lukretion
Already with 2001’s record Welcome to the Other Side, Peavy Wagner had shown all the potential of the new Rage’s line-up, where guitar prodigy Victor Smolski and veteran drummer Mike Terrana had replaced the Efthimiadis brothers. That album, however, was marred by the prolixity (17 tracks!) and uneven quality of the material. With their second attempt, Unity, the trio succeeded with flying colours, single-handedly correcting all the main defects of the previous record.
The songwriting is lean and concise as rarely before on a Rage’s LP. No fillers or fat to trim on the 11 tracks of this record: everything is condensed to its essential elements, making for an explosive and thoroughly enjoyable listen through and through. This freshness also owes a debt to the clever diversification of ideas explored on the album. The trio of opening tracks (“All I Want”, “Insanity”, “Down”) and “Seven Deadly Sins”, with their fast-paced tempos, thrash-inspired riffing, and aggressive vocal delivery and lyrics, are a continuation of the return to the band’s heavier roots initiated with Welcome to the Other Side. However, Unity contains much more than a healthy share of kicks in the face to the unsuspecting metal fan. Even in the heavier and darker tracks, the Germans never lose sight of melody, injecting bright, memorable hooks in the choruses to provide contrast and balance to the fury and aggression. Elsewhere “Set This World on Fire” and “You Want It, You’ll Get It” marry speed, melody and baroque scales in the best tradition of neoclassical power metal, whereas Rage give full vent to their progressive ambitions in the album’s awesome mid-section (“Dies Irae”, “World of Pain”, “Living My Dream”) as well as in the long instrumental title-track that closes the album. “Dies Irae” is particularly stunning, fuelled by a terrific guitar riff as well as a majestic, theatrical vocal performance by Peavy Wagner, further complemented by an opera choir.
The three musicians’ performances are spectacular, with Smolksi’s quick-fire and intelligent guitar playing being particularly praiseworthy. Following his twisty riffs and blistering solos across the album is pure joy and the fact that the guitarwork is so perfectly integrated with the rest of the instruments (particularly Terrana’s drums), is testament to the skills of sound engineer Charlie Bauerfeind, who succeeds in balancing warmth, power and pristine sound clarity in a production that has nothing to envy to modern, contemporary ones. I also appreciated the sparse but effective use of synths and keyboards, especially in the proggy closing track “Unity”.
Although my love for Rage blossomed during their “symphonic years” (Lingua Mortis to Ghosts) and I will always be partial to that phase of their discography, it’s foolish not to see Unity as a renaissance for the German combo, after a couple of records (Welcome to the Other Side but also Ghosts) where the band had started to show signs of weathering. By combining together different traditions of metal (thrashy 80s metal, German power/speed metal, prog metal) in a natural and seamless way, the album provides a bird’s eye view on the band’s catalogue past and present, while at the same time projecting it into the future. Most importantly, it makes for a great energetic album that is lots of fun to listen to from start to finish.