German metal veterans Accept just blew threw the Windy
City and as expected, they left a serious wreckage in their wake.
Accept are a
band that were sorely missed on the metal scene and as the saying goes
"don't know what you've got, 'til it's gone". But thankfully Wolf
Hoffmann and his cohorts decided to pick things up again in 2010 and
released undoubtedly the comeback album of the year, if not the decade,
"Blood Of The Nations". This year, they're back with the equally
powerful "Stalingrad". To see Accept in action, is to see what the
definition of true metal is. The band poured through a set that included such
classics as "Losers and Winners", "Restless and Wild",
"Fast as a SharK" and of course arguably their trademark track "Balls
to the Wall" but their newer tracks stood out just as much. Songs like
"Hellfire" and "The Galley" from "Stalingrad" as
well as "Pandemic" and "Teutonic Terror" from "Blood
of the Nations", indeed show that the band have not lost one step through
their brief hiatus, much less over the last thirty plus years. It's amazing
that a band can still write, perform and maintain the same level of quality and
consistency as they did decades ago.
One
perfect example of Accept's professionalism came when, about an hour into their
set during "Up to the Limit", the stage lights lost power and went
completely black. Mind you, most bands would have stopped the show until it was
figured out what had happened. Accept did not miss one note, did not stop the
show for one second. Guitarist Hoffmann and vocalist Mark Tornillo did indeed
look at each other with puzzled faces but still remained in stride continuing
on with the title track from 1985's "Metal Heart". Stage lighting was
finally restored for the encores of "Fast as a Shark" and "Balls
to the Wall" but honestly, band and fans alike hardly even noticed the
distraction of the lights coming back on. It was indeed full metal onward!
The
only bad part of seeing Accept live, is the long wait seeing them return!
Accept
are currently on the road in North America through mid October with fellow
German veterans Kreator, in a skull crushing coheadlining package that also
includes Finnish doom metallers Swallow The Sun.
