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Review: Rage - Carved in Stone
Rage
www.rage-official.com
Carved in Stone

Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Year released: 2008
Duration: 47:49
Tracks: 10
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
3.25/5


Review online: January 29, 2008
Reviewed by: Larry Griffin
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 3.84/5 (76.8%) (25 Votes)
Review

What the fuck happened? "Welcome to the Other Side", "Unity" and "Soundchaser" were amongst my favorite Power Metal albums, and even 2006's rather lackluster effort "Speak of the Dead" had a few excellent tracks shining through the bland nature of some of the dreck on it. In the same nature of several of their aging contemporaries, though, Rage are slowly decaying to dust, and their sound is becoming less genre-defining and powerful, as "Carved in Stone" is a pale shadow of everything I liked about this band.

If you were to hear this album with no prior knowledge of any Rage albums, then you might like it better than I do. On the surface it's still the same band I love, as the lineup hasn't changed - save for a new drummer - and the style of music is still the same gritty, ballsy flavor of Power Metal that they've always played, but upon comparing this one to "Unity", you start to realize exactly how weak and neutered this new album really is. Peavy's vocal melodies are not very strong here, never sticking in your head the way they did on previous albums, and he never lets loose and bellows here either. The riff construction is terribly sloppy and lackluster this time around, and the choruses are as bland as they can possibly get. While the guitar leads are sometimes stirring, the final product is one of shocking mediocrity. Rage have been on a steady decline for a while now, but at least "Soundchaser" had some really great songwriting and flowed excellently as a whole. At least "Speak of the Dead" had a handful of tracks that could still kick your ass around the room. This? This has nothing.

More about Rage...
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Review: From The Cradle To The Stage (reviewed by Pierre Bégin)
Review: Ghosts (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: Resurrection Day (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Seasons of the Black (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Soundchaser (reviewed by Pierre Bégin)
Review: Speak of the Dead (reviewed by Pierre Bégin)
Review: Spreading the Plague (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: Strings to a Web (reviewed by Hermer Arroyo)
Review: Strings to a Web (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: The Devil Strikes Again (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: The Missing Link (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: The Video Link (reviewed by Pierre Bégin)
Review: Trapped! (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Unity (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: Unity (reviewed by Pierre Bégin)
Review: Welcome To The Other Side (reviewed by Pierre Bégin)
Review: Wings of Rage (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
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