Powerline: Do you feel that you now have a songwriting template down with Mark [Tornillo, vocals]?

Wolf Hoffmann: It's always been a matter of doing your homework and getting the best songs possible ready before we present it to Mark. That's always been our challenge. Mark is a great singer but only if you have a great song will the whole result be good. Peter [Baltes, bass] and I are the ones who prepare the songs and then Mark comes in and sort of puts the finishing touches on it. The better stuff we give to Mark, the better it's gonna be in the end. So we tried to get everything as close to perfect as we possibly could this time.

Powerline: Do things feel easier now though? Is there more of a flow?

Hoffmann: Yes and no, I'd have to say. We have a much better sense of the direction we want to ACCEPT to be in. The sound that we need and the kind of songs we want to write for ACCEPT. That in itself is a huge deal. Initially, when we got back together, we were kind of insecure what ACCEPT, in 2009-2010, should sound like. But now that we found that, it's time to deliver, and, yeah, we know what direction we want, it's up to us to really hunker down and get the best possible melodies and the best possible arrangements. So, yeah, we have been really putting in the hours, I have to say.

Powerline: In a recent interview, Mark said [the forthcoming ACCEPT album] "Blind Rage" had the same sound but it also had more diversity than the last two albums. He also said it was more classic-sounding. I think those were the words he used. Do you agree with that?

Hoffmann: Yeah, I would agree with that. I'm not sure about the word "diversity," because diversity, to me, sounds scary. It sounds like we're trying out something like techno now or something weird. [Laughs] Diversity is code for many different styles. No, I think, if anything, this album sounds totally like classic ACCEPT. I think we got some really amazing melodic stuff on there and that's really good, I think fans will like it. And I think there are songs on there that really challenged Mark and he does an outstanding job on these songs.

Powerline: How does the band come together for the songwriting?

Hoffmann: I've got a studio at my house and Peter actually moved to Nashville last summer so now we're both in Tennessee. He left his long-term residence in Philadelphia. He's been out there for almost 20 years. Finally he moved to Tennessee, and he loves it there. So now we're really close to each other and can see each other on a moment's notice, which is perfect. That really helped the whole project as well. In the past, we always had to limit it to a week here or there, and try to get as much done in that one week. And now we can do a day on, day off kind of thing and meet when we have to. So that went on over months.

Read the entire interview at Powerline.