Rage’s Latest LP Will Make Audiences Very Happy

By: Philip Sayblack

​Rage has got to be one of the hardest working bands in the music industry.  Since the release of its debut album, Prayers of Steel in 1985, the band has released 26 albums with and the lonest span the band has gone between albums in all of that is four years.  That happened only once between the release of the band’s 2102 album 21 and its follow-up, The Devil Strikes Again (2016).  Other than that one instance, the band has released a new album every two to three years at the very most.  This past September, the band released its now 27th album, A New World Rising, not even a full two years after the release of Afterlifelines, which the band released in March 2024.  Now, this is all important to note because considering how much content the band has released over the course of its four decade-plus life, one might think the band would eventually get burned out along with audiences, but this latest album proves exactly the opposite.  Over the course of its 13-song, 47-minute body, the band has proven that it is still going strong.  This is proven in part through its featured musical arrangements.  The lyrical themes that accompany said content make for their own interest while the record’s production puts the finishing touch to the whole.  Each item noted plays its own important part to the record’s whole.  All things considered they make A New World Rising maybe not new overall from the band but still enjoyable.
A New World Rising, the latest full-length studio recording from Rage, is a solid new effort from the veteran hard rock outfit.  This is proven in part through the record’s featured arrangements.  There is plenty of familiarity throughout the album in regard to its musical material.  That heaviness, that intense “Euro-metal” approach is one again there.  At the same time, it feels like the band has evolved its familiar sound and style throughout the album.  This is evident right from the album’s outset in the form of ‘Innovation.’  Guitarist Jean Bormann brings to this song, a riff that is easily comparable to works from the likes of Arch Enemy while drummer Vassilios Maniatopoulos’s time keeping is precise throughout.  His ability to hand such tight patterns so fluidly throughout the work is incredible.  His work here is just as impressive as that of the drummers who preceded him in the band.  Much the same can be stated of ‘Against The Machine.  And ‘We’ll Find a Way.’ The guitar work and time keeping is precise to say the very least.  That tightness, that precision is incredible and continues throughout the record, making for plenty for audiences to appreciate.
On another note, a song, such as ‘Next Generation’ continues to show the evolution of the band’s sound with its early 2000s nu-metal approach alongside its more familiar melodic metal style.  Yes, the band even touches on some nu-metal here and that combination of styles works so surprisingly well here, too.
On a more familiar note, established audiences will appreciate the album’s penultimate entry, ‘Beyond The Shield of Misery.’  This even with the seeming metalcore style riffs that are fused into the mix for yet another surprisingly engaging and entertaining whole and further showing the solid evolution of the band’s sound.
‘Freedom,’ for those looking for something “purer” from the band in regard to its stylistic approach’ get plenty of that in this three-minute-plus composition.  This song is everything that established Rage fans have come to expect from the band.  Between that song’s arrangement and all of the others, which show a real and impressive evolution of the band’s sound, the overall musical body of A New World Rising proves to be a strong cornerstone for the album.
Building on that cornerstone is the lyrical content that accompanies the album’s musical arrangements.  Unlike so many of Rage’s existing albums, the lyrical content featured this time out is actually quite positive.  As band founder Peavy Wagner explained in a news release announcing the album’s release this summer, “We need to get out of the destructive mindset that is currently omnipresent.  A lot of people think the world is about to come to an end, everything is interpreted in a negative way, and some of it is even deliberately controlled because it’s easier to manipulate people with fear: that’s why our message is: Think independently! And don’t believe everything you’re told.”  In other words, the overall lyrical sense in this album is far more positive than on Rage’s existing albums.  Case in point is the album’s midpoint, ‘Cross The Line.’  This song presents a message of positive change and looking forward.  This is evidenced as Wagner sings, “I cross the line/I have walked so many miles from here/In these dirty, worn out boots/I have tasted from this poisoned wine/That was killing all my roots/But time/It seems to pass me by/I guess I better run/I cross the line/I changed my mind/I’m not abandoned from my future anymore/I cross the line/It’s about time/That I can save my life/Can save my sanity/I cross the line.”   This is a straightforward message.  This is someone who is saying they are looking back at where and who they were while realizing the future is still ahead and can be better.  This is a welcome message, not only now but in general.  Wagner continues in similar fashion in the song’s second verse, singing, “On my journey through these wasted years/I was creeping like a slave/Like a shadow/Never reached my size/Always one foot in the grave.”  From here he reprises the song’s uplifting chorus, adding to the overall impact of the song’s message even more.  The whole here is a message that serves to remind people things can get better and it is up to them to realize that and make the change.  It is such a welcome message.
