This was my third time seeing Accept in the last three years, something which, had you told me I’d be saying come 2012 back when I was, well, 12, I’d probably have assumed they’d just invented time travel by then or something.  Mind you, these German metal titans sure turned back the clock with some vintage stage moves, albeit while culling more material from their two comeback releases than the last couple times I saw them (when they had just one comeback album).  Alas, after touring with prog-rockers King’s X and Swedish pow-war metal band Sabaton, Accept made a more palatable choice of touring partners in their countrymen Kreator, though twas somewhat puzzling that they let the latter play last…

Even more bizarre (pun not intended) was the inclusion of Finnish death-doom squad Swallow the Sun as the opening act.  Certainly a contrast of styles, and they’re not even, as I originally suspected, Nuclear Blast labelmates with the other two bands.  Guess they must have the same management, then?  In any case, I did snap a few pictures of StS after grabbing a beer and a t-shirt.  (I now have five Accept t-shirts and one hoodie.  Just sayin’.)

This dude’s playing a Kronos keyboard.  Black meettaaaal!

Accept was entertaining as always.  I’ll have more to say about their set on Hellbound, but there’s one thing I’d like to point out here.  See all those speaker cabinets on stage?  Yeah, they’re all fake.  I watched them unload off the front, and there are no outlets, no inputs or nothing.  Just a buncha hollow boxes.  That said, they sure looked impressive under the lights.  By contrast, the first time I saw em, Herman Frank was plugged in to a practice amp, and the stage seemed barren in the background, so there ya go.

Kreator also boasted a pretty impressive backdrop, though it was obscured for the most part by a whole lotta stage fog.  Didn’t get as many high-quality pics of these guys since I was being jostled a bit by the mosh pit behind me, but that’s what happens at a thrash-metal show, I suppose.  (For what it’s worth, the pit action for Accept was non-existent, aside from some slight shoving during “Balls to the Wall”…)

I am the Black Wizards!!!