Prophecy Productions Report: Featuring Alcest, Les Descrits, and Negura Bunget

Prophecy Productions is a German based label that is focused on more of your ambient, atmospheric music, though they don’t limit their releases to purely metallic offerings. There’s some cool acoustic stuff in their coffers to go hand in hand with the darkened black metal material that I seem to keep gravitating towards. What excites me the most about this outfit is the quality of the products that their putting out for us music fans and collectors! Sure, they have your standard fair of CD and digipak releases, but they’re mixing that up with 12” vinyl, split EP’s, and fantastic looking CD art books that highlight the visuals as they pertain to the music. Three bands have burrowed their way into the darker recesses of my brain, Alcest, Les Discrets, and Negură Bunget. All have a similar dark atmospheric sound going on, but once you delve deeper into the sounds permeating from these platters, you should soon find that there are wonderfully subtle, yet striking differences between each band. 

Alcest - Écailles De Lune

It’s like this. You take all those shoegazers who started creeping their uncertain and unconfident way onto stages across the globe in the 90’s, and then, introduce them to Satan. Okay. It’s not exactly like that, but the gist is there. Alcest play a style of black metal (though I hate to pigeon-hole them into that category) that I’ve found completely infectious because it’s filled with so much ambiance and hauntingly gothic melody, and their creation of this music never goes where I expect it to go. One second, I’m expecting blastbeats galore, but they drop whispering guitar strains instead. Or when I am expecting a sound more along the lines of walking around moonlit lake shore, I’m greeted with an explosive discharge of torment vocals and violent guitars.  Écailles De Lune is a complex listen, but somehow, comes across as being very natural. None of the material feels forced and none of the tonal changes sound all that out of place. The album comes across as the guys from Isis having a midnight snack with Quorthon (Bathory) while listening to early Smashing Pumpkins. Huge waves of droning sound working in contrast with the darkened black metal blasts of evil, and then simply drifting into atmospheric passages that, under the influence of the right illicit substances, would completely lift the listener out of themselves.

On the first two tracks of the album, “Écailles De Lune, Part I & II,” Alcest work these musical combinations to perfection. Kicking off the album with moments of melodic trance-y sort of stuff, our heads bobbing in time with the music, our bodies swaying with the flow of sound, all while we have our eyes firmly fixed on the floor. Then, all of those beautiful melodic textures are kicked to the side and replaced by blastbeats and the band is off on an expedition of sonic exploration. The album closes with “Sur L’ocean Couleur de Fen,” which roughly translates (and mind you, my French is rusty) to “Ocean the Color of Iron.” This tune is a spectacular epic of a song that absolutely teleports the listener to a far away seashore, watching as the darkened waves peak and topple of one another, all working their way to pound against the sand and rock of the shore line. The music roils like the open Atlantic, never calm for more than a few moments before the waves lurch us into a life and death struggle against nature. A little over eight minutes in running time, “Ocean” is a song to experience. If you listen to just one song from Alcest, make sure this is the one. Ultimately, you’ll find the sound to be so compelling that you’ll go back and listen to this whole album. www.myspace.com/alcestmusic 

Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées

Along the lines of Alcest’s more melodic moments, Prophecy Productions has delivered us Les Discrets and their latest album entitled Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées. This ten track opus is a beautifully majestic piece of ear candy, filled with lush acoustic guitars, ambient guitar passages, and soaring melodies . . . basically, it’s another album that has the power to teleport you, the listener, to faraway lands and potentially leaving you there to wander along the sonic landscape. Every time that I’ve put this disc on, I’ve been able to completely tune out everything around me, which just pleases my wife to no end. There’s sarcasm in that last line. So beware, reader . . . when listening to this album, there’s a good chance that you’ll become so engrossed in the music that you’ll forget about picking up the kids from school, pulling the casserole from the oven before it burns, or even bathing. Even though I don’t understand the lyrical content of this album (it’s all sung in French,) I find that I’m drawn in and clinging to every word. Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées is just another testament to the universal appeal of music. Like math, music is a language that transcends borders and cultures.

