| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Die By The Sword Restless & Wild Koolaid Pandemic Final Journey Night On Bald Mountain Scherzo Romeo & Juliet Pathetique Double Cello Concerto In G Minor Symphony No. 40 in G Minor Princess Of The Dawn Stalingrad Dark Side Of My Heart Breaker Shadow Soldiers Dying Breed Fast As A Shark Metal Heart Teutonic Terror Balls To The Wall |  |
ACCEPT IS:
Mark Tornillo - Vocals / Wolf Hoffmann - Guitars & backing vocals / Peter Baltes - Bass & backing vocals
Christopher Williams - Drums / Uwe Lulis - Guitars
Mark Tornillo - Vocals / Wolf Hoffmann - Guitars & backing vocals / Peter Baltes - Bass & backing vocals
Christopher Williams - Drums / Uwe Lulis - Guitars
As I've mentioned before, seeing rock and metal bands performing live with orchestras isn't a surprise anymore. It's the bands that decide to go for it that would be more of a surprise. Over the years, artists like Metallica, Kiss, Scorpions, Roger Waters, Deep Purple, Styx, Alter Bridge, Satyricon, Entombed and U.D.O. have all done it, and most of those concerts were documented for either a live album or video. Usually when you mix heavy guitars with orchestral elements, it makes for some tasty results. Accept one of the latest bands to perform live with an orchestra, which they did at the Wacken Open Air 2017, and the show resulted in a new live album titled Symphonic Terror. After listening to the album, I can say that the band's decision to perform with an orchestra was a great one. You hear how the orchestra syncs in with the heavy riffs, and they just go together like milk and cookies. This show was divided into three sets. The first being a pure Accept set, the second being Wolf Hoffmann performing songs from his latest solo album Headbangers Symphony with the orchestra, and the third and final set features Accept performing a bunch of their songs with accompaniment by the orchestra.
After hearing songs like "Princess Of The Dawn", "Shadow Soldiers", "Metal Heart" and "Teutonic Terror", I found that the orchestral accompaniment worked the best on the mid-tempo songs, as opposed to the faster tracks like "Fast As A Shark" and "Breaker". There were a couple of moments during the fast tracks where the orchestral elements did work, but not for the whole song. Another moment where the orchestral elements worked like a charm were during the sections where the crowd would chant the melodies, like in "Metal Heart" and "Princess Of The Dawn" in particular. The 8-minute rendition of "Balls To The Wall" was well done, although I wish the guitars and the orchestra played the main riff in unison. Not saying the song doesn't stand out as is, but if the song was done that way, then I think it would've stood out a bit more.
I don't review live albums all that much, but I do sometimes. The ones that have a long track listing like Symphonic Terror, which has 21 songs, tend to take more time to absorb. However, the album was a really enjoyable listen. Accept have announced a few shows in Germany where they will have orchestral accompaniment that will happen next year. In an interview I just did a few days ago with Wolf Hoffmann, he said that the band is talking about bringing the orchestral show to other countries, so keep your eyes and ears open for announcements in the future.
Highs: The orchestra enhances the songs even more.
Lows: The faster songs didn't entirely work as well with the orchestra
Final Rating: 8/10
After hearing songs like "Princess Of The Dawn", "Shadow Soldiers", "Metal Heart" and "Teutonic Terror", I found that the orchestral accompaniment worked the best on the mid-tempo songs, as opposed to the faster tracks like "Fast As A Shark" and "Breaker". There were a couple of moments during the fast tracks where the orchestral elements did work, but not for the whole song. Another moment where the orchestral elements worked like a charm were during the sections where the crowd would chant the melodies, like in "Metal Heart" and "Princess Of The Dawn" in particular. The 8-minute rendition of "Balls To The Wall" was well done, although I wish the guitars and the orchestra played the main riff in unison. Not saying the song doesn't stand out as is, but if the song was done that way, then I think it would've stood out a bit more.
I don't review live albums all that much, but I do sometimes. The ones that have a long track listing like Symphonic Terror, which has 21 songs, tend to take more time to absorb. However, the album was a really enjoyable listen. Accept have announced a few shows in Germany where they will have orchestral accompaniment that will happen next year. In an interview I just did a few days ago with Wolf Hoffmann, he said that the band is talking about bringing the orchestral show to other countries, so keep your eyes and ears open for announcements in the future.
Highs: The orchestra enhances the songs even more.
Lows: The faster songs didn't entirely work as well with the orchestra
Final Rating: 8/10
| | |
RSS Feed
