ACCEPT‘sguitar powerhouse, WOLF HOFFMANN, is set to release his second solo album entitled “Headbangers Symphony”, completely dedicated to the grand classic maestros, on July 1st, 2016 through Nuclear Blast. After the first single, ‘Scherzo’, was released last week, the first album trailer has been launched today, in which Wolf presents details about the creation of the album. Check it out below:
“Headbangers Symphony” Track Listing:
01. Scherzo (L. v. Beethoven)
02. Night On Bald Mountain (M. Mussorgsky)
03. Je Crois Entendre Encore (G. Bizet)
04. Double Cello Concerto in G Minor (A. Vivaldi)
05. Adagio (T. Albinoni)
06. Symphony No. 40 (W. A. Mozart )
07. Swan Lake (P. Tchaikovsky)
08. Madame Butterfly (G. Puccini)
09. Pathétique (L. v. Beethoven)
10. Meditation (J. Massenet)
11. Air On The G String (J. S. Bach)
‘Scherzo’:
Pre-orders for “Headbangers Symphony” are available here.
ACCEPT’sguitar powerhouse, WOLF HOFFMANN, is set to release his second solo album entitled “Headbangers Symphony”, completely dedicated to the grand classic maestros, on July 1st, 2016 through Nuclear Blast. In support of this record, the first single, ‘Scherzo’, has been released. Listen to Wolf‘s interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven‘s composition below:
01. Scherzo (L. v. Beethoven)
02. Night On Bald Mountain (M. Mussorgsky)
03. Je Crois Entendre Encore (G. Bizet)
04. Double Cello Concerto in G Minor (A. Vivaldi)
05. Adagio (T. Albinoni)
06. Symphony No. 40 (W. A. Mozart)
07. Swan Lake (P. Tchaikovsky)
08. Madame Butterfly (G. Puccini)
09. Pathétique (L. v. Beethoven)
10. Meditation (J. Massenet)
11. Air On The G String (J. S. Bach)
Wolf Hoffmann has a passion. His life-long love and dedication to heavy metal music is documented in dozens of albums spanning four decades with his long time heavy metal band ACCEPT. But beyond heavy metal, Wolf has an incessant craving for the classics, yes, the ones written decades and centuries ago.
Classical music has always been an influence – albeit limited – on ACCEPT‘s Teutonic approach to rock and heavy metal. However, it wasn’t until 1997 during a extended hiatus from ACCEPT, that Wolf Hoffmann finally had the chance to fully explore and fulfill this interest by recording his first astounding solo album “Classical”, a record filled with his rock guitar driven interpretations of some of classical music’s most loved compositions.
“I have always incorporated classical music in my songwriting with ACCEPT, especially with »Metal Heart«, but I constantly felt there was so much more that I could do and I did not want to overload ACCEPT or force it in any way. I always knew I could make a whole record of it and that’s how the first record »Classical« was born. Even today, fans tell me that they are still listening to it, that’s why it is so fantastic now to do another one.”
“Headbangers Symphony” is truly a bold statement by a genuine musician who simply refused to rest on his laurels and continues to push and challenge himself.
“I am just so excited about »Headbangers Symphony«. It has taken a long, long time but here we are, it’s done, finally!”Wolf is just bursting with vigor as he talks about his latest labor of love. But why now? “It’s truly coincidental, after we completed the last ACCEPT tour, I finally had the time to finish it. I started this a few years ago. The early recordings have been sitting in my archives in my home studio for years, almost completed. The reality was that with the continued success of ACCEPT, I was only able to work on it when ACCEPT was not recording or touring.”
The prevalent early challenge was to pick the most suitable compositions. This was an exploratory process that only increased Wolf‘s adoration for the classics. “I always listen to classical music, it’s always playing throughout my house. I have a huge collection of classics and as I listen – often at random, I take notes if something truly strikes me. When I notice that this or that could work in a translation to rock or heavy metal, I remember it and I pursue it! This has been going on for a long time!”
There are several reasons for the necessary experimentations that faced Wolf. Most classical compositions were written to be performed by a full orchestra. The fluid timing, those multiple, complex layers and sections that stretched out for lengthy periods, classical music was simply never designed to be played to the rigid beat so prevalent in rock ‘n’ roll.
“Headbangers Symphony” showcases an overabundance of highly skilled improvisations. Wolf took the main pieces, and then wrote riffs that fit them. Lastly, in the grand hard rock tradition, he layered a guitar solo over it. He shaped the sound into a quite adventurous elegance, but the key themes of the originals remained.