Though absolutely enthralling as an album, I found myself even more transfixed to the palette of sounds around the mid-point of the disc, particularly with the fifth track, “Sur Les Quaint” and “Effet De Nuit.” The former is sorrowful sounding song powered equally by the sparkling acoustic guitars strumming out the rhythm and the engaging dual vocals. The break in the middle of the song is a nice touch, as the finger picked arpeggios flutter through the listener’s conscious, and then as the plaintive guitar solo echoes from the speakers, you can practically feel some tortured soul tugging softly on the heart. The voices are highly emotive and their performance is executed to perfection. “Effet De Nuit,” on the other hand, shows a different side of the band. Opening with a wall of shimmering cymbals and distorted guitars, this song has an Opethian vibe to it. Dark and sorrowful, the vocals croon in their haunting way, and as the acoustic guitars enter the mix, a sad melody lilts through the more cacophonic din. It’s a brilliantly crafted song, full of tortured emotions and strong musicality. Rays of hope begin to shimmer through the dark clouds of the rest of this album just as this set begins to close. “Une Maintee D’hiver” reminds me of Joshua Tree-era U2 in the way that the music begins to feel orchestrated and uplifting, almost like there’s been a rebirth of our collective outlook on life. Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées  is a truly spectacular album. www.myspace.com/lesdiscrets 

Negură Bunget - Măiestrit

I got to thinking while I was listening to this album that I really know very little about the country of Romania. After knowing that Romania is in Europe, I’m out. Well, now I know about Negură Bunget, which apparently means something like the black fog that comes from the forest in the Romanian tongue.  Măiestrit, which translates to ‘masterly’, is a re-recording of 2000’s Măiastru Sfetnic and showcases the bands folk-y, experimental black metal sounds. Upon listening to this album, I’m immediately reminded of Below the Lights-era Enslaved. It’s dark and imposing, but there are fantastic elements of melody and mystery interweaved within the strains of despair. The music on Măiestrit has an organic and natural feel to it, not overly orchestrated or planned out, but almost like a knee-jerk reaction to life. There’s a skin crawling haunting quality to this album, almost the feeling one might get while walking alone through a dark forest, constantly feeling like you’re being watched . . . shadows skittering from tree to tree, leaves softly rustling when there is no wind, the disorienting feeling of the higher mountain altitudes and the evening chill burning the lungs . . . y’know, all that creepy stuff of being alone in a dark forest.

“In-zvicnirea Apusului” is one of those songs that can make the casual metal fan rethink what their stance on black metal. This is one of those near progressive musical pieces that has so much going on in the context of the song and the song relies on every instrument in holding it together. To remove one instrument from the song would have the composition crumble to floor. I love the mix on this as well! One guitar can be heard droning along in one speaker, creating a base for the rest of the music to build, while in the other speaker  a second guitar provides staccato bursts of distortion, giving the song an even more imposing feel to it. “Al Locului” walks along a similar path as the aforementioned song, but this one feels more immediate in its threat to overall health and well being. Catching my attention the most, besides the dual guitar attack, was the ambient swells of keyboards in the back and foreground. This song is more psychologically heavy than it is musically heavy. Though there are a lot of notes flying this way and that, the song never feels so dense that it becomes a detriment. Complex, yes. Pay close attention to the outstanding guitar work towards the last half of the song. That, my friends, is why I listen to this stuff! www.myspace.com/negurabunget 

Of further note, Prophecy Productions is releasing the Negură Bunget’s Măiestrit and Les Discrets’ Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées is a unique 56 page picture art book format. They’re hardcover and filled with original photographs and art work that coincides with the albums, and look to be a collector’s wet dream. Check these photos out! www.prophecyproductions.de

  

 

-  Pope JTE    

 

 

 

    

Could D-NA be the new DBSK?

