself more than ever. It is true that you get that combination from any show, but throw in an orchestrated set and the pleasure of seeing Wolf playing stuff from his excellent classical albums and you get some thing to be relished, all made better by that very special Wacken crowd that were lapping up every minute.
Afterwards, there was talk that the classical set was too long, or that the orchestrated set lost a bit of excitement; I disagree but, anyway, who cares?
I could write a track by track, minute by minute analysis, but that is not my style. Anyway, that is not what I will remember. My lasting memory will be of seeing a unique set by a band that are on an absolute high and at one of the world’s great festivals.
Today, heavy metal pioneers ACCEPT proudly announce that their brand-new studio album “The Rise Of Chaos”(released on August 4th, 2017)entered the charts in various parts of the world!
Here are the first results:
Germany: #3
Switzerland: #4
Finland: #5
Czech Republic: #5
Sweden: #10 (Hard Rock #1, Vinyl #1, Physical: #2)
Austria: #13
Poland: #26
Belgium: #31 (Wallonia #25, Flanders #36)
France: #40
Japan #54 (International #7)
Canada: #103 (#2 Hard Music, #24 Current Albums, #27 Top Albums)
UK: #105 (#4 Rock, #5 Indie)
USA: #140 (#3 Hard Music, #11 Rock, #27 Top Currents)
Netherlands: #177
In celebration of this release, the band played an impressive show at Wacken Open Air in front of 85,000+ fans on the evening before the release, where some songs were also performed with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. To show the fans who couldn’t be there, how massive this show was, ACCEPT recently launched the album’s opening track, ‘Die By The Sword’, from the mentioned show over on YouTube. Check it out, here:
“The Rise Of Chaos” – Track Listing:
01. Die By The Sword
02. Hole In The Head
03. The Rise Of Chaos
04. Koolaid
05. No Regrets
06. Analog Man
07. What’s Done Is Done
08. Worlds Colliding
09. Carry The Weight
10. Race To Extinction
The cover artwork of the new record was created by the Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák.
ACCEPT live:
2017
07.09. USA Beverly Hills, CA – Saban Theatre
10.09. J Fukuoka – Drum Logos
12.09. J Osaka – Umeda Club Quattro
13.09. J Nagoya – Bottom Line
14.09. J Tokyo – Nakano Sun Plaza Hall
17.09. AUS Melbourne – 170 Russell
26.09. USA New York, NY – Irving Plaza
28.09. USA Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
29.09. USA Saint Charles, IL – The Arcada
30.09. USA Pasadena, CA – The Rose
15.11. BR Florianópolis – Teatro Ademir Rosa
17.11. RA Buenos Aires – El Teatro Flores
19.11. ROU Montevideo – Sala del Museo
21.11. RCH Santiago – Teatro Cariola
23.11. PY Asuncion – Sala Garcia Lorca de la Manzana de la Rivera
25.11. CO Bogota – Festival del Diablo III
27.11. CR San Jose – Peppers
German Dates presented by:
Rock Hard, Rocks, Rock It!, musix, Start, Piranha, metal.de & Wacken Radio
2018
12.01. D Hamburg – Mehr! Theater
13.01. D Filderstadt – Filharmonie
14.01. D Munich – TonHalle
16.01. D Leipzig – Haus Auensee
17.01. D Berlin – Huxleys
19.01. D Geiselwind – Eventzentrum
20.01. CZ Zlín – Hala Euronics
21.01. H Budapest – Barba Negra
23.01. I Milan – Live Music Club
24.01. CH Zurich – Komplex 457
26.01. E Barcelona – Sala Razzmatazz
27.01. E Madrid – La Riviera
28.01. E Bilbao – Santana 27
30.01. F Saint-Étienne – Le FIL
01.02. F Lille – L’Aéronef
02.02. D Saarbrücken – Garage
03.02. CH Lausanne – Les Docks
04.02. D Frankfurt – Batschkapp
06.02. NL Eindhoven – Effenaar
07.02. B Antwerp – Trix
08.02. UK London – Koko
09.02. D Oberhausen – Turbinenhalle
11.02. DK Copenhagen – Vega
12.02. N Oslo – Rockefeller
14.02. S Gothenburg – Trädgår’n
15.02. S Stockholm – Cruise
17.02. FIN Turku – Logomo
18.02. FIN Helsinki – The Circus
Heavy metal pioneers ACCEPT unleashed their brand-new studio album “The Rise Of Chaos”, last week. (4th August). In celebration of this release, the band played an impressive show at Wacken Open Air in front of 85,000+ fans on the evening before, where some songs were also performed with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. To show the fans who couldn’t be there, how massive this show was, ACCEPT have launched the album’s opening track, ‘Die By The Sword’, from the mentioned show over on YouTube. Check it out, here:
01. Die By The Sword
02. Hole In The Head
03. The Rise Of Chaos
04. Koolaid
05. No Regrets
06. Analog Man
07. What’s Done Is Done
08. Worlds Colliding
09. Carry The Weight
10. Race To Extinction
The cover artwork of the new record was created by the Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák.
