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Rage of the Gods (2015) is the second full-length album by US metal act Vänlade. The band have extended their line-up to a five piece with this album with the addition of second guitarist Vinnie Lee Camarillo, while the rest of the line-up remains the same as recorded debut album Iron Age (2012). It's been a few years since the debut was released and it really shows in the development of Vänlade's music. The phrase 'taking it to the next level' is most definitely appropriate here.
The music on Rage of the Gods sits somewhere between speed metal and US power metal. The music tends to be fast and kind of thrashy, sometimes even moving into more full-on thrash metal territory, but maintains quite the melodic sensibility, although not to the style and level of European power metal, which is really what puts the album's power metal side more firmly in USPM territory. Less commonly there are also some nods towards traditional heavy metal as well, so Vänlade have this sort of spectrum of metal (what I sometimes tend to think of as the 'classic metal' spectrum) well covered on their second offering. To top of a strong instrumental section, vocalist Brett Blackout Scott provides a lively performance, not quite hitting the high notes of the USPM greats such as late Crimson Glory singer Midnight or Sanctuary's Warrel Dane in his prime but doing a convincing enough job of it all the same, and in fact Vänlade's music may be just that bit more accessible because of it, as those 80's style high register vocals aren't for everyone.
The music is quite well produced without being over-polished, lacking the rawness of 80's speed metal while neither have a squeaky clean modern metal sound. Again, meeting somewhere in the middle of speed and power metal. It's an effective balance of sounds that allows Vänlade to deliver a full-on and varied metal album that kicks arse from start to finish with barely any letup. Vänlade aren't breaking any moulds here, though I wouldn't say they're at all generic either, but they simply show that at the end of the day nothing will ever be wrong with producing a fast paced kick arse metal record that doesn't waste much time to get its listener in a headbanging mood. Anyone who says otherwise clearly doesn't appreciate music for what it is.
Rage of the Gods is also most definitely a big step up from the Vänlade debut album Iron Age, an album that I found enjoyable enough at the time but quickly forgettable, which didn't show off as many different influences as Rage of the Gods does and just doesn't manage to get the blood boiling in the same way. I think that Vänlade have earned an easy 4.5 stars for this one though.