Nuclear Blast
2008
1. Carved In Stone
2. Drop Dead
3. Gentle Murders
4. Open My Grave
5. Without You
6. Long Hard Road
7. One Step Ahead
8. Lost In The Void
9. Mouth Of Greed
10. Lord Of The Flies
After the very disappointing Speak Of The Dead with all it's unsuccessful classical experimentation and afterthought/by numbers Rage songs I've really been waiting for my Rage fix. With the song Terrified on Nuclear Blast Allstars being damn good I did have some hopes going into this one that they wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
Rage fans need not be worried as this is Rage back in the mold they're good at as this album is pretty much no frills, straight up heavy metal with balls and a fair amount of speed. Actually the speed is one of the first things that caught my attention. There's definitely still a lot of groove like in most modern Rage but after the melodic intro riff of the title track for instance there is some speed riffing that really reminds me of something Older from the band. The track as a whole is interesting with it's melodic intro sounding like something out of a fantasy power metal album and a pretty big and epic chorus. The song in general has a lot of character and has to be my favorite track on the release.
The reminders of older Rage don't end with this track in the guitar as songs like Gentle Murders also rip with speed and as a whole Carved In Stone reminds me of the modern Soundchaser/Unity sound but with more focus on speed guitar and some The Missing Link/a bit of Trapped! influence. This sound is certainly good by me and offers enough diversity from the past two albums as to not sound like a rehash. The big melodic choruses are still there, but now some of the songs don't seem quite as built around them and I like that.
Other songs worth noting include one ballad Without You which works really well in my opinion and comes across as emotional & heartfelt and Lord of the Flies which brings a bit of the classical/operatic feel into the mix but in a good and dark way without taking things away from the metal sound of it. This song is a real highlight as it does sound huge and powerful.
In conclusion, this is another worthy addition to the Rage catalogue and the band seldom disappoints. Rage just need to watch that they don't get too experimental with this whole classical fixation sometimes.
Highlights: Carved In Stone, Lord Of The Flies, Gentle Murders, Without You
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Drop Dead
3. Gentle Murders
4. Open My Grave
5. Without You
6. Long Hard Road
7. One Step Ahead
8. Lost In The Void
9. Mouth Of Greed
10. Lord Of The Flies
After the very disappointing Speak Of The Dead with all it's unsuccessful classical experimentation and afterthought/by numbers Rage songs I've really been waiting for my Rage fix. With the song Terrified on Nuclear Blast Allstars being damn good I did have some hopes going into this one that they wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
Rage fans need not be worried as this is Rage back in the mold they're good at as this album is pretty much no frills, straight up heavy metal with balls and a fair amount of speed. Actually the speed is one of the first things that caught my attention. There's definitely still a lot of groove like in most modern Rage but after the melodic intro riff of the title track for instance there is some speed riffing that really reminds me of something Older from the band. The track as a whole is interesting with it's melodic intro sounding like something out of a fantasy power metal album and a pretty big and epic chorus. The song in general has a lot of character and has to be my favorite track on the release.
The reminders of older Rage don't end with this track in the guitar as songs like Gentle Murders also rip with speed and as a whole Carved In Stone reminds me of the modern Soundchaser/Unity sound but with more focus on speed guitar and some The Missing Link/a bit of Trapped! influence. This sound is certainly good by me and offers enough diversity from the past two albums as to not sound like a rehash. The big melodic choruses are still there, but now some of the songs don't seem quite as built around them and I like that.
Other songs worth noting include one ballad Without You which works really well in my opinion and comes across as emotional & heartfelt and Lord of the Flies which brings a bit of the classical/operatic feel into the mix but in a good and dark way without taking things away from the metal sound of it. This song is a real highlight as it does sound huge and powerful.
In conclusion, this is another worthy addition to the Rage catalogue and the band seldom disappoints. Rage just need to watch that they don't get too experimental with this whole classical fixation sometimes.
Highlights: Carved In Stone, Lord Of The Flies, Gentle Murders, Without You
Rating - 4.0/5
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