21 (Rage album)
| 21st | ||||
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| Studio album by Rage | ||||
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Publication |
February 24, 2012 |
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admission |
October – November 2011 |
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| Label (s) | Nuclear Blast | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP, download |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
58:04 |
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| occupation |
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Victor Smolski, Charlie Bauerfeind |
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Studio (s) |
Twilight Hall Studios, Grefrath |
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21 is the 21st studio album by the German power metal band Rage .
The album was released on February 24, 2012 on the Nuclear Blast label .
style
music
Compared to previous albums, the music on 21 is described as harder. It belongs to the Power Metal genre , but in the song Serial Killer the singer Peter Wagner uses growls for the first time in the band's history . There are also elements of Thrash Metal . Psycho Terror , on the other hand, looks “discreetly towards bluesy hard rock”. The last song Eternally is a ballad.
Texts
In the studio report on the band's homepage, Peter Wagner, who wrote all the lyrics, comments on the individual content:
- House Wins is the album's intro. You can hear someone playing blackjack in a casino and finally losing with a score of 22.
- Twenty One is about gambling addiction. "The poor guy in the song gambled away all his belongings in Black Jack." 21 is another name for Black Jack, hence the album title.
- On Forever Dead , Peter Wagner said: "The text is about my personal reckoning with my difficult childhood, when I had real problems with my late father."
- According to Wagner, Feel My Pain is a psychological study of a loser who is about to freak out.
- In Serial Killer , "a serial killer describes his view of things".
- Psychological terror "is about bad experiences in relationships".
- In Destiny "is about how we take our destiny into our own hands."
- Death Romantic was "inspired by a spectacular suicide case in which 3 young girls had arranged to meet over the Internet to die together."
- In Black and White is about "how we humans change the environment dramatically, thereby destroying biodiversity on the planet, until we have taken all the color in the metaphorical sense of the world."
- