Since 2005, the Rhenish-Belarusian power trio Rage has been on the warpath, so to speak, against the post-Bush foreign and economic policies of the United States, and delivered three albums which contained outraged political broadsides against the military-industrial complex, corporate greed and neoliberalism: 2006’s Speak of the Dead (with Mike Terrana of Masterplan on drums), 2008’s Carved in Stone and 2010’s Strings to a Web. ‘No Fear’, from Speak of the Dead, was perhaps the trendsetter in this regard. In addition, the song is a sterling example (alongside, say, Angel Dust’s ‘Bleed’) of what power metal should sound like - hard, crunchy and heavy whilst at the same time losing as few of the melodic or emotional elements as possible, something at which Peter Wagner and Victor Smolski are both rather ingenious. The album is slightly schizophrenic, which is by no means a bad thing, since it features also a lengthy symphonic arrangement (‘Suite Lingua Mortis’) with the Belarusian Inspector Symphonic Orchestra accompanying. Rage unfortunately also has a twinge of the knee-jerk anti-religious sentiment to which heavy metal in general is often prone, and their lyrics aren’t necessarily the deepest around, but in the face of their sheer all-around awesomeness I think a great deal can be forgiven.
Enjoy, gentle readers!
"Rage unfortunately also has a twinge of the knee-jerk anti-religious sentiment to which heavy metal in general is often prone"
ReplyDeleteTell me about it. I may have mentioned this, but I am a Ronnie James Dio fan. I was pretty disappointed when I learned that he had a pretty negative view of religion. I think he honestly had a bad experience in Catholic school. I remember an interview where he talked about hating the way the nuns would always talk about people going to Hell and the way they would hit students.
As much as I sometimes glorify the past, I can honestly say that I am glad that some aspects of religious education have changed. Also, I can understand why some "metalheads" rebel against their parents if they are "holy rollers." I don't necessarily condone it, but I can understand their feelings.
Hi John!
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy Dio - especially his Holy Diver album, in spite of the album cover. The man was a genius, pure and simple; may he rest in peace. But I also have the same kind of ambivalence toward his views on religion.
At the same time, when some metal bands which I highly respect and enjoy (such as Kreator, Falconer, Testament and Skyclad) feature lyrics which bludgeon religious hypocrisy, though, I do sometimes think they're providing a service which the contemporary Church sometimes tends to lack; the same service which the prophets of Old Israel provided when they criticised the religious establishment for their treatment of the poor and the dispossessed.
Looking forward to reading your latest updates!
All the best,
Matt