Nuclear Blast
2010
1. The Edge Of Darkness
2. Hunter And Prey
3. Into The Light
4. The Beggar's Last Dime
5. Empty Hollow
6. Empty Hollow II: Strings To A Web
7. Empty Hollow III: Fatal Grace (Interlude)
8. Empty Hollow IV: Connected
9. Empty Hollow V: Empty Hollow (Reprise)
10. Saviour Of The Dead
11. Hellgirl
12. Purified
13. Through Ages
14. Tomorrow Never Comes
If you want to talk about a productive band, talk about Rage. This one marks their 18th full length studio album (and that's if you're not counting Avenger before the rename). It's really pretty amazing they've managed to put out that amount of material and are still considered one of the tops of german power metal. To me, it is also richly deserved as they are one of my favorite bands and I always look forward to new Rage. Their last one got a good grade from me and I was certainly hoping for more.
Upon initially listening to this one I was a little thrown. Not that this is all that different from what Rage has been doing in recent years, but the sound of the choruses on this one seems to be pretty ultra happy. Yeah they usually do the big melodic choruses, but these seem a little sugary sweet at times. I'd classify this as a sort of speed bump to my enjoyment of the album. It didn't really last and upon repeated listens I found this album and the sound of it grew on me quite a bit. Initially, I was ready to chalk this one up as simply good, but not as good as Carved In Stone. However, after letting the songs sink in I'd say this album is at least as good as the last. There's still a great number of standout tracks here and I found picking the highlights difficult.
The signature of Rage and what has made their Smolski-era albums great is definitely still here. From Peavy you get that tremendous sense of melody and build up in the vocals to the chorus and from Smolski you get an ever changing bag of riffs. I always like how Smolski never really settles on one basic riff to a song and adds a lot of little variations. After sort of adjusting to the sound of the choruses too, they are quite catchy and well delivered if Maybe just a little poppy at times. I remember when I first heard Into The Light I wasn't sure what to make of it, but now it's one of my favorite songs here so that just gos to show you how this album played out for me. Worth noting as well is the center piece which is familiar for newer Rage in that they always like to visit the classical side for at least one track. Empty Hollow, a multi-track affair is a damn well executed one and one of my favorites found here. A lot of this is a largely instrumental affair with Fatal Grace being piano driven and Strings To A Web being mostly guitar oriented, but it is also punctuated by a great slow down, melodic track in Connected, and heavy symphonic goodness in Empty Hollow and the reprise.
In conclusion, this is another damn fine album from a band who's made a lot of them. Not really a wonder to me why this band continues to be one of my favorites. There's still a lot of life in this band and they are simply put, one of the defining bands of the power metal genre. Absolutely recommended to Rage fans and really any fans of the heavy german power metal style.
Highlights: Empty Hollow, Into The Light, Hunter And Prey, Hellgirl
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Hunter And Prey
3. Into The Light
4. The Beggar's Last Dime
5. Empty Hollow
6. Empty Hollow II: Strings To A Web
7. Empty Hollow III: Fatal Grace (Interlude)
8. Empty Hollow IV: Connected
9. Empty Hollow V: Empty Hollow (Reprise)
10. Saviour Of The Dead
11. Hellgirl
12. Purified
13. Through Ages
14. Tomorrow Never Comes
If you want to talk about a productive band, talk about Rage. This one marks their 18th full length studio album (and that's if you're not counting Avenger before the rename). It's really pretty amazing they've managed to put out that amount of material and are still considered one of the tops of german power metal. To me, it is also richly deserved as they are one of my favorite bands and I always look forward to new Rage. Their last one got a good grade from me and I was certainly hoping for more.
Upon initially listening to this one I was a little thrown. Not that this is all that different from what Rage has been doing in recent years, but the sound of the choruses on this one seems to be pretty ultra happy. Yeah they usually do the big melodic choruses, but these seem a little sugary sweet at times. I'd classify this as a sort of speed bump to my enjoyment of the album. It didn't really last and upon repeated listens I found this album and the sound of it grew on me quite a bit. Initially, I was ready to chalk this one up as simply good, but not as good as Carved In Stone. However, after letting the songs sink in I'd say this album is at least as good as the last. There's still a great number of standout tracks here and I found picking the highlights difficult.
The signature of Rage and what has made their Smolski-era albums great is definitely still here. From Peavy you get that tremendous sense of melody and build up in the vocals to the chorus and from Smolski you get an ever changing bag of riffs. I always like how Smolski never really settles on one basic riff to a song and adds a lot of little variations. After sort of adjusting to the sound of the choruses too, they are quite catchy and well delivered if Maybe just a little poppy at times. I remember when I first heard Into The Light I wasn't sure what to make of it, but now it's one of my favorite songs here so that just gos to show you how this album played out for me. Worth noting as well is the center piece which is familiar for newer Rage in that they always like to visit the classical side for at least one track. Empty Hollow, a multi-track affair is a damn well executed one and one of my favorites found here. A lot of this is a largely instrumental affair with Fatal Grace being piano driven and Strings To A Web being mostly guitar oriented, but it is also punctuated by a great slow down, melodic track in Connected, and heavy symphonic goodness in Empty Hollow and the reprise.
In conclusion, this is another damn fine album from a band who's made a lot of them. Not really a wonder to me why this band continues to be one of my favorites. There's still a lot of life in this band and they are simply put, one of the defining bands of the power metal genre. Absolutely recommended to Rage fans and really any fans of the heavy german power metal style.
Highlights: Empty Hollow, Into The Light, Hunter And Prey, Hellgirl
Rating - 4.0/5
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