The first volume had a focus on the better known pieces; the second – “Headbangers Symphony” – takes a similar approach. “In general, it does follow the same path,” admits Wolf, “but this time I did try to add a couple lesser known compositions. Mostly though, listeners will say, hey, I know that melody… so it’s pretty much the same path as the »Classical« record. It was my desire to record melodies I like and melodies people recognise.”
Now that the album is done, Wolf is proud looking back and is pleased with this true labour of love; something he has wanted to do since the first record “Classical” came out almost 20 years ago. While ACCEPT‘s Peter Baltes added several impressive bass lines, and other notable guest musicians made an appearance as well, the bulk of the work was completed by himself and Italian musician and arranger Melo Mafali.
“There are two major categories,”Wolf elaborates. “First the heavier stuff like Beethoven, the bombastic, full force epics on which you can simply shred along. Of course then there are the ballads, slower compositions that bring out the deeper feelings in each listener.”
The highlights on “Headbangers Symphony” are plentiful and easy to pin point. The album kicks off with ‘Scherzo’ from the well-known ‘9th Symphony’ by Ludwig v. Beethoven. Many listeners might recognise the opening riff from the ACCEPT song ‘Teutonic Terror’. “Back in 2009,”Wolf explains, “when we started working on the songs for the »Blood Of The Nations« album, I played the classical demos to our producer Andy Sneap. He liked that riff a lot and insisted on using it for the album. So we wrote ‘Teutonic Terror’ using this “borrowed” riff.”
Other highlights follow in rapid succession: ‘Night On Bald Mountain’ by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky is a very dramatic dark song on the theme of a witches’ Sabbath, a perfect fit for Wolf‘s “metal treatment”. ‘Symphony No. 40’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be immediately recognisable. “It’s a little more up-tempo, pretty happy, typical for Mozart. Not mean and heavy as most of the other stuff,”Wolf points out. Additional highpoints include Wolf‘s interpretations of such masterworks as Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’, ‘Pathétique’ also from Ludwig v. Beethoven, ‘Méditation’ from the opera “Thais” by French composer Jules Massenet, and of course the aforementioned ‘Madame Butterfly’.
All in all, the eleven compositions on “Headbangers Symphony” paint the perfect portrait of Wolf‘s life-long passion for the classics and his adoration for heavy metal. “I worked so much and so long on this until I felt it was ready. Now it is and I am thrilled and proud. This is my baby, my labor of love, ready for me to set it free.”
Artist: Wolf Hoffmann Album: Headbangers Symphony Label: Nuclear Blast Records Release Date: 2016
Track List:
Scherzo
Night On Bald Mountain
Je Crois Entendre Encore
Double Cello Concerto in G Minor
Adagio
Symphony No. 40
Swan Lake
Madame Butterfly
Pathétique
Meditation
Air On The G String
He released his first solo album, “Classical” in 1997, which I found a treasure chest of musical magic from the first listen. Eleven songs sit next to each other in the chest just like some colourful and shiny jewel stones, each of them with its own unique colour and charm. So it is indeed great to see that Wolf Hoffmann is going to release another solo album, which is entitled reasonably “Headbangers Symphony”. It has eleven songs in its track list too and it is set to be released on 1st July 2016.
Let the classical music rock, ‘Scherzo’ is the first in the line and it is not a “joke” at all. It is a heavy metal adaptation of the very famous second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. ‘Scherzo’ is an extract of music from a larger piece, often in 3/4 time and here comes the challenge, as heavy metal music is usually written in 4/4. This sounds like a victory as Wolf could win the challenge and also he made it back with his second solo album. I know why Mr Hoffmann chose this beautiful piece of art as the first track; this song is as memorable and magnificent as ‘Teutonic Terror’, the riff of which you can easily recognise here. How can I forget that epic moment when ACCEPT came back with the “Blood Of The Nations” album and now Wolf Hoffmann’s ‘Scherzo’ promises one more great restart!
