Another year, another Rage album! The German metal juggernaut is soldiering on stronger than ever with the release of their latest album, Resurrection Day. Rage puts out albums so frequently that it’s easy to lose track at times. For those who have, here’s a quick refresher. Resurrection Day is the band’s twenty fourth (!) studio album. If we include their debut as Avenger (Prayers of Steel), their Lingua Mortis Orchestra symphonic metal side project, and Refuge, which reunites the 1988-1993 lineup (founder Peavy Wagner includes all three), that brings us to twenty seven studio albums.
Their last album, Wings of Rage, happened to be one of the very first reviews I did for this site. All in all, I found it to be an enjoyable amalgamation of heavy, power, and thrash metal: A niche which Rage has remained comfortably in for about the past decade. It was straightforward, powerful, and anthemic, which are all the traits I expect in a Rage album these days. Resurrection Day on the other hand is powerful and anthemic, but not as musically straightforward as its predecessor. In fact, it sees the band utilizing the symphonic metal traits of releases like Strings to a Web (2010). However, whereas these symphonic elements were a key ingredient of Strings to a Web, they’re mostly used to flesh out the songs on Resurrection Day.
This is evidenced by the lush title track, which is accompanied by an orchestral intro, “Memento Vitae (Overture)”. This hard hitting track is cinematic in nature and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. Cuts like “A New Land”, “Arrogance and Ignorance”, and “The Age of Reason”, boast industrial strength riffs, massive vocals, and aggressive melodies. A lot of these legacy German metal bands tend to sound similar with age (Rage, Grave Digger, Kreator, etc.), so I can’t help but draw comparisons. However, I’d argue Rage has aged better than just about any of these bands behind Accept and Sodom.
Unlike Wings of Rage, Resurrection Day contains many musical surprises, some welcome and others not. There’s the cargo clad grooves of “Monetary Gods” and the symphonic folk metal of “Travelling Through Time”, both of which I can do without. On the other side of the coin are breakneck thrashers like “Virginity” and “Extinction Overkill”, and my choice cut, “Mind Control”. Although it’s rarer than hen’s teeth, Rage can bust out harmonizing twin guitars and AOR melodies when need be. “Mind Control” is a great example of such and makes me wish Rage would explore this sound further. Perhaps there will be another side project in the future?
Resurrection Day is more diverse than Wings of Rage, but not necessarily better. That isn’t to say it’s not a good album with plenty of metal muscle to flex. It is. I just hope for the next release (which at this rate will drop sometime next year) they double down on what they do best and that’s high power, high speed heavy metal.
6 out of 10
Label: Steamhammer
Genre: Power Metal
For fans of: Grave Digger, Running Wild, Helloween