ACCEPT: 'The Rise Of Chaos' Cover Artwork Unveiled

German/American metallers ACCEPT will release their new studio album, "The Rise Of Chaos", on August 4 via Nuclear Blast. The cover artwork for the disc was created by the Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák and can be seen below.

Commented ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann: "'The rise of chaos' is something I have been thinking about often. Wherever we go, there is some hidden as well as some visible destruction and it kind of changes the world we know. What was there today can be gone tomorrow and it's somehow irritating, because it happens on so many levels and no one knows what comes next. The cover is our last stage set, but now clearly 'destroyed' — like… after a catastrophe."

ACCEPT will launch the disc on August 3 with special show at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany. The group's set will consist of three parts: Part one will bring fans a classic ACCEPT set, packed with new and old hits. Part two will present another premiere: Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann will play tracks from his solo album, "Headbangers Symphony", released in 2016, with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra for the very first time. On this record, Wolf covered famous opuses by composers such as Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart in a metal guise. And in Part 3, all elements can be seen and heard together: ACCEPT will make the holy Wacken ground shake by sharing the stage with the orchestra, supported by a complex multimedia show.

This unique concert experience will take place on this year's "Night To Remember", which makes it even more special. The "Night To Remember" is a celebrated, long-lasting Wacken tradition; for one night of the festival a selection of established bands will do something unique and special with their performance.

Hoffmann stated: "It's always impressive to see how bands take this evening seriously and how much love the artists and the organizing team put into their work to get a varied result. It's a great tradition which underlines and documents the top-notch level of the international rock community like nothing else. We also want to present something that ACCEPT has never done before, we hope we can give something really special to the fans."

Added Thomas Jensen, organizer of Wacken Open Air: "ACCEPT have been and are still a very important part of Germany's heavy metal scene. We're really looking forward to having them with us once more. With this epic concept, the Thursday evening will be one to remember for sure."

Hoffmann told Metalholic about ACCEPT's upcoming follow-up to 2014's "Blind Rage" album: "[The band's sound is] not gonna change ever dramatically, because as long as Peter [Baltes, bass] and I sort of write the songs in the way that we do, it's always gonna sound very much like ACCEPT, and it's what we're going for. We don't really ever want any changes. 'Cause we're going for that consistent vibe in our songs. And the best compliment we sometimes give each other is when we finish a song and we say, 'Man, that sounds like 1982 all over again.' 'Cause we don't want it to sound any different at this point. We just want it to sound like it could have been written thirty years ago — only with a modern twist and a modern production and maybe better than ever, but the general vibe shouldn't be any different. We don't really wanna change at this point."