The second track in this album is ‘Night On Bald Mountain’ where maybe Wolf Hoffmann’s sense of humour is limited only to the title, as the music is very serious. I always see colours or sometime even more complex, some pictures or images when I am listening to music. Whilst listening to this track I see images of burning magma upon a high mountain, with a very strong wind. The images continue with some anxiety and anguish type feelings and I suddenly find myself with no limits of time or space, “OMG!” I can see the whole of the human’s history of pain with the eyes wide shut and witches dressed in black are escorting me. It is absolutely a great version of Mussorgsky’s ‘Night On Bare Mountain’ and Wolf was brilliantly successful to connect it to the next song by an invisible bridge, made not by music but by feelings. ‘Les Pêcheurs de Perles’ is indeed one of the most famous and emotional pieces in Western opera by Georges Bizet. Wolf Hoffmann’s adapted version of ‘Act 1’ of this masterpiece, ’Je Crois Entendre Encore’, is like a peaceful dark blue sea under a pale blue sky. While the waves are moving by the soft hands of the wind, I feel like a feather drowning in a limitless ocean of tears and emotions.
Vivaldi’s music has always been a symbol of the harmony of life to me. The next track on “Headbangers Symphony” is ‘Double Cello Concerto In G Minor’, where Wolf delivers a headbanging version of Antonio Vivaldi’s masterpiece, with almost the same name. As I followed and observed ACCEPT’s work precisely, this song must be a special song for Wolf, as they always seem to place the most special song as the fourth track in their track lists, at least on their albums from 2009. The coordination between Wolf Hoffmann’s guitar and other instruments, especially the orchestral ones, is stunning, so much so that I started to think that Mr Hoffmann tried to have a musical discussion here with Mr Vivaldi.
Jimi Hendrix was the first one who could sing with his guitar, Ritchie Blackmore was the next one and Wolf Hoffmann belongs to the next generation and to those where not many can do the same and that is the most necessary skill for playing the next song, named ‘Adagio’. I have always thought that Tomaso Albinoni was a kind of super-human or an alien as I can hardly believe his ‘Adagio in G minor’ is a work of mankind! Indeed, Wolf Hoffmann was successful to create a new version of this masterpiece with his signature of playing the electric guitar and the instrument arrangement. Absolutely loyal to the main theme, but he manages to bring more emotional feelings into it. The peaceful music flows through my mind and with my closed eyes I find myself somewhere far far away from this galaxy.
The sixth track in the list, ‘Symphony No. 40’, is my favourite one and after lots of efforts of searching different dictionaries I still cannot find the words to describe it. This masterpiece is ten times more magnificent than magnificent with indescribable elegance, Wolf Hoffmann created such an uplifting piece of neoclassical metal music. This adaptation of Mozart’s ‘Symphony No.40’ will give a huge amount of joy to both classical music lovers and also metalheads around the world!
No matter if the love between Odette and Siegfried was strong enough to defeat the curse or not, their story is one of the most romantic. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Swan Lake” was and still is indeed an inspiring piece of art for many musicians and perhaps you have heard a few different versions by different artists. Now, luckily we have Wolf Hoffmann who brings us a unique one. The tempo is a little bit higher which makes it more rock and roll style at the beginning, but it will also go further and become a traditional heavy metal piece of music and you can find Wolf’s trademark through the whole song. The next track in the line is another beautiful piece of art, “Madame Butterfly” which is a power ballad adaptation of Italian composer Puccini’s opera of the same name. The emotive electric guitars backed by drums create such a dreamlike and stunning atmosphere from a drama story, of which you will not have heard a version such as this before.
In this album, Beethoven rocks. two head banger heavy metal adaption songs from his symphonies are created by Wolf like three powerful monsters who are ruling this fantastic world. ‘Pathetique’ is the title of the ninth track in “Headbangers Symphony”. Wolf seems to have found a tunnel in time and brought back 27 year old Ludwig to strike the heads and bang them furiously with a new exceptional version of ‘Sonata Pathétique’. Perhaps after some hard rocking and rolling, you may need to give your necks some rest, so here comes ‘Meditation’. It starts with an aura of peacefulness with the piano and electric guitar, so just close your eyes, relax and follow the music to eternity. This adaptation of Jules Massenet’s ‘Méditation (Thaïs)’ is as good as the original one, except that it is an overdriven guitar singing instead of the solo violin.
You may have had those emotional moments when you had to leave a beautiful place or a good friend but you didn’t want to and the last piece evokes that kind of feeling. The final stage of this awesomeness is ‘Air On The G String’ where Johann Sebastian Bach at last joins the party, just to say farewell and close the curtain. Wolf played the guitar perfectly and smoothly which may leave some tears on your eyes. But don’t get too upset, there is always a replay button to press!
