The second edition of the Getaway Rock Festival in Gavle Sweden took place during a few sunny days at the beginning of July. Bands that performed included Alice Cooper, Hammerfall, Monster Magnet, Kreator, Bullet For My Valentine, Danzig and Ghost. This year I had some help with covering the festival and together we wrote and had opinions about most of the bands. Read on and enjoy.
ACCEPT were surely the biggest international surprise of the last 24 months in the hard rock and metal business. After a lengthy absence, the band returned to the heavy metal oligarchy with the stellar and highly acclaimed Blood of the Nations album, a collection of new ACCEPT classics that has gripped the media, concert promoters and fans all over the world by their proverbial balls. Blood of the Nations charted worldwide, including peaking at #4 in Germany and #11 in Europe. ACCEPT received press coverage from most international mass media outlets like CNN, BBC and of course all major metal publications. Blood of the Nations won many awards as it was ranked “Album of the Year” more than 50 times, making it the most successful recording by the band in its already celebrated history.
ACCEPT also spent the last 2 years touring worldwide, appearing on stages in front of a million metal fans around the globe with more than 180 heart stopping shows in Europe, the US, Central & South America and Asia.
ACCEPT are now ready to announce their return to the stage, starting in Paris in April 2012. Fans can look forward to more of the elaborate, commanding and polished live excitement – no pain, no gain, no mercy… that is ACCEPT’s motto! As always, the battles will be won on stage with ACCEPT’s ultimate live performances and a sweaty, enthused audience by their side. They take no prisoners!
The confirmed tour dates for April 2012, presented by Rock Hard, Blast, iMusic1, Piranha, Musix & Noizeletter:
Following the tremendous success of the current ACCEPT album Blood Of the Nations, as well as an extensive world tour with more than 180 shows around the globe, ACCEPT have now withdrawn from the stage to start work on their next album.
The band is currently writing new songs to the follow-up for the critically acclaimed Blood Of the Nations. The new album is scheduled to be finished and released in the spring of 2012 and will once again be produced by Andy Sneap.
Guitarist Wolf Hoffman is quick to comment, “ACCEPT and Andy Sneap have the perfect synergy. This was so clear with Blood Of The Nations and we are excited to continue on that path. Andy is not only an amazing and prolific producer but also a very good friend who has long become a member of the ACCEPT family.”
Berlin: Renowned European Hard Rock Magazine Metal Hammer held their highly anticipated Annual Award Show during the weeklong celebrations within the Berlin Music Week. ACCEPT travelled in all the way from the USA to receive the coveted award for “Best Metal Anthem” for the song “Teutonic Terror”. This admired track comes off the band’s most successful album to date – the fan-favorite and critically acclaimed Blood Of the Nations. The album was praised more than 50 times as “Album of the Year” or “Album of the Month” by most leading international media outlets.
ACCEPT express tremendous appreciation and thank all of their many fans and the international press for the unbelievable support they received since they announced their return to the metal stage. All this fantastic support has profoundly contributed to the awesome success of the album and the recently completed sold-out world tour.
ACCEPT’s Wolf Hoffmann and Peter Baltes celebrate their Metal Hammer Award in Berlin!
Let Me Hear You Scream Sweden Rockkkk.Well the annual roadtrip to Swedenrock by the Finnish Metal Rules.com team is already into it’s 11th year! The 2011 line up presented a wide range of metal and hard rock in the line-up. Over 70 metal and rock bands offered one hell of an experience for the attendees. Sweden Rock has been successful during the past ten years as the festival has always been sold out. This year wasn’t any exception as the fest was sold out despite the lousy economic situation worldwide and the ticket price had risen a little bit. ver these 11 years of coverage, it has become quite logical for us to give an in depth article of several bands performing at Sweden Rock to all the readers out there. The weather once again showed positive and negative aspects like in 2010. It either rained or was windy with a little sunshine. But we were there for bands, not for having some beach party crap. Unfortunately, we are not able to cover every bloody band, but hopefully you will have a pleasant reading experience… Enjoy or die!!!
Sauna Open Air Festival 2011, 9th-11th June Tampere, Finland
Review by Luxi Lahtinen, live pictures by Luxi Lahtinen & Terhi Pihlaja
The 8th Sauna Open Air festival was celebrated in a very sunny and warm weather, unlike in some other years – and this year the festival also broke their own record, welcoming as many as 26,000 people within the three days.
The SOA festival has truly found an important place among the other Finnish summer festivals, concentrating mostly on old-school Heavy/Thrash Metal and Hard Rock bands – and turning the festival around for the past 3-4 years or so, by booking many internationally big names for the three-day Metal feasts; from Kiss to Megadeth to Dio to Whitesnake to Scorpions to Type O Negatíve – and the list goes on.