Before you start dismissing me for comparing such a new boyband to GODS, at least consider my points, and know that I'm a full-fledged Cassie but I'm also a music writer - I put my biases aside when I write critical pieces.

D-NA are a new boyband under one of the smaller Korean talent companies and the name stands for Dae Guk Nam Ah (something about guys? don't know the direct translation) - pictures were first released earlier this year.


When I first heard news about D-NA, I told myself I'd wait for music to come out, so here I am a few months later, with two songs, a music video and a live performance in hand. What I noticed while listening and watching all this material is baffling, even for me.

Their debut single, Admiring Boy (동경소년), reminds me A LOT of DBSK's Hug, and I mean A LOT. It's not fast enough for a mind-boggling routine nor is it too slow for the band to just stand there. It's mid-tempo verging on ballad, let's just put it that way. The harmony thingy at the start really reminds me of Hug as well, the only difference is that it's a LITTLE more updated than the DBSK debut single. That as well, it's their debut single.

The video reminds me of a cross between Hug and that SS501 single with the band dancing on a white backdrop - if my memory serves me right, that was their debut single as well. The dancing, some of the shots (especially the ones in the house) and the white/back theme really seem close to DBSK's initial image.

DBSK's debut single Hug (2003)

D-NA's debut single 동경소년 (2010)

Talent-wise, I'd have to say they're a little lacking compared to DBSK. BUT, there are a few points there as well. Tthey're a lot better in the vocal department than a lot of other boybands out right now and second, they're new, their voices will still grow and mature. DBSK were good when they started, but they're better now - D-NA will and HAVE TO grow into better singers who'll eventually morph into musicians.

Honestly, I don't know if they're good dancers since I know nothing about dancing but the fact that they're kinda being pushed as good singers (which in Korea most often equals ballad singers, with a few exceptions) but are still made to dance reminds me A LOT of how DBSK were initially pushed. Remember, they were supposedly lead singers of various SM project groups put together to form a boyband made up of guys who can all sing? Well there you have it.

However, I'm only judging on their debut material - if they don't get better songs and grow with time, they're not gonna be the new DBSK. The thing that makes DBSK so brilliant (I would've said this even if I wasn't a fan) is the fact that they grew after Hug and they continue to morph and deliver solid material that's worth your time, none of that auto tune crap. If D-NA can do that, which I hope they do within the next few years, then this essay would've predicted it. If they don't, well it was a nice try. Hahah.

Lost Classic - Blackfoot – Highway Song: Live

Attention young people: the next time you roll your eyes at the old guy at the end of the bar complaining about how rock was better in his day, chances are he saw Blackfoot at least once. If they’re from America maybe he saw Blackfoot give heavy duty headliners like Ted Nugent or The Who a run for their money. Maybe he even saw them when Def Leppard opened for them on one of their first US tours. If the dude is from England chances are he saw Blackfoot open for Iron Maiden on the Number Of The Beast tour. Europeans will rave about seeing them with the Scorpions. The verdict is in and it’s unanimous – old rock guys love to drink whiskey, crank their favorite Blackfoot albums and lecture young people. I should know. I am one of them. But I was never lucky enough to witness Blackfoot in their prime so I have to make due with their awesome live album from 1982.
At that time Blackfoot was a pretty big deal in the UK. They were acquiring an audience of rock fans but also had the support of the metal media and were probably the only band that could have played with either Motorhead or ZZ Top and win over both crowds. Blackfoot is usually labeled a Southern Rock band but I’m not convinced that’s an accurate description. There are some shared sensibilities with Lynyrd Skynyrd (Rickey Medlocke played drums in an early line up of Skynyrd and currently plays guitar for them), Molly Hatchet and Doc Holliday but what really sets Blackfoot apart is their Native American heritage. Drummer Jakson Spires (RIP) was Cherokee, bassist Greg T. Walker is a descendant of Eastern Creek Florida Indians and Medlocke is part Sioux. Guitarist Charlie Hargrett is from New York City. Can you really call these guys “Southern?” I’m not sure. And they certainly don’t sound like the Allman Brothers.

