Accept have had an interesting career, to say the least. Since their formation in the early Seventies, they have been at the forefront of German metal, although many felt that they had reached their peak with ‘Balls To The Wall’ in 1983. When they stopped after 1996’s ‘Predator’ no-one ever expected them to come back again, yet 2010 saw guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and bassist Peter Baltes with a new line-up, which featured American singer Mark Tornillo (TT Quick), and new album ‘Blood Of The Nations’ which got to #4 in their home country. 2012’s ‘Stalingrad’ saw similar success, while 2014’s ‘Blind Rage’ got them their first ever #1 in Germany, quite an achievement for a band who released their debut back in 1979.
2015 saw them headlining the Bang Your Head! Festival, with new guys Christopher Williams (drums) and Uwe Lulis (guitar) playing their first Accept gigs in Germany, so no pressure there then. This has now been made available on CD and DVD, the first live release since the band reformed. Perhaps not surprisingly, they concentrate primarily on the three most recent albums, although there is the odd nod to the past (the crowd start cheering as soon as they hear the opening riffs to “Balls To The Wall”). In many ways, I have always thought of Accept as being a Teutonic version of AC/DC, in that they never provide any surprises and instead just keep pounding through, doing what they are so very good at, namely hard rock with riffs and melody. No fickles of fashion for these guys, they have been doing this for more than forty years now and when you go to an Accept show then you know what to expect, and they will always deliver.
Certain bands discover what they’re good at early in their career and never see a reason to change, and Accept are one of these. If you like Accept you’ll love this, but if you’re looking for something a bit different to the norm then you’ll need to go elsewhere. After all, this is a German metal band, crunching it out in front of a German audience after their last album went to #1: it really is a celebration.
