Rage - Reign Of Fear (1986)

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Rage - Reign Of Fear (1986)

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The first true full-length for the newly-christened Rage, “Reign of Fear,” is an album full of power metal and thrashing speed metal mixed together into a coherent, competent whole that’s vastly underrated in their catalog and remains enjoyable throughout.

While initially appearing to belong to the German thrash scene that attempted to mimic the Bay Area material, the band here goes for a different route in adopting more of a power metal approach as the fledgling genre was gaining hold in their home country. Most obviously this is found in the high-pitched screams and near-falsetto wails that are delivered in the vocals which are more of a typical power metal style far removed from the gruff-and-tough thrash singers in the scene, but are still perfectly in keeping with the style on display and are melodic and memorable. Aside from the vocals, the most obvious difference here is the tone of the guitars, which don’t generate any of that dark, thumping chug associated with thrash but are more lighter and open-ended, reminiscent of NWOBHM-style heavy metal but amped up to a much faster pace and sense of urgency. With those elements molded onto a framework of speed-metal riffing as none of the songs are really overloaded with the riffing intricacies found in thrash at the time, that allows the band to come off more of an equal mixture of power and thrash than would be expected of participants in the genre. The first half of the album is filled with such songs that display the full, charging attack of the band as they’re propelled by the competent mixture of power and thrash with some dynamic drumming found within as well as those wailing vocals, creating the albums best collection of songs.

On the surface, the second half of the album is really no different. The songs are still the same hybrid of power/speed metal riffing with dynamic vocals and a charging tempo, but there’s one minor trait that starts to bleed through the songs. While the top half features a more straight-forward and unwavering sense of thrashing abandon, the second half is slightly slower and more mid-tempo balanced which in turn results in the grievance of the band being unable to really write appealing songs in that format at this point in their career. Several of these songs would’ve been better suited to end up on later efforts as they’re quite out-of-place on this material, the abundance of speed and power metal really making the few heavy metal-like tracks feeling quite obvious and stick out like sore thumbs. As well, there’s hints of the band’s exploratory future to come with one multi-segmented epic that mixes in several unique and intriguing ideas around a slow dirge-like march which is a novel concept and is better than it sounds. Fear not, it still has the band firing away with their raging melodic speed-metal assault as the backbone for the songs, as a whole this is a slight downturn from the front half.

This has some absolutely fun tracks in this one. Opener ‘Scared to Death’ features an ambient-noise intro before becoming a total thrasher with great energy and up-tempo abandon featuring some amazing vocal displays and a catchy chorus thrown in. The same goes for the next two tracks in ‘Deceiver’ and the title track,’ both charging mid-tempo power/speed-metal mixtures with great vocals that build into decent thrash numbers due to the sterling performances abound. The noisy, rocking thrasher ‘Hand of Glory’ is one of the album’s highlights with great energy and sterling power metal riffing meshing completely with the bombastic drumming and spectacular vocals that alternate between the shrieking wails and a more traditional-thrash approach that is essentially a band classic. ‘Echoes of Evil’ is the other classic, a blazing up-tempo thrasher with an effective power metal atmosphere with the vocals employing a series of shrieking wail that reminds many of the prototypical hellish vocals of heavy metal at the time, all wrapped up together with a stand-out solo in one tight, raging package. The groovy, catchy ‘Suicide’ has some memorable melodic riffing with a decent tempo behind it, and the charging thrash of ‘Machinery’ generates some enjoyable power with its spacious melodies and great energy. While the experimental ‘The Scaffold’ doesn’t really get above the lower-end of the tempo scale, the multiple segments, acoustic intro that sets off an epic feel and thunderous bridges might seem out-of-their-element now but sets the tone for their future exploratory phase to not feel like a total departure. About the only missteps would be the two songs that feel more like they belong on later efforts, as they completely clash with the formula in this one. ‘Raw Energy’ on the whole is littered with uninteresting riffing, a bland sense of energy, and the sing-a-long chorus and start/stop riffing pattern seems to be built for the live show experience but fails on an album. ‘Chaste Flesh,’ meanwhile, is a bland standard speed-metal chug without much going for it in this capacity but feels more like it belongs on a future album where the decrease of speed and the more thumping chug could work well for its favor instead of the up-tempo, thrashing found elsewhere.

As the band hadn’t transformed themselves into their more familiar heavy/speed/thrash metal style yet and are still firmly rooted in the old-school thrash movement, this is really quite enjoyable for what it is. Apart from the two clunkers that really don’t work in this power/thrash metal formula as the band is performing, there’s not a whole lot that’s really disappointing about the album overall. The strong production is the main factor which allows for a predominantly guitar-driven sound that allows the speed and sterling riff-work to come through at full power, the drums have a resonant chug and sound distinctly heavy in the mix, and the charging, roaring vocals are allowed to become a dominant factor in the atmosphere and vibe of the album. There’s no mistaking this one as a mid-80s heavy metal album with this mix, and it’s a fun, enjoyable ride for those used to the more modern band and want to take a dip in their past or for most of the traditional power/thrash/speed metal fans out there.

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