Blackfoot’s specialty is pure high energy rock n roll and they never did it better on wax than on Highway Song: Live. It doesn’t matter what you call it – Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, whatever. The end result is that it flat out KICKS ASS and makes you wish you were at this gig. The playing is incredibly tight and they blast one song after another barely pausing for breath in between. The rhythm section of Spires and Walker is so deep in the pocket. Jakson hits his drums hard but plays with a lot of taste and is never flashy. He and Greg really lay down the groove and play exactly what the song calls for. The guitar team of Rickey and Charlie is one that every band should study. These guys play so well together it sounds like one huge instrument. Rickey does most of the solos but Charlie gets some good leads in, too. Their tone is also classic Les Paul (or Gibson Explorer) into cranked Marshalls. Loud as hell but not so distorted that you can’t hear the notes.

Barnstormers like “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,” “Good Morning,” “Road Fever” and “Train Train” are pure audio adrenalin. These guys sound so excited to be playing in front of an appreciative audience and want to make sure everyone wakes up the next day hungover and with ringing ears. “Dry County” has great raunchy lyrics that mention “liquor in the front and poker in the rear” that excites the crowd. “Fly Away” was a hit single for them and the crowd loves singing along on it. I’m surprised that no one has ever used this song in a travel commercial. It’s a great tune that really makes you want to bust out of the normal daily grind.

There are a couple of blues tunes. The only slow song on the album is a faithful rendition of the standard “Trouble In Mind” and an uptempo arrangement of the boogie classic “Rollin and Tumblin.” Rickey introduces it as a John Lee Hooker tune but it’s usually associated with Muddy Waters or Elmore James, but John Lee did record it under the name “Rollin Blues.” The album concludes with their anthem “Highway Song.” It has a similar build up like “Freebird” but Blackfoot gets there in about half the time. They give you enough time to pull out your lighter to wave around during the slow part but once it starts to speed up I’m sure most concert goers found another use for the flame.


--Woody

Buy here: Highway Song: Live

Rant: Kpop's a threat to OPM? Puh-lease.

I only recently found out about this TV spot on one of the leading news programs in the country, but damn - I dunno how to feel.

Quick translation for English-speakers:
Girl: A lot of Filipinos are currently going crazy over Korean pop groups, proof of this is their domination of local music countdowns (note: on TV, charts are voting-based, not sales-based), a big threat to Original Pinoy Music that's lent (someone correct me? Ken? lol.) to the revival trend.
Guy: After the Nobody craze, Korean pop music has been getting more and more attention (the guy got his grammar screwed up. lol.) in the Philippines.
4Minute video
Guy: The amount of fans who turned up to 4Minute's recent mall shows is surprising. 4Minute are well-known (note: No, they're not.) for their hits Hot Issue and What A Girl Wants. SNSD's Oh! and Super Junior's Sorry Sorry are also #1 on Myx countdowns. Super Junior are set to perform in Araneta in April. OPM is still popular but Myx Channel head Mia Labendia admits that Kpop is a threat to the OPM industry, due to the fact that there's very little original material coming out. (rest of it ommitted) Kpop is apparently most-frequented in the 13-19 age bracket, according to sales figures.
Summary of the rest: bunch of OPM artists talking about how they're gonna take on kpop and all. Including Charice. Then they show a crappy wannabe Filipino girl group. UGH.

OK. Look. The Philippine music-buying public will buy anything that hits in the US - that's how they think. This supposed 'Kpop invasion' is all because of the Wonder Girls - they hit moderately in the US and suddenly everyone here was listening to it. There are kpop fans who've been fans for a long time now and there are people like me who got addicted to the genre a while before it hit here - I don't contest their fandom. BUT, there are people who listen to/watch these people just to go with the flow - because WG supported the Jonas Brothers and because Nobody kinda caught on to the US, it's suddenly the biggest thing since anything here.