ACCEPT live:
07.09. USA Beverly Hills, CA – Saban Theatre
10.09. J Fukuoka – Drum Logos
12.09. J Osaka – Umeda Club Quattro
13.09. J Nagoya – Bottom Line
14.09. J Tokyo – Nakano Sun Plaza Hall
17.09. AUS Melbourne – 170 Russell
26.09. USA New York, NY – Irving Plaza
28.09. USA Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
29.09. USA Saint Charles, IL – The Arcada
30.09. USA Pasadena, CA – The Rose
15.11. BR Florianópolis – Teatro Ademir Rosa
17.11. RA Buenos Aires – El Teatro Flores
19.11. ROU Montevideo – Sala del Museo
21.11. RCH Santiago – Teatro Cariola
23.11. PY Asuncion – Sala Garcia Lorca de la Manzana de la Rivera
25.11. CO Bogota – Festival del Diablo III
27.11. CR San Jose – Peppers
German Dates presented by:
Rock Hard, Rocks, Rock It!, musix, Start, Piranha, metal.de & Wacken Radio
12.01. D Hamburg – Mehr! Theater
13.01. D Filderstadt – Filharmonie
14.01. D Munich – TonHalle
16.01. D Leipzig – Haus Auensee
17.01. D Berlin – Huxleys
19.01. D Geiselwind – Eventzentrum
20.01. CZ Zlín – Hala Euronics
21.01. H Budapest – Barba Negra
23.01. I Milan – Live Music Club
24.01. CH Zurich – Komplex 457
26.01. E Barcelona – Sala Razzmatazz
27.01. E Madrid – La Riviera
28.01. E Bilbao – Santana 27
30.01. F Saint-Étienne – Le FIL
01.02. F Lille – L’Aéronef
02.02. D Saarbrücken – Garage
03.02. CH Lausanne – Les Docks
04.02. D Frankfurt – Batschkapp
06.02. NL Eindhoven – Effenaar
07.02. B Antwerp – Trix
08.02. UK London – Koko
09.02. D Oberhausen – Turbinenhalle
11.02. DK Copenhagen – Vega
12.02. N Oslo – Rockefeller
14.02. S Gothenburg – Trädgår’n
15.02. S Stockholm – Cruise
17.02. FIN Turku – Logomo
18.02. FIN Helsinki – The Circus
Heavy metal pioneers ACCEPT will celebrate their newest album’s live premiere exclusively tomorrow at Wacken Open Air, “Night To Remember” which makes it very special. Our Mohsen Stargazer Fayazi had an interview with the legendary Wolf Hoffmann, they talked about “The Rise Of Chaos”, Wacken, his plan for retirement and much more.
I’d like to compare you with Jimi Hendrix, or better say you are the Jimi Hendrix of Heavy Metal.
W: (Laughs) I never thought of myself that way, it’s only one Jimi Hendrix. But Thank you very much!
I’d like to know your opinion on your guitaring skills and if you have any methods?
