Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release date: November 23, 2018
Album length: 120:04
Rating: 8.0/10
As I write these lines, Peter Baltes has been a former member of Accept, the Teutonic metal legends from Solingen, Germany, for several days now. The heart, blood and soul of the band. After five decades of ups and downs, bad and good, the man finally decides to walk away. Why such a theatrical intro?
Maybe it was precisely the idea of a collision between symphonic elements and Accept metal that prompted the legendary bassist’s decision. Last summer, Accept played an exclusive show in front of 80,000 fans at the eternal Wacken Open Air festival, joined by a symphonic orchestra. They seized the chance and recorded it on the spot. The band is incredibly active for their age, and that deserves respect. They crank out studio albums practically on an assembly line while constantly being on the road as well. No rest for the wicked. Now, this isn’t a show where the orchestra backs the band the whole time. It’s actually split into three parts. In the first, we hear classic Accept, minus the symphonic trimmings. It’s very short. They hit us with two tracks from the current album “Rise Of Chaos” (opener Die By The Sword, plus Koolaid), fire off the classic Restless And Wild, and add two tracks from the latest era (the less interesting Final Journey and the excellent Pandemic). Then Wolf Hoffmann stays on stage with the orchestra, and the meaty middle part of the show follows, in which Hoffmann basically presents pieces from his solo studio album “Headbanger’s Symphony”, released last year. Here we get a direct look at where the ideas for all the Accept classics were cooked up, as, in the blessed company of symphonic elements, we listen to Hoffmann’s reinterpretations of Vivaldi, Mussorgsky, Beethoven and Mozart. Listening to the classics, it’s clear that Hoffmann poured many, many ideas into the character of some of the most distinctive riffs of the entire Accept career.
But do fans really need this? I doubt it. Only the third part delivers what interests us most: ten songs of a true collision between Accept metal and added symphonic arrangements. The opening Princess Of The Dawn already answers everything written in the previous paragraph. It shows where Hoffmann’s ideas come from, namely his inspiration from the works of the classical masters. This hour of concert footage is actually the most interesting part, and it confirms it: the collision is wildly successful. The synthesis of symphonic elements with the primordial riffs of good old-school Accept metal never falters. Whether it’s a classic (Metal Heart, Breaker,…) or new material (Dark Side Of My Heart, Shadow Soldiers). Shadow Soldiers especially stands out, as does the incredibly successful dialogue between the utterly deranged Fast As A Shark riff and the classical elements. Above all, the mid-eight passages become the biggest draw of the whole story (along with the intros), giving the songs a special touch of difference. That’s where the orchestra stretches out in the arrangements, and Hoffmann brings his soloing rhetoric even closer to the classical elements. Genius.
The band has already confirmed a new series of shows with a symphonic orchestra. Peter Baltes won’t be on it, and that will be very strange, even if he’s replaced by Saint Peter himself. The associations practically write themselves: his exit from Accept looks a lot like Harris leaving Iron Maiden. I won’t say that’s the reason, but it’s fairly plausible. Having to simply get off stage for a good half hour so your bandmate can present his solo studio effort, and under the Accept name at that. It would have been better if Hoffmann had done his own solo tour and combined the repertoire with Accept classics, backed by his own band, not Accept.
I’m not saying the whole thing wouldn’t work, or that the band wasn’t in fine form on stage the day they played Wacken Open Air. Performance-wise, the document lacks absolutely nothing. The only question is whether Accept really need such a live document. Most fans will say not at all. Unless it had been played entirely with the symphonic orchestra. So from start to finish, Accept plus orchestra. A full two hours. That way there’d be more room for a few surprises, and for working in songs the band doesn’t play on stage all that often anymore.
One thing, though: watching the DVD that accompanies this release is an absolute must!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
CD1.:
1. Die by the sword (5:31)
2. Restless and wild (4:31)
3. Koolaid (5:05)
4. Pandemic (6:00)
5. Final journey (5:18)
6. Night on bald mountain (7:08)
7. Scherzo (5:28)
8. Romeo and Juliet (5:46)
9. Pathétique (5:56)
10. Double cello concerto in G minor (3:40)
11. Symphony No.40 in go G minor (4:38)
CD2.:
1. Princess of the dawn (7:36)
2. Stalingrad (6:21)
3. Dark side of my heart (4:40)
4. Breaker (4:30)
5. Shadow soldiers (6:00)
6. Dying breed (5:45)
7. Fast as a shark (4:51)
8. Metal heart (7:32)
9. Teutonic terror (5:43)
10. Balls to the wall (7:56)
Line-up:
Mark Tornillo – vocals
Wolf Hoffmann – guitar
Uwe Lulis – guitar
Peter Baltes – bass
Christopher Williams – drums
Czech National Symphony Orchestra (Prague) – conductor Libor Pešek