When I was at the 4Minute showcase, a lot of the people around me weren't there because they were 4Minute fans or because they had to write something about the showcase (like me), they were there because they "listened to kpop". The way I see it, Filipino consumers right now see that if it's kpop, they buy it, regardless of whether they actually like the music or not. Which I find really stupid.

If kpop is a threat to OPM, what's American music? There are more American material available here and even if kpop is supposedly 'booming' here, not everyone listens to it. A lot, but not most. American music is an even bigger threat but why isn't anyone talking about it? Because Filipinos worship the Americans and want to BE Americans. Well, music-wise. Some of them.

Personally I think that unless OPM gets a major overhaul sound, concept and system-wise, it's a lost cause. Like the feature said, OPM basically revolves around artists doing third-rate covers of boring, outdated and pathetic Western hits - probably the only creativity in OPM comes from the band bands who play their own instruments, but sometimes even those bands aren't THAT good.

Filipinos are creative, yes, and there are a lot of outstanding musicians here, it's just that the people who supposedly "get big" here sing boring covers for the entire length of their careers. It CAN get boring.

I know this because my dad's in OPM - he pioneered probably the biggest band in OPM history and I saw how hard he fought to make them not just stars but musicians. Look what happened to them - they became legends. Filipinos have the ability to create good music, they have the ability to do these things, but they're not using those talents. That's what annoys the heck out of me.

I just find it stupid that they're even saying kpop's a threat to OPM, 'coz OPM isn't exactly the most productive industry. I honestly think they should stop thinking about all the 'threats' and start fixing our industry first because what good can enumerating threats bring? Nothing - they're just wasting their time.

Kpop here is a fad, no matter how much you say "you'll love kpop forever and ever and everrrr", it will disappear and be replaced by something else - that's a fact. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be a fan, just that some (NOT ALL) Filipinos should re-think the reasons why they're fans. Fads here in the Philippines aren't always genuine - some are really just knock-offs from the West.

An Electrifying Edifice of Ebullient EP's Featuring Stone Axe, Moth Circus and Black Robot

Man, it seems that better and better music just keeps coming to us in the small packages.  Seems the EP might be just the perfect format sometimes, a quick burst of dynamite rock, then exit.  Clean, surgical.  Efficient.  Today's sampling of recent Ripple EP's leave it all right there on the table.  Check em out.

Stone Axe -  Extended Play

To call this 30 minute treat an EP almost seems to be an insult, a tiny dismissal of the worthiness of this project, and I'll ask you . . . nay, beg you . . . not to make that mistake.  Stone Axe came from out of nowhere last year and literally blew our collective Ripple minds with the intensity of their retro-blues rock.  Names like early Whitesnake, Free, Bad Company, amongst others just flew from our lips like so much spittle.  We were so excited we could barely form words.  Now, hot on the heels of that full-length debut, the ever restless genius that is Tony Reed comes raging back with a 7-song platter that truly pushes the boundaries of the EP format.

Featuring three hot-as-shit, brand spanking new studio cuts and amped up with 4 songs from the first album, recorded live at Rocket Records, this EP is a total feast of chuncky blues-rock beef, served up barbequed, fresh and steaming hot.  The three studio tracks pick up right where the album left off, digging back into that retro-Cov mine, to uncover some beauties.  "Ain't Gonna Miss it," is absolutely timeless blues rocking, adding a touch of the Black Crowes into its blustery swagger.  Immediately, it's clear that Tony Reed will never run out of riffs thick enough to hang your coat on, and that Dru Brinkerhoff's stunning vocal performance on the debut album was no fluke.  There he is again, just as soulful, just as whiskey-coated in his bluesy tone.  Beautiful.  "King of Everything," picks up the intensity and the crunch, rocking on like the '90's and nu metal had never happened (and many of us wish it hadn't!)  "Those Were the Golden Years," throws us a twist, with the mercurially talented Tony picking up lead vocals to go with playing every damn instrument on the track.  Damn, there seems to be nothing the cat can't do.  Give him a hammer, some nails, a stack of blueprints, and I bet he could come up with the Taj Mahal. 