W: “I don’t think I really have a method – it really comes as second nature to me at this point in life. I guess I’ve been playing for so long and writing songs for so many years, it’s nothing I actively think about much any more. For me, the challenge is always to come up with something that I find exciting and if I find it exciting, then hopefully other people would too. You know, after you’ve written hundreds of songs in your life, of course it doesn’t get easier to come up with something that’s totally typical, but at the same time something new that you find yourself exciting.
So that’s why it sometimes takes many weeks and months to write these songs. In this case it took us the better part of last year, Peter and I were sitting there for months at a time.”
How does a song come together?
W: “It’s a little different each time. The Rise Of Chaos for instance for the longest time was just an empty riff song. It was just really almost like a jam session with a bunch of riffs and I had this just sitting there for a long, long time never really knowing what to do with it and I tried several other approaches. First of all where to sing and what to sing. And finally we came up with that line The Rise Of Chaos and it seemed to fit the spirit of these riffs, because they’re all very wild and a bit crazy in parts.
So The Rise Of Chaos was something that grabbed our attention. Other times it’s hook lines, like we’re talking about with Analog Man. It’s a saying that’s been around the band for years ’cause Mark has always been bitching about technology when things go wrong. He’s always been saying ‘I’m an analog man trapped in a digital world’, so we thought ‘wow that’s cool, we should just write a song’. So, with that in mind you sit there and think how you can sing that, what’s a good phrasing, what’s a good tempo, what’s a good riff to go with it.
But most of the time it’s the music first, where you have some sort of riffing and some groove and a drum beat. And you find that exciting and then you start thinking what to sing on that, ’cause it goes hand in hand. One without the other doesn’t help at all.”
How was working with Andy Sneap again?
W: “Oh it’s great! He’s like an old brother, he’s part of the team at this point. We didn’t really want to change any of that because we knew it works. We really wanted to concentrate on the songs and the material and not on any of the peripherals.”
Indeed on The Rise Of Chaos you were loyal to the ACCEPT traditional metal style, but I can say that you made it a little different this time with some elements – it’s more melodic, especially in the riffs and solos and song structures.
W: “It really just so happens. You can never go out and say to yourself ‘ok I want to make an album that’s 20% different and 30% the same’, it just doesn’t work that way. You just write the best songs you can and they shape up in a certain way. It just takes on a life of its own and leads you to do different things, until one day you arrive at something that you like. And you do that many times over until you have a complete album.
It’s only now the album is finished and people hear it with fresh ears and they’re telling me it’s this or that and I always have to say ‘ok I have to take it for what it is’, it wasn’t planned that way.”
Since 2010 when you returned to the business, it’s obvious that your lyrics are now more adult, more serious and more about the world today in a direct manner unlike the days of ‘Fast as a Shark’.
W: “It’s usually Peter and myself together exchanging ideas, demo stuff. It can be quite funny sometimes (laughs). Sooner or later we’re looking at lyrical content and what inspires us. We have a cheat sheet of many hook lines and ideas and we go through that and see what’s best.
Those are usually based on stuff we find interesting that comes up in conversation and stuff we see on the news. We’re not doing fantasy because we have no interest in fantasy. Actual events or occurences right now.”
So let’s talk about the lyrics….
“Mark writes the lyrics, Peter and I usually just have a title or a hook line then we say ‘we’ve got a song called The Rise Of Chaos, here it is Mark. Write whatever comes to mind, whatever it means to you.’ I’m not involved in the actual writing and meaning of the lyrics that much.”
So let’s talk about the ‘Night to Remember’ at Wacken – are you excited about it?
W: “Very excited – this is the first time we’re gonna be onstage with an orchestra, it’s gonna be crazy.
It’s the first time that I’m gonna play songs from my solo album Headbangers Symphony. And it’s the first time you’re ever gonna hear Accept songs that you’ve heard before, but they’re gonna be completely differently arranged for the orchestra. I think it’s gonna sound killer.”
