Live Reviews : Accept, Darker Half & Temtris @ Factory Theatre, Sydney 14/11/2014

Words and Images: Martin Michea

(Click here to view the full gallery)

I must admit that until a week ago I didn’t know that much about Accept. Sure, I knew the basic stuff. German heavy metal legends that inspired tons of bands back in the day. ‘Balls To The Wall’, ‘London Leatherboys’, that was about it. When I found out that I was reviewing this concert I immediately started listening to their new album ‘Blind Rage’ and worked my way backwards. It was something I had planned to do for a long time anyway. I knew pretty much straight away when I heard the “Stampede” chorus for the first time that this was going to be one epic night with German high octane heavy metal. And how right I was!

But first things first! Everything went down at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville, Sydney. I have reviewed one concert here before, but that concert took place on the much smaller ground floor stage. The venue filled up pretty quickly, looking almost full already when Temtris took the stage. I had never heard a single second of this band before, and oh how I regret that now.

Temtris

From the get-go they set the standard for the evening. I usually am a big fan of female fronted metal bands so I might be a bit biased here but holy Moses they blew me away. Genevieve is without a doubt the best female vocalist I have seen live since I saw Floor Jansen with Nightwish in London a couple years ago. All the band members had great stage presence and the audience seemed to like them a lot. I have always been a sucker for bands that mix growls with female vocals, and Llew’s (vocals and guitar) growls are impeccable. Temtris’ guitar solos are surprisingly interesting, and this is something I feel should be highlighted because it is pretty darn difficult to find nowadays!

The only negative thing that I can come up with is that the drums are quite overpowered in the mix, but other than that it sounds great. Way too soon Temtris has played their last song for the evening and after a short intermission, it is time for Darker Half.

Darker Half

Darker Half is one of those bands that I’ve wanted to get into for a while now. I first heard of them when I saw that they were supporting Nightwish, but I just haven’t gotten around to listening to them yet. That’s something that will change now though, because just like Temtris, they really impressed me. The guys from Sydney really gave us some groovy and brilliant melodic metal that most people seemed to enjoy. Once again though, the set was way too short, I wanted to hear a lot more!

For the first time ever it felt like two supporting acts had played a total of 10 minutes, that’s how quickly the beginning of the evening went for yours truly. A bit of an intermission before Accept was to take the stage. A lot of classic metal was played over the PA (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, among others) and oh my, was the Sydney crowed excited. I think every single person sang along to “Run To The Hills” and “Breaking The Law”. I just had this feeling the entire night that it was the perfect day for some classic heavy metal. Scorching hot all the way till dawn, a Friday evening in the beginning of summer, accompanied by metal and beer, it doesn’t really get much better than that does it? I looked around me at one point and I saw something quite interesting, a lot of different people, young, old, the pure metalheads, and those who were more casual. Accept t-shirts everywhere (of course), but also tons of other metal legends were represented tonight; Motörhead, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, just to name a few. I think it really shows that are indeed metal legends, they might not be as famous as Priest or Maiden, but their importance historically is pretty clear.

Accept

20 or so minutes late Accept finally took the stage. I wish I could describe in words exactly how solid this set was. It’s like this special aura around every single member on stage, I’m not sure if it’s just the experience that comes with being a musician for 40+ years, but this is like watching a clockwork. Accept might not be the most exciting band to WATCH (at least they have extremely sexy instruments), but they more than make up for that with their musical talent, their experience and their song writing. It’s ridiculous how well-oiled this machinery is. Its full speed ahead, not much time wasted on talking to the audience. From the very first riff of Stampede from the new album ‘Blind Rage’, Accept show why they are heavy metal legends. The sound is overall really good and the audience is getting better by the minute.

21 songs in total are played tonight. Which is quite amazing in itself, not many metal bands play over 20 songs on any given night. Six of the songs are from the new album, and the rest is a mix of new and classic Accept. As I said earlier, I am not a big fan of the band (at least I wasn’t until tonight), but I do believe that most fans had something to be happy about tonight, no matter what version of Accept you prefer. I never saw them with Udo, so I’m not sure who I would prefer, but I think that Mark is an excellent vocalist and his diversity is simply outstanding.

Accept

It’s pretty amazing how 21 songs can pass by so quickly. Balls To The Wall is the logical finisher to this evening. I must say that I’m really impressed. I knew beforehand that I was in for a ride, but I had no idea that Accept would rock my socks off like that. Such energy, such stage presence, and it was easy to see how much they were enjoying themselves!

If you’re seeing this band live in Brisbane or Melbourne, count yourself lucky. You definitely have something to look forward to!

Accept ‘Blind Rage Over Australia’ Tour 2014

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