Once you've had your taste of the new tracks, kick back and dig into the groove of the live cuts.  I'd heard from our Ripple brethren Woody, that Stone Axe can tear it apart live and these cuts leave no doubt.  "Black Widow," is dark and menacing, with Tony's guitar searing behind Dru's heated performance.  "Shine On," is a mini-revelation of modern blues rock, and the epic "Skylah Rae," is  . . well . . . epic, losing nothing in transition from studio album to live performance.    "There'd be Days," ends it with a Faces-esque romp, full of unbridled live energy.

Really, it's no secret, we worship just about everything T. Reed lays his hands on and this album is no exception.  If you dug the debut, don't even hesitate long enough to blink before you pick this up.  If you didn't catch the debut, but the thought of some gut-busting, raunchy and rocking blues-busters sounds enticing, Stone Axe is for you.

http://www.myspace.com/stoneaxe

Moth Circus - S/T

No, seriously, this one got me at "hello."  Or rather, it got me at the opening, massively distorted industrial synth that starts of this terrorizing blitzkrieg of Norwegian Industro-groove and roll.  Think some of the best moments of Rammstein irreversibly bonded to the rocking crunch of Metallica and you'll get a feeling for where these insane Norsemen are coming from.   Monstrously groove heavy, these riffs don't so much rock as they tremble.  The boys call their sound "Pamela Anderson masturbating at a freak show" and I won't argue.  Many people would pay good money for both!

Each track erupts off the disc with as much power as an exploding inferno.  Check out "Carousel" on the Myspace player, which is the first track on the EP I got.  Wait till the industro-distortion wears off, wait until the jackhammer drumbeat starts to kick in, then keep waiting. Wait as the feedback drenched guitar wail starts to sink down into that fucking mother of all industrial metal grooves.  Holy crap.  This song doesn't just get up and go, it bursts out of the stratosphere.  This is the way I like my metal.  Loud and mean and meaty riffy, but infinitely groovy with a bottom end that just makes me want to jump on my desk and do some dance so embarrassing my kids will want to run away from home.  The vocals are perfect also, gruff and gargled enough in the throat to be soaked in testosterone.  I'm not one for high-pitched wailers.  I like my vocals meaty also, like they're coming from a gut that's been partially digested in acid.  Oh yeah!

Moth Circus never let up all the way through the 4 tracks.  "Death Living", takes off with a tasty GnR like guitar intro before dropping down into one beast of a COC-inspired piece of industro-sludge.  And the guitars keep chugging, damn they keep on chugging!    "Stay Wrong" drops some seriously nasty distortion onto the guitars and bass without ever losing that omni-present groove.  "Dark Sunshine" throws everything for a loop with its flamboyant tribal percussion intro before bringing the rock on.

I don't know much about these cats.  Four guys from Norway.  They play mean-ass, groove-infested rock and roll  and they're tinged with a hint of pure metallic madness.  That's all I need to know.  I bought my ticket.  I've joined the Circus.

www.myspace.com/mothcircus

Black Robot - S/T

It might seem like a bad sign when a band starts off their debut EP with a cover version of a popular song, already made famous by someone else's cover version, but have no fear.  Black Robot's demolishing, AC/DC inspired retake of JJ Cale's "Cocaine," wasn't done for a lack of inspiration.  Rather, this destructive musical cyborg takes the framework of a song we all know and love and simply turn it on it's ears, instantly making it their own.   AC/DC inspired doesn't do justice to the sound here, it's JJ Cale as re-imagined through the minds of Angus Young and Bon Scott.  And the riffage just never ends.  This just may be one of the best cover songs of the year.

