Accept, Fortress Under Siege, Null ‘o’ zero // Gagarin205, Athens, Greece // 23.05.2015
We’ve been waiting for this for quite some time. ACCEPT are back with a new crushing record “Blind Rage” and they’re once more here for two shows in Athens and Thessaloniki. First stop: Gagarin 205 club! Their support acts were NULL’O’ZERO and FORTRESS UNDER SIEGE.
Null ‘O’ Zero were the first ones to hit the stage and exactly 8 o’ clock (yes the timetable was precicely followed). They surely warmed up the crowd with their Heavy/Thrash sound. I recognized influences by Megadeth and Annihilator’s most melodic moments, with a voice that had a classic Heavy metal quality in the likes of Tim Owens. They presented material from their upcoming first record (“Warframe”, “Enemy Within”, “Inshame”, “Unleashed By Fire”, “No More Wait”), which we’re looking forward to.
Fortress Under Siege followed, a band being around for about 2-3 decades, with only 2 full-length albums. Their style is a classic Prog/Power metal style influenced by Dream Theater, Symphony X and so on. They played stuff off “The Mortal Flesh Of Love” (“Blind Faith”, “Last Temptation”) and “Phoenix Rising” (“Don’t Let Go”, “Phoenix Rising”, “Hate What We Like”, “Eyes of the Snake”, “Blue Valley Shadow”). Their mood was sky high, as they all were super-proud to be the opening act for Accept. Also, a humorous attitude was ever-present throughout their set, showing the strong bond between the band members!
But all of that were just the warm up, showing that the Greek metal scene goes from strength to strength, for the masters of Teutonic terror: Accept! In comes the “Stampede” and Gagarin 205 is whipped into a headbanging frenzy! We heard songs from their whole discography that night: “Blind Rage” (“Final Journey”, “Dark Side Of My Heart”, “Dying Breed”), “Stalingrad” (“Stalingrad”, “Hellfire”, “Shadow Soldiers”), “Blood Of The Nations” (“Teutonic Terror”, “Pandemic”, “No Shelter”), “Objection Overruled” (“Bulletproof”), “Metal Heart” (“Metal Heart”, “Midnight Mover”), “Restless And Wild” (“Fast As A Shark”, “Restless And Wild”, “Princess Of The Dawn”) “Balls To The Wall” (“London Leatherboys”, “Balls To The Wall”, “Losers And Winners”) “Breaker” (“Starlight”).
The band was in a mood of a 20-year-old band, showing many of their younger counterparts how a heavy metal show is done! Their two new members seemed like they’ve been playing forever with Accept! The crowd? Simply exceptional! When the lights went on, everyone were full of metal passion in their faces, just like Accept about 4 decades after their foundation. They’ll always show the metal path to every new band formed, from now till the end of time! ACCEPT IT!