This release is something that many of us were waiting for. The American-German machine did a terrific comeback with “Blood Of The Nations”, “Stalingrad” and “Blind Rage”, started touring and giving amazing performances, so this had to be captured in image and sound. Sadly, this happened in Band Your Head 2015 that takes place in Balingen, Germany.
What do I mean with this? Let’s examine this release thoroughly. First of all, the band. Wolf Hoffmann is a delightful guitar player that gives you joy watching him live for these nights. The same applies to the co-founder and co-composer Peter Baltes (bass) who acts like a teenager. The debut of the new recruits, Christopher Williams (drums) and Uwe Lulis (guitar, ex-Grave Digger) was ideal, as they did a really great job. Of course, the presence of Mark Tornillo is a highlight alone, but he seems to make much effort in some songs to catch higher notes. In general, the band performs fantastic on stage. Secondly, the songs. A best-of played live. Eighteen hymns that are balanced between old and new albums, no weak moments. You listen it form the start until the end, you get excited, you sing, you try to mimic Wolf’s razor sharp riffs with air guitar and you hope to catch them again on stage sometime soon. Third, the overall production. An amazing job once more. Lights, direction, sound, all in perfection. Honestly, there is nothing negative to comment on this section, unless you are looking for one. Fourth, the worst part in this DVD, the audience. A graveyard has more energy than them. It is like they are sleeping during the whole time. And the strange thing is that Accept play in their country. They seem to wake up at times, like in the eternal hymns “Princess Of The Dawn”, “Teutonic Terror” and “Balls To The Wall” but this is as far as they go. Unfortunately, the need for a big production in a spacious and big stage has some effects, as the audience of a festival is many times a thorn in the back of the final product that a band will present you. A live DVD needs the help from the crowd. In a club stage with their own fans it would be much better, but at least everything else is flawless.
“Restless And Live” is out there also in Blu-ray and comes with two CDs that contain 27 songs from various cities around Europe, that are being sold separately if someone wants only the sound and not the image. An excellent release from a band who shows us how good heavy metal must sound. They will…give you the axe!
