Nuclear Blast
2013
1. Cleaned By Fire
2. Scapegoat
3. The Devil's Bride
4. Lament
5. Oremus
6. Witches' Judge
7. Eye For An Eye
8. Afterglow
9. Straight To Hell (Rage cover)
10. One More Time (Rage cover)
Lingua Mortis Orchestra aren't really a stranger to me going into this one. Sure they're sort of a new band, but this is also Lingua Mortis Orchestra featuring Rage where as before Rage featured Lingua Mortis Orchestra. It's not a huge change, but you could feel why the distinction was being made from the start. Basically, Rage and particularly Victor Smolski wanted to bring the orchestra to the forefront and not be concerned with making an album that had to sound like Rage. This being Lingua Mortis Orchestra allows a certain freedom in the songwriting and style. It's basically what side projects were made for. The idea is an interesting one though and I was looking forward to this release.
Listening to Lingua Mortis Orchestra though, I've gotta say it still pretty much sounds like Rage. The guitar sound and style is mostly familiar, we have Peavy's vocals, and the band is no big stranger to classical inspiration in some of their material anyways. That being said, there is more of an emphasis on classical structure and instrumentation as it is present throughout the album. It's just not Quite as dominating as I expected considering this is named after the Lingua Mortis Orchestra itself. All expectations aside though, the sound here is extremely good and very epic. I don't really have a problem with top shelf Rage songs that mix Victor Smolski's signature sound with more of a XIII era style. Really, this is the best, most cohesive classical fusion that the members of Rage have produced to date.
The album opens with some nice classical/operatic elements on Cleansed By Fire and the whole song is one big epic masterpiece for certain. I love this song to freakin death. Between the subtler classical moments, operatic backing vocals, and a perfect big Rage chorus this is pure win. Also worth noting is Scapegoat which brings in some death growls that have a nice heavy impact from the start and some heavy as fuck riffing. Once again, not exactly what I expected with a fair emphasis on the guitar, but the classical touches are there and play a good backup. This just continues the trend of somewhat surprising, but in a good way. Another highlight for me is the ballad Lament which features some nice smooth piano and great heartfelt vocal deliveries from Peavy and one of the female vocalists from LMO who I am not familiar with by name. There are a couple on there and I'm honestly not sure who is who, but it's nobody I'd really known before this album. Peavy still takes center stage for the bulk of the material, but all the vocal talent here is good and I do like duet tradeoffs. The two listed are Dana Harnge and Jeanette Marchewka. Not to be left out, Eye For An Eye has a nice rhythm heavily driven by the strings section.
I also have to point out that two Rage songs have been covered. Neither blew me out of the water as it's pretty much the old songs with a bit of classical accompaniment that don't add or subtract a lot from the impact. Still, these are basically extras at this point of the album as it is a good 54 minutes in length even without them. There's no shortage of content here and I look at these kinda like bonus tracks. Neat extras, but not really the best stuff here. It makes for some Rage tracks they can easily throw into the live set probably and that's ok by me.
All in all, this is a very good album for Rage fans. It's still pretty much Rage, but there are by far worse things to be. This is a strong classically inspired album from the band. There are some tweaks to the sound in the addtional female vocals and the album is pretty freakin epic. I can't be displeased with that and I don't think any fans of Rage's more orchestral stuff will be either. I think if they use this band for more of the classical material and Rage for more straight up metal than a good balance can be struck between these two different band names and fans can know what to expect from both. Anyone who likes their metal with a good dose of classical instrumentation and feel should check this one out.
Highlights: Cleaned By Fire, Scapegoat, Lament, Eye For An Eye
Rating - 4.0
2. Scapegoat
3. The Devil's Bride
4. Lament
5. Oremus
6. Witches' Judge
7. Eye For An Eye
8. Afterglow
9. Straight To Hell (Rage cover)
10. One More Time (Rage cover)
Lingua Mortis Orchestra aren't really a stranger to me going into this one. Sure they're sort of a new band, but this is also Lingua Mortis Orchestra featuring Rage where as before Rage featured Lingua Mortis Orchestra. It's not a huge change, but you could feel why the distinction was being made from the start. Basically, Rage and particularly Victor Smolski wanted to bring the orchestra to the forefront and not be concerned with making an album that had to sound like Rage. This being Lingua Mortis Orchestra allows a certain freedom in the songwriting and style. It's basically what side projects were made for. The idea is an interesting one though and I was looking forward to this release.
Listening to Lingua Mortis Orchestra though, I've gotta say it still pretty much sounds like Rage. The guitar sound and style is mostly familiar, we have Peavy's vocals, and the band is no big stranger to classical inspiration in some of their material anyways. That being said, there is more of an emphasis on classical structure and instrumentation as it is present throughout the album. It's just not Quite as dominating as I expected considering this is named after the Lingua Mortis Orchestra itself. All expectations aside though, the sound here is extremely good and very epic. I don't really have a problem with top shelf Rage songs that mix Victor Smolski's signature sound with more of a XIII era style. Really, this is the best, most cohesive classical fusion that the members of Rage have produced to date.
The album opens with some nice classical/operatic elements on Cleansed By Fire and the whole song is one big epic masterpiece for certain. I love this song to freakin death. Between the subtler classical moments, operatic backing vocals, and a perfect big Rage chorus this is pure win. Also worth noting is Scapegoat which brings in some death growls that have a nice heavy impact from the start and some heavy as fuck riffing. Once again, not exactly what I expected with a fair emphasis on the guitar, but the classical touches are there and play a good backup. This just continues the trend of somewhat surprising, but in a good way. Another highlight for me is the ballad Lament which features some nice smooth piano and great heartfelt vocal deliveries from Peavy and one of the female vocalists from LMO who I am not familiar with by name. There are a couple on there and I'm honestly not sure who is who, but it's nobody I'd really known before this album. Peavy still takes center stage for the bulk of the material, but all the vocal talent here is good and I do like duet tradeoffs. The two listed are Dana Harnge and Jeanette Marchewka. Not to be left out, Eye For An Eye has a nice rhythm heavily driven by the strings section.
I also have to point out that two Rage songs have been covered. Neither blew me out of the water as it's pretty much the old songs with a bit of classical accompaniment that don't add or subtract a lot from the impact. Still, these are basically extras at this point of the album as it is a good 54 minutes in length even without them. There's no shortage of content here and I look at these kinda like bonus tracks. Neat extras, but not really the best stuff here. It makes for some Rage tracks they can easily throw into the live set probably and that's ok by me.
All in all, this is a very good album for Rage fans. It's still pretty much Rage, but there are by far worse things to be. This is a strong classically inspired album from the band. There are some tweaks to the sound in the addtional female vocals and the album is pretty freakin epic. I can't be displeased with that and I don't think any fans of Rage's more orchestral stuff will be either. I think if they use this band for more of the classical material and Rage for more straight up metal than a good balance can be struck between these two different band names and fans can know what to expect from both. Anyone who likes their metal with a good dose of classical instrumentation and feel should check this one out.
Highlights: Cleaned By Fire, Scapegoat, Lament, Eye For An Eye
Rating - 4.0
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