This year, the festival organizers had very special grins – wider than ever before, spread all over their faces – and for some very good reasons. Two of the biggest headliners, Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest, arrived at SOA for the first time, with bands like Saxon, Accept, Doro, Cavalera Conspiracy, Joey Belladonna and many others proving to be good company to them.
Read on – the following article is based on the seven most interesting and musically satisfying bands of this year’s festival from your truly point of view.
The long-awaited video for the track “Pandemic” by German heavy metal juggernauts ACCEPT is now available for viewing at this location. The video was directed by Dave Blass and produced by Doug Jeffery for Grid 41.
“Pandemic” comes off ACCEPT’s comeback & twelfth full-length studio album, Blood Of The Nations, which has sold 23,500 copies in the U.S. since its release in September, 2010 according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Blood Of The Nations was recorded at Backstage Studio in England with famed producer Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Exodus, Opeth, Arch Enemy) and debuted as the #25 Rock Album on iTunes and at #187 on The Billboard 200 chart, #170 on the Top Current Albums chart, and on the #41 Independent Albums chart. In Canada, the album debuted at #53 on the Nielsen Soundscan Top Hard Albums chart. In Europe, Blood Of The Nations entered the German album charts at #4 – the highest German chart entry in the band’s career – and debuted at #12 on the Billboard European chart with the following additional worldwide chart entries: #7 in Sweden; #7 in Hungary; #9 in Finland; #19 in Austria; and #27 in the Czech Republic.
On May 8th, 2010 – four months before their comeback album was due for release – the reunited ACCEPT hit the stage for the first time in over a decade at their sold-out show at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. What New York fans witnessed was history. Via their subsequent vicious assault upon the world, ACCEPT have seized stages in Russia, Poland, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, England, Spain, Brazil, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Istanbul, Bucharest, France, Belgium, Japan, Canada, and everywhere in-between.
The video for ACCEPT’s first single, “Teutonic Terror,” ranked #1 on the MySpace “All Genre” Video charts and was responsible for crashing the social media giant Twitter, garnering mainstream media coverage in the Financial Times, BBC World, CNN, and the New York Times, among others.
ACCEPT went on to receive two Metal Hammer Awards nominations and a nomination for Revolver’s 2011 Golden God “Comeback of the Year” Award. Blood Of The Nations was also voted “Best Album of the Year” by VH1′s “That Metal Show.” Click here for a list of “Album of the Year” accolades for Blood Of The Nations since ACCEPT’s triumphant comeback.
ACCEPT are Wolf Hoffmann on guitar, Peter Baltes on bass, Stefan Schwarzmann on drums, Herman Frank on guitar and Mark Tornillo on vocals.
ACCEPT had their first sold out show in South America in their entire career! Fans in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru & Chile went wild, but Argentina and Brazil went crazy. What a great 2011 tour it has been. Europe, North America, South America and a few more festivals and shows this summer. Way to go – ACCEPT!
At 03.06., the European shows starts with the first show at Metalfest in Pilzen/ Czech Republic.
ACCEPT guitarist Herman Frank fell backward onstage halfway through the band’s’ concert Friday night at Backstage Live in San Antonio. Frank played the remainder of the show, but the reformed German metal legends were forced to play as a four-piece during their concert in Houston, Texas the following night (Saturday, May 7th).
“Unfortunately, Herman had an accident during last night’s show in San Antonio,” Accept bassist Peter Baltes stated online. “He tripped and landed hard on his back. Even though he managed to finish the show, his pain became unbearable as we arrived in Houston (for the band’s final night of the American portion of its tour). He was taken to the emergency room, where the doctors discovered four broken ribs and a punctured lung. He will remain at the hospital for now. Considering his condition, his spirit is great, and we all need to give our support to him as he recovers from his injuries. In the meantime, the band will continue the tour, and Herman will rejoin us as soon as he is all healed up and good to go.”
The annual Finnish Metal Expo was arranged in the old ancient Cable Factory in the heart of Helsinki. Even though the winter wind was blowing in cold from the open sea, thousands of metalheads were crawling to the FME event. Once again the roster of the FME event offered plenty of interesting names. The purpose of the event is to offer a good chance for young and talented Finnish bands to perform in front of a critical metal audience. Besides new talented bands, known and classic names were at present at FME. The Metal-Rules.com squad was, as usual, at the annual Finnish Metal Expo to feel what’s up in the air of the metal world.
The day after their performance in Philadelphia at The Trocadero on April 14th, reformed heavy metal legends ACCEPT will take part in a signing session at Oxford Valley’s Best Buy (just outside of Philadelphia) on Friday, April 15th from 4 – 5:30 p.m. The store’s address is 310 Commerce Blvd., Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, 19030.