‘Fire In Your Eyes,’ which is part of the album’s second half, is another example of what makes the album’s lyrical themes so powerful.  Wagner said of the song in the noted news release, “There’s an incredible bond among metal fans that’s evident at every concert, every festival and has led to fantastic organizations, such as ‘Metality e.V. which looks after people who have stumbled in life.”  He added that this song is “a declaration of love to all metal fans.”  That declaration is made clear as Wagner sings here, “I’m blessed when I see it burning/It takes me by surprise/The passion for the moment/It is the fire in your eyes/We’re touched by a higher power/And filled with the light of love/Deep in our veins/It’s burning/This is the fire in your eyes/What more has a life to offer/A spark of eternity/We’re one in a greater moment/I love the fire in your eyes/So glad when I see you smiling/The glimpse when we recognize/The glow in this stream of life/Is a sign of what we are about/No need for an explanation/No fear we could fall apart/We’re here/And that’s all we need now/So keep that fire in your eyes.”  This message is so powerful.  That last line, that reminder to “keep that fire in your eyes,” is a statement that is small but speaks volumes.  Together with everything else noted, the whole makes for a message that is further proof of why metal fans are the happiest.  It is also another example of why this record’s lyrical content is some of the best from any hard rock and metal album released so far this year.
Yet one more example of the strength of the album’s lyrical content comes in the form of ‘We’ll Find a Way.’  Another entry in the record’s first half, this song is another uplifting piece that reminds listeners life can get better.  This is evidenced as Wagner sings, “Now it’s time to seize the day/Save the days to come/Till we are dead and gone/We were a million miles away/For so many years/Cried a billion tears/We can talk/We can forgive/Let us prosper/Let us Live/I am sure we’ll find a way/Work it out another day/I believe we’ll find a way/get it straight and make it stay/Let me come around today/I believe we’ll find a way.”  He continues in the song’s second verse, “I’ve forgotten why we fought/We have killed/We died/Every word we lied/Just revenge in every thought/All the wasted days/Out mind in haze.”  The whole is a reminder that for all of the bad things in the past, we can still “find a way.”  We can make things better.  It is yet another welcome, uplifting message that the world needs now just as much as ever and yet another example of the strength and importance of said overall content.  When this message and the others examined here are considered along with the rest of the album’s uplifting lyrical material, the whole adds a whole extra layer of appreciation for the album.  When the overall positivity of the lyrical content is considered alongside the power of the album’s musical arrangements, that whole makes this record that much more successful.
Putting the final touch to this record is its production.  As noted, the musical arrangements featured throughout the album are intense to say the very least.  That means that the utmost attention had to be given to each song’s balance.  That is exactly what was done.  The result is that at no point does one musician’s performance overpower that of his band mates.  The impact thereof is a record that is just as successful for its aesthetic aspect as for its content.  To that end, the whole of A New World Rising proves that it deserves a spot among the best of this year’s top new hard rock and metal albums, even as crowded as that very field already is.
A New World Rising, the latest album from Rage, is a powerful new presentation from the veteran hard rock band that established audiences will appreciate just as much as casual hard rock and metal fans in general.  This is evidenced in part through its musical arrangements, which are so rich and powerful from one to the next.  The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s musical arrangements add to the record’s appeal.  That is because of their overall positive vibe.  The record’s production puts the finishing touch to the whole, as it ensures the overall sound is expertly balanced throughout the record.  Each item examined is important in its own way to the whole of this new record from Rage.  All things considered they make A New World Rising one more of this year’s best new hard rock and metal offerings.
A New World Rising is available now through Steamhammer Records.  More information on the album is available along with all of Rage’s latest news at:


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