With a pedigree that includes band members who at one point or another were all members of Buckcherry, it shouldn't surprise you that we're gonna get some pretty fricking gritty rock and roll on this massive slab of classic-inspired rock.  Besides the obvious AC/DC adoration of the opener you'll find hints of the Black Crowes, Sabbath, the Who, some Zepplin and seemingly just about any other classic rock band that these guys tossed into their cuisinarte, hit the frape mode, then poured the broth all over their naked bodies.  "In My Car," fuses a purely modern rock riff and beat to a mid-section that just screams The Who.   "Love On a .45" drops in some Janes Addiction into the frenzy without missing a beat.  And the pace just keeps up, all the way to the "we're not the Stones," terror of "Dissatisfaction."

As I understand it, the robots have a full-length album out there now, with 13 killer cuts on Formosa Records.  If these 5 songs are any indication of what lies in store on that disc, I guarantee you that we'll be hearing much more of Black Robot in 2010 and beyond.

www.myspace.com/blackrobot

--Racer

Marc Robillard – Sophmore EP

Mixing drums, piano, acoustic guitars and strings,
And a bit of poetry and philosophy with emotion,
Marc Robillard’s sophomore EP brings
Well-crafted songs with folk roots devotion.

A bit of notoriety with “So Much More” for Frito Lay Sun Chips,
Has been followed with these six tracks.
Pay attention to the words so filled with angst and quips
The compositions will take you back.

His lyrics are bare,
“Settin’ suns and all the ones who reach for shooting stars
So close you’re almost there,
then you realize it’s so far.”

Robillard says he is influenced by Coldplay,
Travis, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco and Damien Rice,
I can also heard Leonard Cohen, early Lou Reed and David Gray,  
Not hard, not rough, not nasty - quite nice.  

Canadian-born, but, now Los Angeles-based,
His sullen works express hopes and introspections.
I suggest you check out a taste,
A new musical experience beckons.

 - Old School

buy here:  So Much More

Rage - Unity

There was a time in the late 80’s that I thought that these guys would have been mentioned in the same breath as Metallica, but alas, Metallica have climbed to the top of the social conscious for better or for worse, and Rage . . . well, I’m willing to bet that the smallest percentage of our readers even know who these guys are. Since the 90’s, I couldn’t mention their name without people confusing them with Rage Against the Machine, even though the music isn’t even in the same realm of reality. So, what happened to Rage? Why didn’t they become the household name that they so seemingly deserved to be? Eh, I could climb on top of my soapbox and wax on and off about the injustices of the music industry and the fickleness of the music fans, but I’m just too tired to fight today. It is what it is, and Rage has spent the past two decades toiling in their unobtrusive fashion throughout the European metal scene. I tried to keep tabs on them through the 90’s, lost their scent and ultimately forgot about the band except for those random days when I went on my Rage benders, spinning Perfect Man and Secrets in a Weird World to the point that I was whipped into a heavy metal frenzy. Then I saw it. In 2002, I found a copy of Unity at the record store.

On one hand, I was excited that the band had dug itself back to the glaring light of the sun for one more metallic display of technical wizardry for my benefit only. On the other hand, I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t be the same Rage that I had spent the previous ten years cheering in my own private arena. Spoiler alert: I’m writing about it, right? The album is pure, unadulterated German technical power metal without all of the dreamy imagery of storming castles or battling an evil warlord on blood soaked fields. Rage play their brand of metal unlike any band that I’ve heard, incorporating elements of thrash, composing great four and five minute ditties that are musically dynamic making them feel a lot longer than they actually are, and pumping the choruses with so much melody that the songs remain memorable. Imagine the musical proficiency of a band like Rush, mix that with the melodic songwriting abilities of a band like, say Journey, for instance; and then add the aggressive distorted bombast of a band like Metallica. Combine all of this with some sleek production and you have the progressive power metal leanings of Rage.

Rage is as complete a band as they come, particularly when hoisting them up against their metal peers.  The rhythm section of Peavy on bass and vocals and Mike Terrana on drums is an unnatural force of thunder and groove, but Unity is made most dynamic by the guitar virtuosity of Victor Smolski. In fact, this entire album is a clinic on six string mastery, as this Russian string bender not only provides excellent moments of shred, but provides beautiful passages of melody, and then stomps effect pedals in a way that would make Tom Morello embarrassed. Case in point, fast forward the disc to the eighth track, “Living My Dream.” The tune kicks off with Smolski grinding a palm muted riff filled with squeals and nuance, throws in some alternate picking, letting his left hand flow across the neck of the guitar, and then showers us with sparks of dexterous brilliance at the solo. Though, the solo isn’t just a lesson in fret hand dexterity, it’s also a lesson in pedal board footwork. The effects that this guy whips out are mind blowing, but maybe even more amazing is how he melds one sound into the next without it sounding like overkill. “Living My Dream” also highlights the bands stylistic range by hitting the song hard and heavy, full of aggression and paranoid tension, then they open the song up to huge and sweeping melodies, almost to the point of operatic. In essence, you’ll be banging your head, waving the horns, and singing like a bird . . . all at the same time!

For more on the heavy side of the coin, “Down” is about as good as it gets. Grinding and up tempo, reminiscent of Painkiller-era Priest, the song opens with more palm muted guitar riffery and flurried of double bass drums pitter-pattering their way in the background. Peavy’s vocals, always a mixed bag, are uber-melodic through the verses before working hard to get guttural for the choruses. Smolski’s guitar work at the solo is another head spinner, mixing in great combinations of scales and bar chords, hitting the effects board just enough to shake things up, injecting serious flavor in the smorgasbord of sound. Much of the same can be said about songs like “Insanity” and album opener, “All I Want.” Infectious melodies make it hard to forget the songs and it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll be humming these songs during all of the quiet moments in the day.

“Dies Irae” flirts with epicness, opening with a choir chanting away in Latin while the band is dropping huge bursts of distortion in the background. As the choir fades out, the music encompasses all that is power metal; heavy grooves, up tempo drum beats, melodic vocals, awesome guitar riffs, and sweeping solos that will have you involuntarily playing air guitar in your office cubicle. This one features another stunning solo from Smolski. I love how he makes it sound so effortless, so fluid, so stream of conscious as his fingers do their lightning dance across the fret board. And even though, at times during the solo, it sounds like mere mindless noodling, on greater inspection of the work, it becomes readily apparent that this guy has more chops than your local butcher. Fucking incendiary approach to his playing, and now that I’ve come back to re-listen to Unity, I’m inspired to track down more of Rage’s later works. And speaking of Unity, the title track is a compositional game of chess, Risk, and Stratego . . . all wrapped into a seven plus minute instrumental epic, incorporating elements of jazz-fusion and classical within the realms of all that is heavy. Truly masterful!

I will probably always be a Rage fan because, unlike a lot of metalheads out there, I get them. At least, I think I get them. Peavy and company haven’t really changed their formula all that much. The level of musicianship has definitely increased since those earlier albums that I mentioned, and to listen to Unity after listening to something like Perfect Man or Execution Guaranteed is the equivalent of using a telephone in 1980 to using a cell phone today. It’s technically advanced, but basically does the same thing. In the case of Rage, their sound has become more full, more focused, more defined, and in some ways, easy to use. Fans of guitar driven music, especially metal, will love this album. How Victor Smolski isn’t mentioned in the same breath as all of the great virtuoso’s of the instrument is beyond me. Admittedly, getting used to Peavy’s voice will take some getting used to, but if you’re a Rush fan and it took you some time to get past Geddy’s voice, then this should be a cake walk. Alrighty . . . I’m off to track down Rage’s post-Unity material . . . I’ll catch up with y’all later.  -  Pope JTE

Buy here: Unity

http://www.rage-on.de/