It is all about balance, good or bad, black or white, happiness or sadness … this world’s nature demands balance and it is what you can find in Wolf Hoffmann’s second solo album perfectly too. There are soft and mellow songs and there are also energetic and heavy ones, so almost everything your nature needs. “Headbangers Symphony” is not only a wonderful musical album, but it is a healthy food for beautiful souls and minds and it is one of those albums which you want to listen to over and over again.
ACCEPT’s Guitar Powerhouse WOLF HOFFMANN, inspiration and role model for generations of new guitar players – his classical handwriting carved a different niche for ACCEPT since the early music labeling of something called HEAVY METAL – is getting ready to release his 2nd solo album entitled “Headbangers Symphony”, completely dedicated to the grand Classic Maestros, on July 1st, 2016 by Nuclear Blast.
Wolf Hoffmann has a passion. His life-long love and dedication to heavy metal music is documented in dozens of albums spanning four decades with his long time heavy metal band ACCEPT. But beyond heavy metal, Wolf has an incessant craving for the classics, yes, the ones written decades and centuries ago.
Classical music has always been an influence – albeit limited – on ACCEPT‘s Teutonic approach to rock and heavy metal. However, it wasn’t until 1997 during a extended hiatus from ACCEPT, that Wolf Hoffmann finally had the chance to fully explore and fulfill this interest by recording his first astounding solo album “Classical”, a record filled with his rock guitar driven interpretations of some of classical music’s most loved compositions.
“I have always incorporated classical music in my songwriting with ACCEPT, especially with »Metal Heart«, but I constantly felt there was so much more that I could do and I did not want to overload ACCEPT or force it in any way. I always knew I could make a whole record of it and that’s how the first record »Classical« was born. Even today, fans tell me that they are still listening to it, that’s why it is so fantastic now to do another one.”
“Headbangers Symphony” is truly a bold statement by a genuine musician who simply refused to rest on his laurels and continues to push and challenge himself.
“Headbangers Symphony” Track Listing:
01. Scherzo (L. v. Beethoven)
02. Night On Bald Mountain (M. Mussorgsky)
03. Je Crois Entendre Encore (G. Bizet)
04. Double Cello Concerto in G Minor (A. Vivaldi)
05. Adagio (T. Albinoni)
06. Symphony No. 40 (W. A. Mozart )
07. Swan Lake (P. Tchaikovsky)
08. Madame Butterfly (G. Puccini)
09. Pathétique (L. v. Beethoven)
10. Meditation (J. Massenet)
11. Air On The G String (J. S. Bach)
“I am just so excited about »Headbangers Symphony«. It has taken a long, long time but here we are, it’s done, finally!” Wolf is just bursting with vigor as he talks about his latest labor of love. But why now? “It’s truly coincidental, after we completed the last ACCEPT tour, I finally had the time to finish it. I started this a few years ago. The early recordings have been sitting in my archives in my home studio for years, almost completed. The reality was that with the continued success of ACCEPT, I was only able to work on it when ACCEPT was not recording or touring.”
The prevalent early challenge was to pick the most suitable compositions. This was an exploratory process that only increased Wolf‘s adoration for the classics. “I always listen to classical music, it’s always playing throughout my house. I have a huge collection of classics and as I listen – often at random, I take notes if something truly strikes me. When I notice that this or that could work in a translation to rock or heavy metal, I remember it and I pursue it! This has been going on for a long time!”
There are several reasons for the necessary experimentations that faced Wolf. Most classical compositions were written to be performed by a full orchestra. The fluid timing, those multiple, complex layers and sections that stretched out for lengthy periods, classical music was simply never designed to be played to the rigid beat so prevalent in rock ‘n’ roll.
“Headbangers Symphony” showcases an overabundance of highly skilled improvisations. Wolf took the main pieces, and then wrote riffs that fit them. Lastly, in the grand hard rock tradition, he layered a guitar solo over it. He shaped the sound into a quite adventurous elegance, but the key themes of the originals remained.
The first volume had a focus on the better known pieces; the second – “Headbangers Symphony” – takes a similar approach. “In general, it does follow the same path,” admits Wolf, “but this time I did try to add a couple lesser known compositions. Mostly though, listeners will say, hey, I know that melody… so it’s pretty much the same path as the »Classical« record. It was my desire to record melodies I like and melodies people recognise.”
