Rage
“Soundchaser”
(SPV)
Rage is a band that goes back to 1983. They’re German; they’ve been incredibly prolific with over twenty five Lps, Eps, live and acoustic releases. No light weights, eh? I was digging the Rage sound back in high school, and something in the fogbank of reminiscence I still do enjoy Rage. Their last album, “Unity,” I thought was right on track. This new album, however, is experiencing some metal bloat. This one has the classic Rage sound that goes all the way back to ’88’s “Perfect Man” album; that’s not the problem, but the ridiculous “concept” of this album is where the metal bloat comes in.
The album supposedly tells a story about some alien created robots that are discovered by archeologists under the arctic ice-shelf and then rebuilt, combined with human genes. These guys are called soundchasers; they’re programmed to kill terrorists and they’re activated with music. The album supposedly tells the tale of the last soundchaser as it’s nearing death. Boy, oh boy! I’m a sci-fi geek, but lord all mighty, man, I sure can’t take this silly narrative. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take the music. I can ignore the lyrics and the story they tell, right? Sure I can, and I do because the music is worth it: tight, technically inspired and thoughtful with great structure and big choruses.