Accept seems to be built to create flames on stage and I know very well that you love to be on it, so can you tell me what is magical about it and if you have particular memories?
W: “It’s just something that’s unlike anything else in life. Just being out there in front of people and just playing songs and everyone reacting to them. It’s an unforgetting feeling, it’s almost like a drug – once you’ve had it, you want it again and again and more of it, it’s crazy man. I don’t know that there’s anything else in life that compares to it, at least I haven’t found it.
It’s an amazing feeling to start a riff and everybody recognises it and arms are flying in the air, people are singing along – it’s goosebump material right there. It’s just an amazing feeling.
I’m not interested in perfection, I’m just trying to get there and realising that nothing ever can be perfect, you take it for what it is. It’s why people like live shows – we’re not trying to have the kind of show where everything is choreographed and scripted and everything runs off a laptop, because there are performers nowadays where everything is basically run by a computer and they’re just lip synching along and moving to a scripted show. Not so much in metal. I think metal is something that’s made by humans and humans have their own characteristics and they perform slightly different every night – that’s why not every show is 100% the same.”
My next question might sound a bit silly, but it’s something that concerns me – do you think about retirement?
W: “No – because I’ve been retired already. I came out of retirement to start this whole thing again. I know what retirement is like and this is much more exciting, why would I look forward to retirement? (laughs)”
I would like to know what is the most interesting thing about heavy metal for you?
W: “It’s the fan connection I believe. It’s a very unique metal thing, where you have such a strong (or we as metal bands) loyal followers.In our case, they’ve been following us for years and years, decades really. I think it’s something quite unusual in the music world, where a lot of times it’s here today and gone tomorrow. The metal community is so loyal and so long term and this is something quite unique. I’m very aware of it and I think it’s fantastic.
It’s such a gratifying feeling to see that fans are listening to albums or songs we wrote thirty or forty years ago. If we make an album today, The Rise Of Chaos, who knows, it might be around twenty or thirty years from now, people might still be listening to it.
That’s why we have such a respect for what we do and for the fans, because it’s got such a long staying power. So we wanna be super careful not to release something that won’t stand the test of time.”
Heavy metal pioneers ACCEPT are back in the game with a new studio album! The record entitled “The Rise Of Chaos” (out this Friday on August 4th) will be the band’s 4th studio release through Nuclear Blast and continues the tradition of its three predecessors – »Blood Of The Nations«, »Stalingrad«, and »Blind Rage« – with grandeur and precision.
Tomorrow 3rd August, ACCEPT will celebrate the album’s live premiere exclusively with a special show at Wacken Open Air, Germany. The set will consist of three parts and can be seen worldwide on a live stream from 20.00 – 22.00 CEST here: http://stream.wacken.com/
Part one will bring fans a classic ACCEPT set, packed with new and old hits. Part two will present another premiere: Wolf Hoffmann will be playing tracks from his solo album »Headbangers Symphony« for the very first time. On this record, Wolf has covered famous opuses by composers such as Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Mozart, in a metal guise. And in Part three, all elements can be seen and heard together: ACCEPT will make the holy Wacken ground shake by sharing the stage with the orchestra, supported by a complex multimedia show.
This unique concert experience will take place on this year’s »Night To Remember« which makes it even more special. The »Night To Remember« is a celebrated, long-lasting Wackentradition; for one night of the festival a selection of established bands will do something unique and special with their performance.
Wolf Hoffmann stated: “It’s always impressive to see how bands take this evening seriously and how much love the artists and the organising team put into their work to get a varied result. It’s a great tradition which underlines and documents the top-notch level of the international rock community like nothing else. We also want to present something that ACCEPT has never done before, we hope we can give something really special to the fans.”
“ACCEPT have been and are still a very important part of Germany’s heavy metal scene. We’re really looking forward to having them with us once more. With this epic concept, the Thursday evening will be one to remember for sure,” stated Thomas Jensen, organiser of Wacken Open Air.
