» Accept 2012 11 04 |
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WolfIt's a tough and serious task warming up for renowned heavy metal veterans like Accept and likes. Sweden's own Wolf was getting this one off spot for tonight's show. Pretty well known in their native country, but they have never got that breakthrough and still after six full length releases, they lurk somewhere in the deep waters of semi-fame, heavy metal wise speaking that would be, because we all are familiar with that hardly no one outside our limited bounds of music have got one single clue about what bands we dig or who these persons are. With only one original member still in the band, they chose to play a set only including songs off their three latest releases and to me that's near sacrilege. I'm aware of their intentions to be something of a band in new clothes and I also fully understand that they want to perform their newer songs as well, but to me their self titled debut is still their best work thus far. With an age limit at 18, the main part of tonight's audience in Stockholm
are here for the main band only and during the first half of the set,
Wolf receives a lame response, topped with a poor sing-a-long in tonight's
lamest song, Voodoo. When they speed things up with Steelwinged Savage
Reaper, Skull Crusher and the heavy riff based The Bite, the crowd gets
going though and the last twenty minutes turn out to be a pleasant moment.
A decent set from a decent band earns 5 chalices. Performance: 5 chalices
of 10 Setlist: Accept9.15 P.M. and the lights go down in a packed and sold out Göta Källare, located on the island Södermalm in the south central parts of Stockholm. Still promoting their latest release, Stalingrad, they open their set with two new tracks in the speed monster Hung Drawn And Quartered and the heavier Hellfire. Accept's statement for tonight and for the whole world tour is that they never will rely solely on their classics. A total of eight songs played from their two latest albums is given proof any day of the week. Guitarist Herman Frank is wearing a cap, pulled down to cover half his face and even if he is given a solo or two, like in Losers + Winners, he clearly functions as the second guitarplayer. The man behind the drum kit, Stefan Schwarzmann, plays the songs with empathy and passion. He have had better days, but also worse. Lead vocalist Mark Tornillo also wears a cap and initially a leather vest as well, but due to the heat inside the venue he loses it ten minutes into the set and later asks, in a sarcastic way, if somebody could turn up the heat. Mark is doing a near flawless job behind the mic, but also lacks a bit of charisma and his position in the band is very clear behind the two main men. Main man number one, guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, is still that happy face he has been on stage ever since Accept's comeback or reunion a few years back. A great guitarplayer with his fantastic solos and his way of interacting with his audiences. Main man number two, bassplayer Peter Baltes, wears a headband making his curly hair look even bigger than it actually is and makes me think of late eighties hair bands. All through the show, new songs are mixed with their older stuff. All classics, but Up To The Limit, receive great response from the crowd. The new songs, like Bucket Full Of Hate with its heavy riffs, are very welcome into the set. Perhaps I shouldn't mention just one song and heavy riffs, because during these near two hours, we all get a lesson in metal riffs. After a blistering start and somewhere in the middle of the set, Shadow Soldiers and Neon Nights, with Hoffmann's extended intro, are perfectly fitted for everyone to take a couple of deep breaths and breathe that hot venue air in, before they launch Bulletproof, now including a drum / bass / guitar jam, off their Objection Overruled album. A song that divides the crowd into two camps, as it goes down well with about half of the people on the floor. Aiming High from Russian Roulette follows and with this song Tornillo shouts his lungs out with very loud singing. That man indeed has lots of well hidden energy inside that has to be released vocally. With the not so unexpected encore, two of tonight's best songs are played. Metal Heart is just a stunning piece of work and Teutonic Terror from 2010's Blood Of The Nations shows a future classic. Balls To The Wall closes the set in a predictable way and I can't say I'm overwhelmed with many bands' choice to always play the very same song as the last one. A huge thank you to the sound engineer, who did an awesome job tonight. From my position, fifteen feet from the stage, the sound quality was almost perfect. On the negative side, I wasn't hundred percent thrilled with the choice of some of the newer songs in the set. No Shelter and Hellfire should, in my opinion, definitely be scratched, in favor for just about any songs on those two records. An awesome and memorable gig however and Accept shows that the last heavy riffs aren't written and performed yet. Performance: 9 chalices
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