{"id":102885,"date":"2024-03-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=102885"},"modified":"2024-04-12T13:48:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T12:48:42","slug":"album-review-rage-afterlifelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-rage-afterlifelines\/","title":{"rendered":"RAGE – Afterlifelines (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

RAGE
Afterlifelines<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSteamhammer (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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So impressed was I by the last Rage full-length, Resurrection Day<\/em> (2021), I almost held a house party for one in honour of the potent longevity of this German clan that\u2019s been rattling off supreme metal since 1986. No real shock then that with studio album number 25 Rage delivers another monstrous truck load of flaming steel.<\/p>\n

Rage shares a unique quality with the likes of Accept, Judas Priest and previously Mot\u00f6rhead in that you pretty much know what is coming and yet once it hits you cannot resist the power. Peter \u201cPeavey\u201d Wagner and company just go for the throat like a metallic jaguar taking down prey as scorching riffs and solos combine with heated percussion and stormy bass lines, the result being a metallic concept cauldron of fury that runs for almost 90 minutes!<\/p>\n

The record is basically split into two halves, the first being Afterlife<\/em> and the second Lifelines<\/em>, both of which boast that classic Rage sound that merges power metal with speedier blasts. There is little room for subtlety here as Rage relentlessly batter the listener, and yes, at first, Afterlifelines<\/em> is overwhelming and I really had to separate each track, breaking them down individually as searing solos marry with pounding drums and surging riffs. However, this album is an incredible construction to mark the 40th anniversary of what is still very much an underrated act.<\/p>\n

Of the multitude of songs most, as expected, are ferociously heavy give or take tracks like \u2018Justice Will Be Mine\u2019 which is one of the weakest cuts on offer with its contemporary power metal ethos. \u2018Root Of Our Evil\u2019 is another track that is less favourable due to its symphonic elements, but I can forgive such occasional blips due to the tides of fierce excursions such as the excellent \u2018Mortal\u2019, the riff heavy \u2018Life Among The Ruins\u2019, the exuberant \u2018Cold Desire\u2019 with its potent chorus, and the forceful \u2018End Of Illusions\u2019. Several songs are lengthy too, one of the best being ballad \u2018Dying To Live\u2019. Another example of variation comes with the folky \u2018In The End\u2019 which rounds this gargantuan opus off.<\/p>\n

There is so much ambition here, just testament to the band\u2019s longevity and continued commitment to creation. Just spin the track \u2018Lifelines\u2019, that showcases the talents of Peavey (vocals and bass), Jean Bormann (guitar) and Vassilios \u201cLucky\u201d Maniatopoulos (drums), to understand the extraordinary nature of this band. Afterlifelines<\/em> is a double concept album that demands you pay attention even with its fiery assaults. Rage demands respect and you would be a fool not to give it.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAGEAfterlifelines Steamhammer (2024)Rating: 8.5\/10 So impressed was I by the last Rage full-length, Resurrection Day (2021), I almost held a house party for one in honour of the potent longevity of this German clan that\u2019s been rattling off supreme metal since 1986. No real shock then that with studio album number 25 Rage delivers another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-rage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102890,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102885\/revisions\/102890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}