ACCEPT’s second headlining North American tour launches April 9th in Orlando. Support comes from Sweden’s SABATON. Confirmed tour dates are:
04/09/11 THE CLUB AT FIRESTONE – ORLANDO, FL
04/10/11 CULTURE ROOM – FT. LAUDERDALE, FL
04/13/11 JAXX – WEST SPRINGFIELD, VA
04/14/11 THE TROCADERO – PHILADELPHIA, PA
04/16/11 BEST BUY THEATER – NEW YORK, NY ***ONE-OFF; OVERKILL HEADLINING***
04/17/11 CLUB SODA – MONTREAL, QC – CANADA
04/18/11 IMPERIAL DE QUEBEC – QUEBEC CITY, QC – CANADA
04/20/11 MOD CLUB – TORONTO, ON – CANADA
04/21/11 BLONDIE’S – DETROIT, MI
04/22/11 BOTTOM LOUNGE – CHICAGO, IL
04/23/11 MESA RIVERVIEW – PHOENIX, AZ
04/24/11 BLUE BIRD THEATER – DENVER, CO
04/26/11 EL CORAZON – SEATTLE, WA
04/27/11 PETER’S ROOM – PORTLAND, OR
04/28/11 GRAND BALLROOM AT THE REGENCY – SAN FRANCISCO, CA
04/30/11 HOUSE OF BLUES – SAN DIEGO, CA
05/01/11 GALAXY THEATRE – SANTA ANA, CA
05/02/11 VENTURA THEATER – VENTURA, CA
05/04/11 CLUB VEGAS – SALT LAKE CITY, UT
05/06/11 BACKSTAGE LIVE – SAN ANTONIO, TX
05/07/11 SCOUT BAR – HOUSTON, TX
According to Nielsen Soundscan, ACCEPT’s twelfth full-length studio album Blood Of The Nations has sold over 20,600 copies in the U.S. since its release in September, 2010. Click here to read all the “Album of the Year” accolades the album has garnished since ACCEPT’s triumphant comeback.
Blood Of The Nations was recorded at Backstage Studio in England with famed producer Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Exodus, Opeth, Arch Enemy) and debuted as the #25 Rock Album on iTunes and at #187 on The Billboard 200 chart, #170 on the Top Current Albums chart, and on the #41 Independent (Current) Albums chart. In Canada, the album debuted at #53 on the Nielsen Soundscan Top Hard Albums chart. In Europe, Blood Of The Nations entered the German album charts at #4 – the highest German chart entry in the band’s career – and debuted at #12 on the Billboard European chart with the following additional worldwide chart entries: #7 in Sweden; #7 in Hungary; #9 in Finland; #19 in Austria; and #27 in the Czech Republic.
View the video for “Teutonic Terror” – directed and produced by Dave Blass for Grid 41 - here. View the 2-minute behind-the-scenes video here.
ACCEPT’s 2010 line-up includes Wolf Hoffmann on guitar, Peter Baltes on bass, Stefan Schwarzmann on drums, Herman Frank on guitar and Mark Tornillo on vocals.
The legends who put German heavy metal – as opposed to hard rock – on the world map. Accept released their modest debut in 1979, and broke through in 1981 with the “Breaker”-album and a praised tour with Judas Priest. Subsequent releases like “Restless and Wild” (1982) and “Balls of the Wall” (1983) officially elevated Accept to the echelons of metal. Essential factors were the ultra-heavy sound, the classically inspired guitar playing and, not least, Udo Dirkschneider – equally original as a singer and a front man.
In 1987, Udo left Accept to create U.D.O. He returned to Accept in 1992-96, after which the band dissolved. 2005 saw a temporary comeback, including an appearance at SRF, but Udo was adamant that if Accept wanted to make a full-scale comeback, they would have to do it without him. This they did. In 2010, Accept released their first album with their new American vocalist Mark Tornillo (ex-TT Quick), “Blood of the Nations”. The record was a great success, and Accept now return to SRF as a band in triumph.
4-day tickets sold out! – Get your 3-day ticket now!
CONFIRMED DATES FOR SOME OF THE BANDS:
Wednesday june 8
Hardcore Superstar – Five Horse Johnson – Crashdïet – Seventribe
Thursday june 9
Judas Priest – The Cult – Thin Lizzy – Joan Jett – Morbid Angel – Buckcherry – Clutch – FM – Moonspell – The Damned – Dan Reed – Groundhogs
Friday june 10
Whitesnake – Rob Zombie – Helloween – Mr Big – Down – Iced Earth – Overkill – Jason & The Scorchers – The Brew
Saturday june 11
Ozzy Osbourne – Saxon – Styx – Kansas – Molly Hatchet – Hawkwind – Lee Aaron – Walter Trout – Electric Wizard – Rage (Acoustic)
Confirmed bands so far out of a total of around 70:
Ozzy Osbourne
Judas Priest – last show ever in Sweden
Whitesnake – with very special guests
Rob Zombie
The Cult
Saxon
Accept
Down
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Thin Lizzy Helloween
Kansas
Morbid Angel
Styx
Iced Earth
Mr Big
Hawkwind
Necronaut
Molly Hatchet
Rhapsody of Fire
Hardcore Superstar
Stryper
Clutch
Mustasch
Destruction
Overkill
The Haunted
Buckcherry
The Damned
Lee Aaron
Jason & the Scorchers
Five Horse Johnson
Evergrey
FM
Electric Wizard
Doc Holliday
Crashdïet
Moonspell
Agent Steel
Ghost
Dan Reed Band
Walter Trout
Raubtier
Groundhogs
Houston
Mason Ruffner
The Brew
Fläsket Brinner
Rage (Acoustic)
The tickets to Sweden Rock Festival 2011 are now released and you buy them directly online at our homepage.
