Their current lineup consists of Hoffmann, vocalist Mark Tornillo, guitarists Uwe Lulis and Philip Shouse, drummer Christopher Williams and bassist Martin Motnik. Before arriving at their current lineup, Accept has undergone numerous lineup changes, being Hoffmann the last remaining original member since its inception, and he is the only band member to appear on each album.
Accept played an important role in the development of speed and thrash metal, and they were part of the German heavy metal scene, which emerged in the early to mid-1980s. They have also been cited as an influence or inspiration by a number of acts, including Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Pantera, Testament, Anthrax, Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Overkill, Exodus, and Annihilator, as well as fellow Germans such as Helloween, Blind Guardian, Doro, Sodom, Rage, and Grave Digger. Accept achieved its first commercial success with their fifth studio album Balls to the Wall (1983), which is the band's only album to be certified gold in the United States and Canada, and spawned their well-known hit "Balls to the Wall".
Accept have broken up and reformed multiple times. They first split up in 1989, several months after the release of Eat the Heat (which was their only album with Dirkschneider's initial replacement David Reece), but reformed in 1992 and released three more albums before disbanding again in 1997. After briefly reuniting in 2005, Accept announced their third reunion in 2009, with former T.T. Quick frontman Mark Tornillo replacing Dirkschneider (who declined to participate), and the band has recorded five albums with him: Blood of the Nations (2010), Stalingrad (2012), Blind Rage (2014), The Rise of Chaos (2017) and Too Mean to Die (2021); each of those albums renewed Accept's popularity in Germany and entered the top ten charts there.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accept_(band)
Studio albums
Accept (1979)
I'm a Rebel (1980)
Breaker (1981)
Restless and Wild (1982)
Balls to the Wall (1983)
Metal Heart (1985)
Russian Roulette (1986)
Eat the Heat (1989)
Objection Overruled (1993)
Death Row (1994)
Predator (1996)
Blood of the Nations (2010)
Stalingrad (2012)
Blind Rage (2014)
The Rise of Chaos (2017)
Too Mean to Die (2021)
Shades of Death
Accept Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A strange chill on a ghostly lake
Dark shadows in a twilight haze
A lost cabin in a tree lined maze
Nightly apparitions, lost destinations
Victims calling from beyond the grave
Searching for the light, one step beyond
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
The darkest shades of death (shades of death)
Beyond the shades
Tied, tied to the devil's chair, a sinister affair
Terror's drawing near, out on the streets of fear
Eyes shine in the black of the night
Somethings moving but it's out of sight
Cryptic symbols in an indian cave
A hitchhiker take you to your grave
A presence in the air, feelings of despair
Footsteps walking in the leaves behind you
And now, now they walk the night
Searching for the light, one step beyond
The darkest shades of death (shades of death)
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
The darkest shades
Cursed, there's a curse on the ground,
Terror's drawing near
A dark force all around, out on the streets of fear
And now, and now they walk the night
Searching for the light, one step beyond
Beyond the darkest shades of death (shades of death)
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
The darkest shades of death (shades of death)
Beyond the darkest shades of death
The song "Shades of Death" by Accept paints a bleak and eerie picture of a haunted hollow, a ghostly lake, and a lost cabin in a tree-lined maze. The lyrics speak of nightly apparitions and lost destinations, with victims calling from beyond the grave. This setting is filled with cryptic symbols, a sinister hitchhiker, and eyes shining in the black of the night. The song builds on the idea of a curse on the ground, with a dark force all around, out on the streets of fear.
The repeated refrain of "beyond the shades of death" suggests that the imagery in the song is beyond our mortal understanding, that the horrors that lurk in the night are beyond our comprehension. The lyrics speak of those who walk the night, searching for the light, one step beyond this world. It is a haunting and chilling take on the supernatural and the unknown, where death and terror are always lurking, waiting to claim their next victim.
Line by Line Meaning
Way out in a haunted hollow
In a faraway place, there is a valley filled with ghosts
A strange chill on a ghostly lake
On the lake where ghosts reside, an eerie chill fills the air
Dark shadows in a twilight haze
In the dim light of twilight, obscure shadows lurk
A lost cabin in a tree lined maze
In a maze of trees, there is a cabin that has been forgotten
Nightly apparitions, lost destinations
Every night, there are ghosts appearing in search of their lost place
Victims calling from beyond the grave
The departed victims call out from their graves
And now, now they walk the night
The ghosts have risen and are wandering during the night
Searching for the light, one step beyond
Looking for a way to pass on to the next life, one step away from the end
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
Past the point of death, into the afterlife
The darkest shades of death (shades of death)
The most dreaded and sinister depths of death
Tied, tied to the devil's chair, a sinister affair
Trapped in the devil's grasp, a wicked and evil situation
Terror's drawing near, out on the streets of fear
Fear is growing around every corner, in every street
Eyes shine in the black of the night
Glowing eyes pierce through the darkness of the night
Somethings moving but it's out of sight
Something is shifting, but it cannot be seen
Cryptic symbols in an indian cave
Mysterious symbols have been carved into an Indian cave
A hitchhiker take you to your grave
A stranger gives you a ride to the end of your life
A presence in the air, feelings of despair
There is a presence in the air and a sense of hopelessness
Footsteps walking in the leaves behind you
Footsteps follow closely behind, rustling through the leaves
Cursed, there's a curse on the ground
The ground is cursed and held in a state of darkness
A dark force all around, out on the streets of fear
A malevolent force envelops everything and everyone around, on the streets of fear
Beyond the darkest shades of death (shades of death)
Even past the most ominous and nightmarish aspects of death
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
Past the boundary separating life and death
The darkest shades of death (shades of death)
The depths of death that are most difficult to fathom
Beyond the shades of death (shades of death)
Passing the threshold from the mortal world to the afterlife
The darkest shades
The most sinister and foreboding areas
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: MARK TORNILLO, PETER BALTES, WOLF HOFFMANN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind