For the last 12 years, German metal institution Accept have been enjoying their own Renaissance, watching their fortunes rise with each new release since their comeback album Blood of the Nations in 2009.
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The band’s 15th album Too Mean to Die is the latest in a hot streak for the now six piece veterans that has seen them hit a peak they haven’t enjoyed since Balls to the Wall hit the US charts in the early 1980s.
“It’s really been since 2009 when we met our current singer Mark Tornillo,” sole original member and guitarist Wolf Hoffmann says of their current success. “That started this new cycle and it’s really been like a new era of Accept that’s been going very steady and very strong. We’ve made five albums in ten years, and they all seem to be building on each other and this one seems to be the best of them all – I don’t know, but that’s what people tell me, so that’s good. It’s always hard for me to judge my own stuff, because I’m so close to it, but I’ve talked to so many people now and they pretty much all tell me the same thing. So there must be something to it!”
With the departure of bassist Peter Baltes in 2018 after a 40 year tenure, Accept is now composed of Hoffmann, Tornillo, guitarist Uwe Lulis, drummer Christopher Williams, Baltes’ replacement Martin Motnik and Philip Shouse as the band’s third guitarist. Shouse, who has previously worked with Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons, was brought in as a touring replacement for Lulis but worked out so well Accept made the decision to keep him on.
“He played with us all over Europe in 2019 for the special Symphonic Terror tour,” Hoffmann explains. “[Lulis] wasn’t available for that tour. He couldn’t do it. So [Shouse] jumped in. We liked him so much that we asked, ‘Why can’t he be in Accept always? Why can’t we have three guitarists?’ So we did some regular shows and tried it out that way, and it’s fucking awesome! It’s brilliant.”
While Hoffmann does most of the guitar work on Accept’s albums, the triple live axe attack allows them to further their aggressive, hard-riffing impact on stage.
When you do something you’re totally convinced of, and it’s the best you can do right now, and you really like it, you really don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. That’s usually a sign that it’s going to be good, and the rest of the world will like it.
[ Wolf Hoffmann ]
“In the studio you can layer the guitar any way you want with just one guitar player, and that’s often how we’ve recorded over the years. I’ve been the only guitar player on the albums for 90% of the stuff going back to Restless and Wild. When it comes to reproducing the stuff on stage, you can only pick two tracks and it’s mostly your basic rhythm tracks and solos here and there, but with three guitar players, you can do a whole lot more. Twin guitar leads, other parts. It’s not going to change things too much, just add some colour basically, and why not?”
Alongside Scorpions, Accept introduced German heavy metal to the world at large. Their early string of albums from Breaker to Balls to the Wall had a healthy influence on the metal genre into the late 80s with a dark, heavy sound created by steely riffing, a militaristic rhythm section and original singer Udo Dirkschneider’s snarling, raspy wail.
The band’s fortunes foundered into the 90s following a four-year break-up, then a reunion with Dirkschneider that ended with Accept splitting up again in 1997. It took until 2009, when four-fifths of their classic line-up reunited with Tornillo to record Blood of the Nations, for the Accept machine to start seriously cranking again. That album put them back into the German charts and became their most successful US release since Russian Roulette in 1986.
“It feels like we’re doing the best stuff ever,” Hoffmann declares proudly. “And I can never give Mark enough credit. When he walked into our lives, it was the right time and the right person. It was perfect. Having Mark on board allows us to write songs we couldn’t have done before. It really enabled us to write these songs, because he can perform them.”
From tackling subjects as inflammatory as the discrimination of gays and social outsiders, injustices and political hypocrisies, Accept has long been a band with a social conscience. Too Mean to Die follows that tradition of thought provoking and sophisticated lyrics with tracks that deal with environmental degradation (How Do We Sleep), Internet fame (Overnight Sensation) and positive, uplifting moments like No One’s Master and the pensive but inspiring The Best is Yet to Come.
“That’s one of my favourite tracks, actually,” the guitarist says of it. Lyrically, because it really means a lot to me personally and it came across really well. I’ve always had this thought, ‘Let’s not think about the past, look to the future because there’s so much more to come’. There could be so much good stuff right around the corner. I’m very much an eternal optimist, so that song speaks to my personal beliefs. Musically it turned out really well too, and Mark did a fantastic job singing that song, and that’s why we put it on the album, because it’s slightly unusual for Accept to do a ballad. We’ve done one now and then, but in this case we felt it was so strong, we had to do it.”
Five albums into a revived era for his band that has put them back in their homeland charts and shown the world that Accept is still a vital and powerful force for heavy metal, one could be forgiven for thinking that Wolf Hoffmann has nothing left to prove. Yet he does.
“It feels to me like we still have to prove something. That’s why I keep trying to come up with songs that are relevant and mean something to the fans, and to me. I don’t think I have to prove anything to the fans — I guess I do — but to myself. I don’t want to record anything I’m not totally proud of, so that’s why I work hard on these songs so I can hold my head high and say ‘It’s pretty damn good, I like this’. One of the lessons I learned in life is that you can’t really cut corners. If you say ever to yourself, ‘Well this is so-so but I’m sure the fans will like it.’ That’s a dangerous territory to get into, I think. I’ve seen it happen firsthand, and it never works out.
“When you do something you’re totally convinced of,” he continues, “and it’s the best you can do right now, and you really like it, you really don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. That’s usually a sign that it’s going to be good, and the rest of the world will like it.”
Hoffmann’s determination, drive and attention to detail has ensured Accept has maintained their legacy and importance in a world where so many others fade. Even more significantly, the band is arguably doing stronger than ever, a massive achievement for one that’s been around for so long.
“It’s been really strong, these last few years. There’s been five studio albums, one solo album, two live albums… there’s been so much stuff we’ve released, there was an orchestra tour two years ago where we released a DVD. It really feels like this is the best time for me, it’s been very satisfying for me to reflect on. The 80s were great. But this is even better, I think.”
Purchase & stream Accept’s new album Too Mean To Die here.
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