Even now, almost a year since the band’s incredible first live comeback appearance in New York’s sold-out Gramercy Theater, astonishing success stories keep pouring in day after day. Just last week, ACCEPT kicked off their massive “Blood Of The Nations 2011 Tour” of Europe. They announced shows in the USA, Canada and Russia and by now have set a clear signal that ACCEPT are back mightier than ever!
The shows in Osnabrueck, Bad Arolsen, Antwerp and Paris were packed with passionate metal-loving fans. Advance ticket sales for Paris indicate a sold-out house. Russia has been bellowing for tickets to the five coveted March dates. The two-hour plus performance pummels the fans with classics like “Balls To The Wall”, “Metal Heart” and the immortal “Princess Of The Dawn”, completed with the pedal to the metal bombast of their new hits “Teutonic Terror”, “The Abyss” and “Pandemic”.
The entire “Blood Of The Nations 2011 Tour” will involve over 80 mind-blowing concerts around the globe. Today, ACCEPT are proud to announce another batch of shows. They just confirmed dates for Central and South America are as follows (links to tickets on the TOUR page):
08.05.2011 MEXICO / Mexico City – Circo Volador
10.05.2011 BOLIVIA / La Paz – TBD
11.05.2011 PERU / Lima – Barranco Bar
13.05.2011 CHILE / Santiago – Teatro Novedades
14.05.2011 ARGENTINA / Buenos Aires – El Teatro Flores
Friday, January 14th 2011 marks the start of ACCEPT’s long anticipated “Blood Of The Nations” world tour. The new tour is named after the band’s highly successful and critically praised comeback album “Blood Of the Nations” and includes shows in 24 countries around Europe, North America, Canada, Latin and South America. This mammoth 80-show trek marathon commences tonight in Osnabrück, Germany at the Gartlage Hall.
ACCEPT have crisscrossed the globe with little interruption since May of 2010. By the time June 2011 and the final shows of this tour come around, ACCEPT will have played more than 120 shows over 12 months, elevating their status as one of Germany’s most relevant and important rock exports. There have already been numerous high-points along the way: The blistering stadium shows supporting AC/DC in Hannover and Stuttgart, their headliner appearances at the Sonisphere Festivals in Bucharest and Istanbul, the spectacular “secret” guest spot at the Rock Hard Festival 2010, not the least their scorching performance at Japan’s largest indoor festival Loudpark 2010 in Tokyo. Throughout all these shows, ACCEPT have once again confirmed to their large army of fans that they are indeed one of the most productive and dominant live metal acts on the international hard rock scene.
The best-selling album “Blood Of The Nations” has concluded 2010 by receiving the proud designation of “Album of the Year” in most leading rock media outlets in the States, Canada, South America and many European territories. With this colossal success, ACCEPT have quickly bridged their 17 year long recording inactivity with amazing simplicity and have given their old and new fans the most successful comeback in metal history. The live shows offered by the prolific line-up of Wolf Hoffmann, Mark Tornillo, Peter Baltes, Hermann Frank and Stefan Schwarzmann will offer an explosive mix of legendary classics like “Balls To the Wall” and “Metal Heart” mixed in with new hard rock highlights like the sensational “Teutonic Terror”, the hard hitting “Pandemic” and the colossal “The Abyss”. It is a spectacle not to be missed!
Rejuvenated German heavy metal legends, ACCEPT, took the #1 spot Metal-Rules.com’s annual best of list. The album easily took the top position beating out their fellow countrymen, Blind Guardian, who took the #2 position in the chart.
Best Metal Album of 2010: Accept - BLOOD OF THE NATIONS
BLOOD OF THE NATIONS is Accept’s 12th studio album. It’s been a very long time since their previous release – 1996′s PREDATOR. Since then, the band has undergone a few changes, the biggest being in the lead singer department. Former T.T. Quick front-man Mark Tornillo has taken over the reigns from Udo Dirkschneider and is filling his combat boots rather well.
Hopefully this line-up has a few years in them and can build upon the greatness of the pure heavy metal found on BLOOD OF THE NATIONS!
