After a very effective opening set from legendary nwobhm act RAVEN, ACCEPT stormed the stage blasting out the opening number from their latest CD "Blind Rage". This wasn't no oldies show metal brothers and sisters. Since regrouping after the exit of iconic frontman Udo Dirkschneider a few years ago with new vocalist NYC boy/ex-TT QUICK singer Mark Tornillo, guitarist and steward of the ACCEPT legacy Wolf Hoffman and his crew have released three stellar albums and raised hell all over the world. The classic ACCEPT sound was on brutally glorious display last night. The awesome mix of metallic operatic pomp and a vicious guitar assault is what makes ACCEPT the quintessential German metal band.
Almost half the set was from those more recent albums and the material - especially the brutal "Teutonic Terror" and WWII epic "Stalingrad" are every inch up to the quality of the classics like 'Losers And Winners". The band were in fantastic form and the sold out show's enthusiastic audience were very receptive to the newer songs.
Guitarist Wolf Hoffman, with his heavy metal Bruce Willis look stole the show with an awesome mix of shameless mugging, synchronized headbanging and one gloriously OTT ham stage move after another. Tornillo is a great frontman with a raspy but rafter shaking roar and is almost as big a metal hambone as Wolf. A quick note about Wolf. A brilliant guitarist schooled in the classic Ritchie Blackmore/Michael Schenker tradition, he's always been criminally underrated. He was on fire tonight blending speedy fret runs with fiery solos and handling those epic Wagnerian riffs with style.
If ACCEPT hit your town - go see 'em!
ACCEPT set list:
Stampede/Stalingrad/Hellfire/200 years/Losers And Winners/London Leatherboys/Starlight/Dying Breed/Final Journey/Shadow Soldiers/From The Ashes We Rise/Restless And Wild/Ahead Of The Pack/No Shelter/Princess Of The Dawn/Dark Side Of My Heart/Pandemic/Fast As A Shark. Encores: Metal Heart/Teutonic Terror/Balls To The Wall
RAVEN set list: Take Control/Live At The Inferno/All For One/Hard Ride/Rock Until You Drop/Guitar Solo-Stay Hard/Speed Of The Reflex/Run Silent Run Deep/Mind Over Metal/Firepower/On And On