The German heavy metallers return with album number 27, just one year removed from their gargantuan double release, Afterlifelines. As you can see, we loved that album, so when this came across our desk we were of course going to be checking it out too! I love the European style of thrash and heavy metal, and cannot wait to hear another, slightly shorter release from the band this time around!
The title track is a short intro track, building up perfectly into the explosion of ‘Innovation’. A thrash riff bursts in, soon backed up by the lightening fast drums. Peavy’s powerful vocals soon come in over the top, fitting the energy of the track perfectly. Immediately has modern Testament vibes in the best ways. It also all builds up into a surprisingly massive, catch chorus. It maintains its heavy thrash roots but that chorus almost gives it a power metal edge. And of course, we get a blistering, awesome guitar solo, complete with even some phenomenal harmonised sections, and the breakdown riff in the middle of it all is incredible! It’s everything great about this sort of style of metal, and it’s an absolutely perfect way to start the album off!
‘Against the Machine’ keeps the energy high with a huge thrash riff right out of the gate. It follows a similar framework to the previous track, going hard but dropping back a little for an arena-filling chorus, the band doing the style so well. I like that it also drops down for the bridge, building up again in a pretty modern metalcore way. It leads to a fantastic breakdown, almost djent in its guitar work, and then an equally awesome guitar solo! It’s yet another awesome track, and one that easily makes it onto our playlist!
‘Freedom’ has a bit more of a groove metal feel to it, and the lyrics are fantastic, fitting the current world climate perfectly and putting a great message out there. The same could be said for ‘Next Generation’ and the awesome ‘Paradigm Change’. All are groove-filled, metal greatness, and all have some good emotion and meaning behind the tracks. The latter in particular is another huge album highlight, and up there among some of my favourite songs from the band, honestly. All of them are great tracks and worth checking out if you are into the more Prong style of metal!
Meanwhile, tracks like ‘We’ll Find a Way’, ‘Cross the Line’, ‘Leave Behind’ go for more of a metalcore sound to them, metallic, memorable riffing, some Parkway-esque guitars in the latter and even some screams and breakdowns in the other two! It’s another three awesome tracks that once again give a little more variety to an album that so far has done a fantastic job of holding my attention throughout. ‘Cross the Line’ is probably my favourite of the three, probably because it’s the heaviest, but they are all good songs and once again worth checking out. All of them are the exact sound that is right up my street, growing up in the metalcore boom, so of course I love them!
‘Fire in your eyes’ is the slower, ballad track of the album. It still has some heaviness and distortion to it, but is notably subdued, and filled of some amazing clean and acoustic guitaring. It also has a now-expected epic, infectiously catchy chorus, and some more amazing lead guitaring throughout for good measure! My only slight gripe is the fade-out, though it even kinda fits with the track so it’s hard to complain about really. And, this song is perfectly nestled between the previous few tracks I’ve mentioned, breaking apart the pacing and energy perfectly, making this album incredibly easy to listen to in one sitting. Great stuff!
There’s a bit more of an industrial/nu/early 2000s metal with ‘Fear Out of Time’. Having said that, it also has slight elements of Trivium to it, which I LOVE. Once again, an excellent change of pace and yet another sound that the band do so well! It still has the bands typical heaviness to it too, it still being distinguishable as Rage despite the slight change in tone. Honestly, it’s an easy highlight of the album, being maybe my favourite song on it and up there alongside my favourite from the band’s catalogue. They are so insanely talented at songwriting and playing, and that is so evident here and throughout this release!
‘Beyond the Shield of Misery’ brings back the bands typical European thrash sound, while the closer recreates maybe the bands biggest hit for the modern year, being a surprisingly excellent addition to the album as it’s still very relevant today! Both are awesome songs and bring the album back to their signature sound to close things out perfectly. Two more well worth checking out, even if you’re familiar with the latter already!
Overall: This is an amazing album! As much as I enjoyed their previous release, this one felt more concise yet more varied, and made for a far easier listen. There isn’t a bad song throughout, and some are true standout tracks! It’s insane that after four decades the band are still going this hard, but it’s a true testament to the talent for Peavy and co. If you are at all into the band or genres, I cannot recommend this enough!
The Score: 9/10