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Rating: 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.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
10 Soul Survivor (03:41)
Music & Lyrics: Peavy Wagner
So many screaming faces
Telling me tales I've heared before
I wanna tear down their masks of fake
And all these smiling dealers
Selling me lies I want no more
The're pretending to give but take
All I knew I gave you
I am a soul survivor
What I do, it is true
I am a soul survivor
A life describer, I'm telling no lies
The sharks have sharpened their teeth
Trying to bite and chew it all
What we fought for since all our lifes
I'ts only for the profit
Never it was for you or me
But so many believe their lies
All I knew I gave you
I am a soul survivor
What I do, it is true
I am a soul survivor
A life describer, I'm telling no lies
Oh, you better believe in yourself
Oh, you better be true to yourself
11 Full Moon (04:53)
The sun is going down on a blood red sky
And I feel it coming from real deep inside
Now I gotta hide
Darkness blacker than black is creeping
Down from all of the trees around
Nothing moves, everything is sleeping
All that creatures won't make a sound
Won't you set me free, won't you set me free
When the full moon will rule the night
I need someone to share my silence
Lonely is it, a hunter's night
Can you feel what I feel and can you
Stand the nightmare to live this life
My beast from within
companion in sin
Won't you set me free, won't you set me free
When the full moon will rule the night
I'm falling from grace
Won't you set me free, won't you set me free
When the full moon will rule the night
14 Be With Me or Be Gone (03:47)
We were the brotherhood
We blindly understood
Were all we needed, it was good
Has been as close, just as we could
But as the years went by
I've seen our friendship die
And when I look into your eyes
It seems you're going separate ways
The inner pressure to hold on tight
Is not a pleasure
Reflect your feelings, do what you want
You better let me know
You should be with me or you should be gone
(Don't waste my time)
You'd be with me or you should be gone
(Don't waste my time)
Be with me or be gone
Be with me or be gone
Stay on my side or leave me be
We went through thick and thin
We made it all begin
And formed a union hard as rock
A grooving machine that was locked
We must have lost this feel
Life's not like stainless steel
Corrosion of integrity
Deceased in our identity
The inner pressure to hold on tight
Is not a pleasure
Reflect your feelings, do what you want
You better let me know
You should be with me or you should be gone
(Don't waste my time)
You'd be with me or you should be gone
(Don't waste my time)
Be with me or be gone
Be with me or be gone
Stay on my side or leave me be
15 Speak of the Dead (04:06)
Don't try to tell me you've got the better truth
'Cause this is just a never ending lie
You wouldn't make it to walk in someones shoes
The only thing you share is that you'll die
You follow all those murderers, in phantasies and real
You might become the same, think what you feel
Don't believe in Military, leaving nothing but destruction
No trust in presidents, they don't speak of the dead
Don't do what others tell you, this is only self seduction
They'll try to put you dows when you speak of the dead
Speak of the dead, speak of the dead
Countless in number, mistreated and abused
They were our brothers, do you realise
Do you remember or do you wipe them out
Like all so many, do you close your eyes
If they could raise their voices they would have a lot to say
Avoid the old mistakes, give them their way
Don't believe in Military, leaving nothing but destruction
No trust in presidents, they don't speak of the dead
Don't do what others tell you, this is only self seduction
They'll try to put you dows when you speak of the dead
Speak of the dead, speak of the dead
Don't do what others tell you, this is only self seduction
Don't let them put you down when you
Speak of the dead
Don't believe in Military, leaving nothing but destruction
No trust in presidents, they don't speak of the dead
Don't do what others tell you, this is only self seduction
They'll try to put you dows when you speak of the dead
Speak of the dead, speak of the dead
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