Now that the album is done, Wolf is proud looking back and is pleased with this true labour of love; something he has wanted to do since the first record “Classical” came out almost 20 years ago. While ACCEPT’s Peter Baltes added several impressive bass lines, and other notable guest musicians made an appearance as well, the bulk of the work was completed by himself and Italian musician and arranger Melo Mafali.
“There are two major categories,” Wolf elaborates. “First the heavier stuff like Beethoven, the bombastic, full force epics on which you can simply shred along. Of course then there are the ballads, slower compositions that bring out the deeper feelings in each listener.”
The highlights on “Headbangers Symphony” are plentiful and easy to pin point. The album kicks off with ‘Scherzo’ from the well-known ‘9th Symphony’ by Ludwig v. Beethoven. Many listeners might recognise the opening riff from the ACCEPT song ‘Teutonic Terror’. “Back in 2009,” Wolf explains, “when we started working on the songs for the »Blood Of The Nations« album, I played the classical demos to our producer Andy Sneap. He liked that riff a lot and insisted on using it for the album. So we wrote ‘Teutonic Terror’ using this “borrowed” riff.”
Other highlights follow in rapid succession: ‘Night On Bald Mountain’ by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky is a very dramatic dark song on the theme of a witches’ Sabbath, a perfect fit for Wolf‘s “metal treatment”. ‘Symphony No. 40’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be immediately recognisable. “It’s a little more up-tempo, pretty happy, typical for Mozart. Not mean and heavy as most of the other stuff,” Wolf points out. Additional high points include Wolf‘s interpretations of such masterworks as Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’, ‘Pathétique’ also from Ludwig v. Beethoven, ‘Méditation’ from the opera “Thais” by French composer Jules Massenet, and of course the aforementioned ‘Madame Butterfly’.
All in all, the eleven compositions on »Headbangers Symphony« paint the perfect portrait of Wolf’s life-long passion for the classics and his adoration for heavy metal. “I worked so much and so long on this until I felt it was ready. Now it is and I am thrilled and proud. This is my baby, my labor of love, ready for me to set it free.”
More info: acceptworldwide.com nuclearblast.de/wolfhoffmann
For Canada’s The Metal Voice former singer of Anthrax, Neil Turbin (Deathriders, Bleed the Hunger) talks to guitarist Wolf Hoffmann of ACCEPT at NAMM 2016 in Anaheim, California. Wolf showcases his Framus guitar line, talks Balls to the Wall guitar tone and new Accept album.
When asked about his relationship with Framus
“I have played V guitars all my life and by accident or by chance I met Hans-Peter Wilfer from Framus, we were just talking we were having a party at my house at the pool actually. And I said Hans-Peter if you want to really make me a guitar make me a V shaped guitar, he thought about it for a little while and he said. I can do it and that was about three years ago and it turned out better than anything I ever played.”
When asked about recording with Dieter Dirks
“We were lucky enough to actually work with Dieter Dirks during Metal Heart and he was just a very knowledgeable guy who taught us a lot. We learned a lot working from him it was great. Those were the days when albums were done with everybody together for three, four weeks in the studio and studio time was very expensive. Everything had to be done in 4 weeks no matter what because your money and your budget was running out.”
When asked about the bands influences in the early days
“We liked Judas Priest, we copied Judas Priest a lot. We always wanted to sound like a mix between Judas Priest, AC-DC and Deep Purple those were the three ingredients in our sound.”
When asked about the Balls to the Wall guitar tone
“Everyone always asks about that tone but there really wasn’t anything special. It was just old Marshall and a bunch of pedals. It’s that riff that has that tone.”
When asked if there was defining moments when they knew they had success
“It was such a gradual thing over such a long time. There was never the one show. It was not like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. It was a slow gradual build. But I can tell you coming to the United States in ’84 that was a huge step in out career. It wasn’t a single show but it was a singer year. Balls to the Wall was coming out and we started touring the US opening for KISS, big arenas every night. For us coming from Germany it was amazing.”
When asked what the next steps for Accept
We are going to take some time off from touring and work on the new album, it will hopefully be ready next year. Last week Peter and I came up with the first couple of riffs.This year something will happen, something will have to be recorded.”
ACCEPT legends Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes will be appearing at The NAMM Show again this year, which they announced via their official website . The show takes place from 21st-24th January at the Anaheim Convention Centre in California. Check out the details of where Wolf and Peter will be during the exhibition below:
