The legends of power metal, Rage, are back with their whopping 26th studio release. Rarely, if ever,have a band been this consistent with musical output over the course of four decades. And, it’s even rarer that a band stay this consistently high quality throughout almost that entire time, too! I’m a big fan of the band, and we haven’t had any new music from them for three years at this point, so I’m excited to dive in! And strap yourselves in guys, it’s a double album, so this one’s gonna be long!
After a suitable epic intro track, the guitars ring true immediately with a sick opening to ‘End of Illusions’. I know old-school fans will hate me for this, but it really did remind me of ‘Hail to the King’. Especially with the rest of the instruments building in. It builds into a massive, lightening quick riff, almost thrash at the pace it sets. Both the drumming and guitaring is off the charts immediately, not at all making me jealous of their talent. The vocals fit perfectly over the top, adding an almost NWOBHM vibe to the proceedings. And the chorus is big, open and pretty damn catchy. The few screams fit perfectly too, and the one after the second chorus leads into the heavy breakdown amazingly. What a breakdown riff too, damn! It also had a sick guitar solo over it, because why not, and then the final chorus takes us home in style. This was an awesome way to open the album, and an easy choice for our playlist!
The epic, heavy riffs continue immediately with ‘Under a Black Crown’. The guitars almost have a black metal feel to them, which was awesome. A speedy pre leads to another awesome, infectiously catchy chorus. I prefer this to the previous one, and the vocals are very much giving off Paul Di’Anno vibes. It’s certainly a good thing, as it’s like a heavier early-Maiden style. We get another incredible breakdown in the middle of this too, them definitely being a massive highlight of the album so far. I love that the power metal just takes a sharp turn into deathcore for a few seconds, more genres need to adopt the tactic! It’s another great song, as the chorus is going to be stuck in my head for hours to come, I’m sure!
One half of the title track, ‘Afterlife’ is up next. It opens on a really awesome riff, giving off heavy metalcore vibes. The vocals fit perfectly over the top of it, all building to a bigger, more power metal chorus. However, the lead guitar lines through it are so very early BFMV/Killswitch Engage that it very much retains that metalcore edge. I love it; the two styles blend together rather perfectly and I’m shocked we haven’t had more of it before now. The now typical breakdown and shredding guitar solo ring true to fill the gap between choruses, showing off the insanely high musicianship in the band. The harmonies in the solo were also incredible. It’s another song that I just have to put on our playlist!
Tracks like ‘Dead Man’s Eyes’, ‘Mortal’ and ‘Toxic Ways’ are all great, but it was at this point that I was starting to feel the length of the album a little. Honestly, the whole rest of the first ‘disc’ is all pretty similar. I completely get that after 40 years as a band, the trio have a very refined sound, and it’s a fucking awesome one at that, so of course that’s what they’re going to write. As I said, none are bad by any stretch; in fact, all are awesome, to put it lightly. Heck, ‘Justice Will be Mine’ is one of my favourite tracks on the album and another easy highlight. Clearly, the concept of the album is too much for my impatient brain!
Speaking of the concept, it all changes with ‘disc’ two and ‘Cold Desire’. Opening on a beautiful piano and string arrangement instead of a crushing riff, it’s more like orchestral folk than power metal. Having said that, it still has a dark, almost Nightmare Before Christmas vibe to it. The metal soon comes in to accompany it, a massive riff and drumbeat filling out the sound. It still has all the prototypical big choruses and heavy riffs of the first half of the album, but the symphonic parts add a hell of a lot more to the sound, filling it out and making it suddenly a lot more power metal-y.
Much of the rest of the album has a similar feeling, too. As I said, that isn’t a bad thing, I just run out of things to talk about when an album is a lot of the same!
The two tracks that buck that trend are ‘Dying to Live’ and the proggy epic, ‘Lifelines’. The former is the ballad of the album, a beautiful acoustic track enhanced no end by the orchestral arrangement behind it. It still builds in the distorted guitars and drums around the halfway point, but the slower pace and more emotional delivery and feel keeps it a ballad. It’s amazing, and another huge highlight of the album!
Meanwhile, ‘Lifelines’ feels like it combines every sound that has come before and after it into an incredible near-10 minutes of music. Want huge riffs and heavy breakdowns? Check. Want epic, arena-filling choruses and bridges? You got it. Want beautiful orchestral pieces and stripped-back, cleaner rock parts? Sure, it’s here too. It’s a truly fantastic song and one of the most impressive prog-power metal songs I’ve heard. If you can stand the length, check this out!
Overall: This was amazing. Though I have been slightly critical of the In Your Honor-style structure of it, it’s a fantastic idea for the band to do, and they pull it off masterfully. I truly think there isn’t a bad song on the album; it’s 90+ minutes of pure metal awesomeness. It is certainly a tall task to get through it all at once, and one I will probably not attempt again in all honesty. However, I’ll be listening to a lot of these tracks a lot in the coming months. If you are a fan of the band or genre in any way, you’ll love this!
The Score: 8.5/10