Today, ACCEPT also reveal their second track-by-track trailer, in which Wolf Hoffmann talks about the songs ‘Koolaid’, ‘No Regrets’ and ‘Analog Man’. Watch it here:
Recently, the band has released their second digital single ‘Koolaid’, off their new album »The Rise Of Chaos«. Check out the lyric video for the track, here: https://youtu.be/5XqlQWaqFKY
Wolf states: “‘Koolaid’ is a well known flavored drink and has been mixed with Cyanid by a cult leader who made his congregation drink it: men, women & children. Everybody to get to heaven. Since then, the phrase ”drinking the Kool-Aid” is referring to a person or group holding an unquestioned belief, argument, or philosophy without critical examination. That common fact, that people believe everything, when sold right, has intrigued me all my life. For me, being critical and alert all the time, is the key to every decision one makes. That is the main message!”
“»The Rise Of Chaos« is something I have been thinking about often. Wherever we go – there is some hidden as well as some visible destruction and it kind of changes the world we know. What was there today – can be gone tomorrow and it’s somehow irritating, because it happens on so many levels and no one knows what comes next. The cover portrays our last stage set-up – but now clearly “destroyed” – like… after a catastrophe”, explains Wolf Hoffmann.
Below is the track list for »The Rise Of Chaos«: 01. Die By The Sword 02. Hole In The Head 03. The Rise Of Chaos 04. Koolaid 05. No Regrets 06. Analog Man 07. What’s Done Is Done 08. Worlds Colliding 09. Carry The Weight 10. Race To Extinction
The cover artwork of the new record was created by the Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák.
ACCEPT Live:
German Dates presented by Rock Hard, Rocks, Rock it, Musix, Start, Piranha, Metal.de & Wacken Radio:
12.01.18 DE Hamburg – Mehr! Theater
13.01.18 DE Filderstadt – Filharmonie
14.01.18 DE Munich – TonHalle
16.01.18 DE Leipzig – Haus Auensee
17.01.18 DE Berlin – Huxleys
19.01.18 DE Geiselwind – Eventzentrum
20.01.18 CZ Zlín – Euronics
21.01.18 HU Budapest – Barba Negra
23.01.18 IT Milano – Live Music Club
24.01.18 CH Zurich – Komplex 457
26.01.18 ES Barcelona – Sala Razzmatazz
27.01.18 ES Madrid – La Riviera
28.01.18 ES Bilbao – Santana 27
30.01.18 FR Saint-Étienne – Le FIL
01.02.18 FR Lille – L’Aéronef
02.02.18 DE Saarbrücken – Garage
03.02.18 CH Lausanne – Les Docks
04.02.18 DE Frankfurt – Batschkapp
06.02.18 NL Eindhoven – Effenaar
07.02.18 BE Antwerpen – Trix
08.02.18 UK London – Koko
09.02.18 DE Oberhausen – Turbinenhalle
11.02.18 DK Copenhagen – Vega
12.02.18 NO Oslo – Rockefeller
14.02.18 SE Gothenburg – Trädgår’n
15.02.18 SE Stockholm – Cruise
17.02.18 FI Turku – Logomo
18.02.18 FI Helsinki – The Circus
Heavy metal pioneers ACCEPT are back in the game with a new studio album! The record entitled “The Rise Of Chaos”, will be unleashed on August 4th, 2017! This will be the band’s 4th studio release through Nuclear Blast and continues the tradition of its three predecessors – »Blood Of The Nations«, »Stalingrad«, and »Blind Rage« – with grandeur and precision.
Today, ACCEPT reveal their first track-by-track trailer, in which Wolf Hoffmann talks about the songs ‘Die By The Sword’, ‘Hole In The Head’ and ‘The Rise Of Chaos’. Watch it here:
“»The Rise Of Chaos« is something I have been thinking about often. Wherever we go – there is some hidden as well as some visible destruction and it kind of changes the world we know. What was there today – can be gone tomorrow and it’s somehow irritating, because it happens on so many levels and no one knows what comes next. The cover portrays our last stage set-up – but now clearly “destroyed” – like… after a catastrophe”, explains Wolf Hoffmann.
