Nuclear Blast
2007
1. Dirty Wings (Tobias Sammet)
2. Terrified (Peter "Peavy" Wagner)
3. Ruling The World (Tony Kakko)
4. Death Is Alive (Mats Leven)
5. Bloodsucker (Marcel Schirmer)
6. Slaves To The Desert (Hansi Kürsch)
7. A Perfect Day (Andi Deris)
8. Eternally (Oddleif Stensland)
9. Inner Sanctuary (Marco Hietala)
10. In The Picture (Tarja Turunen)
Following in the wake of that shitty Roadrunner records collaboration we have this one, Nuclear Blast's attempt for their anniversary. Part 1 - Into The Light focuses on the power metal side of things and my guess would be the second part, Out Of The Darkness, will focus on the more 'extreme' side of the label. All of Into The Light was written, produced, and recorded by one Victor Smolski of Rage so that immediately grabbed my attention. Certainly the selection of vocalists didn't hurt either with notable band names attached such as Edguy, Helloween, Nightwish, Tarot, Rage, Communic, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, Destruction, and At Vance.
When it comes down to it, what we get from this release is essentially one hell of an interesting Rage album. I mean the music sounds like Rage with Victor's obvious signature stamped on it... really the only difference is a great list of vocal talented recruited to it. This is by no means a complaint as this album kicks the hell out of the symphonic/classic tinkering on much of the last Rage release. Into The Light is a sharp contrast to that last Rage as it crackles with heavy power metal energy and thick riffs. One thing that surprised me is how well this list of very diverse vocalists managed to all slip into the Rage sort of sound and how well Victor succeeded at incorporating and writing for each singer. It's really quite perfect in that regard as each song sounds like it was written with the vocalist in mind but also with a cohesive overall idea of the sound. This almost sounds more like a band than some various artists collaboration and to me that's quite an impressive songwriting feat.
I'd say that Into The Light succeeds at being exactly what it set out to be... a representation of the great power metal that has come from Nuclear Blast over the years and Victor Smolski was the perfect person to spearhead it. This release never strikes me as some novelty that will get old. The songs on here are actually very good and I've been enjoying spinning this release since I got a hold of it. It really seems to have a good deal of staying power with the great vocal talent just driving the music on. I would call this a very successful show of unity from the Nuclear Blast world and would recommend it to anyone who's a fan of Rage and the various other people involved. Really I'd say with this list of talent and the strength of the songs that anyone who dares call themselves a fan of power metal at least check this out.
Highlights: Terrified, Ruling The World, A Perfect Day, Inner Sanctuary
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Terrified (Peter "Peavy" Wagner)
3. Ruling The World (Tony Kakko)
4. Death Is Alive (Mats Leven)
5. Bloodsucker (Marcel Schirmer)
6. Slaves To The Desert (Hansi Kürsch)
7. A Perfect Day (Andi Deris)
8. Eternally (Oddleif Stensland)
9. Inner Sanctuary (Marco Hietala)
10. In The Picture (Tarja Turunen)
Following in the wake of that shitty Roadrunner records collaboration we have this one, Nuclear Blast's attempt for their anniversary. Part 1 - Into The Light focuses on the power metal side of things and my guess would be the second part, Out Of The Darkness, will focus on the more 'extreme' side of the label. All of Into The Light was written, produced, and recorded by one Victor Smolski of Rage so that immediately grabbed my attention. Certainly the selection of vocalists didn't hurt either with notable band names attached such as Edguy, Helloween, Nightwish, Tarot, Rage, Communic, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, Destruction, and At Vance.
When it comes down to it, what we get from this release is essentially one hell of an interesting Rage album. I mean the music sounds like Rage with Victor's obvious signature stamped on it... really the only difference is a great list of vocal talented recruited to it. This is by no means a complaint as this album kicks the hell out of the symphonic/classic tinkering on much of the last Rage release. Into The Light is a sharp contrast to that last Rage as it crackles with heavy power metal energy and thick riffs. One thing that surprised me is how well this list of very diverse vocalists managed to all slip into the Rage sort of sound and how well Victor succeeded at incorporating and writing for each singer. It's really quite perfect in that regard as each song sounds like it was written with the vocalist in mind but also with a cohesive overall idea of the sound. This almost sounds more like a band than some various artists collaboration and to me that's quite an impressive songwriting feat.
I'd say that Into The Light succeeds at being exactly what it set out to be... a representation of the great power metal that has come from Nuclear Blast over the years and Victor Smolski was the perfect person to spearhead it. This release never strikes me as some novelty that will get old. The songs on here are actually very good and I've been enjoying spinning this release since I got a hold of it. It really seems to have a good deal of staying power with the great vocal talent just driving the music on. I would call this a very successful show of unity from the Nuclear Blast world and would recommend it to anyone who's a fan of Rage and the various other people involved. Really I'd say with this list of talent and the strength of the songs that anyone who dares call themselves a fan of power metal at least check this out.
Highlights: Terrified, Ruling The World, A Perfect Day, Inner Sanctuary
Rating - 4.0/5
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