In the year 2012 Rage are going back to their roots. Instead of orchestral, bombastic metal, which they played on their last very successful albums, they are now playing again what made them famous more than 20 years ago. This means straight-forward heavy metal without keyboards, complex arrangements or any other unnecessary gimmicks.
But it is no longer 1990 and from the line up of those days, only frontman Peavy Wagner is left. In addition, their new (well, not quite so new) guitar player Victor Smolski is known for his complex arrangements. So there is enough reason to doubt that this one will work. But after some runs it turns out that there is no reason to doubt at all! Rage can still combine simplicity and catchiness into powerful songs. There are definitely more killers (e.g. `Feel my Pain` and `Psycho Terror`) than fillers (`Serial Killer` and `Death Romantic`) here, even though a few songs (`Destiny` or the title track) need some runs until they work.
I, as a fan of the more bombastic stuff, still prefer "Speak of the Dead" but I have to admit that the raw power of Rage still works in 2012. But it would have been nice if they had doubled the rhythm guitars more. Especially during the (rare) solos the songs lose quite a bit of their punch - this fits to the Rage stage sound but it should not happen on album recordings. All in all, this a record recommended to both sorts of Rage fans: The ones who like the raw stuff and also the ones who like the bombastic stuff.
Timo Päßler
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