Rage
Speak of The Dead

THE REVIEW

The Rage return.

After a live CD/DVD titled "From The Cradle To The Stage", which worthily celebrated the twentieth anniversary, the melodic-power group returns with a brand-new work that partly revisits the experimentation and contamination with classical music that first saw the light in the mini "Lingua Mortis". In this album, I can truly say that the fusion between aggressive melodies and sweet symphonic atmospheres is really excellent. Credit must also be given to a renewed lineup: Peavy Wagner certainly remains the leader, and now he has two formidable guitars with him. I'm talking about Mike Terrana on drums and a great guitarist named Victor Smolski.

This new "Speak of the Dead" by the new lineup picks up the metallic and symphonic style elements that have always characterized Rage. The album immediately opens in an orchestral way with the organization of the suite "Suite Lingua Mortis", which certainly wants to be a call to the past and is splendidly organized into 8 tracks. From the opener "Morituri te salutant", an instrumental with strong classical and symphonic influences, it moves to the second track "Prelude of souls", still instrumental, to flow into "Innocent", more oriented towards prog with very fascinating polyrhythmic sequences. "Depression" is an orchestral triumph that preludes the following "No regrets", a stunning mix of massive riffs and symphonic exhilarations. Two more small instrumental gems follow, better to call them interludes like "Confusion" (where we can more and more admire Terrana's greatness) and "Black". But if Confusion was a technical and sonic heaviness triumph, Black plays on the lightness of the strings, introducing us to the acoustic ballad "Beauty", which closes the first part of the album in a melancholic and poignant manner.

The second part of the album, on the other hand, reiterates the "metal" concept at the expense of the symphonic: we thus face tracks well executed, flawless in their form but by now it's a formula tried and tested despite being effective. It starts strong with "No Fear", robust and monolithic, while "Soul Survivor" is more substantial. The technical level of this album is worth noting, thanks to the contribution of a particularly inspired Terrana and a very on-form Smolski. "Full Moon" is varied and airy as a track while "Kill your Gods" is an example of mastery and compositional skills, especially in a central part that's awe-inspiring. "Turn my world around" is the least interesting track, I would almost dare to say slow and unoriginal, the same as "Be with me or be gone". The title track is instead a good song, but nothing more.

This concludes a very good work from Rage. The German band still evidently has it, even without delivering more masterpieces, given the band's longevity, but managing to place some great tracks, indeed, many good tracks in an album that has few flaws and a lot of good substance. To be listened to multiple times to fully appreciate.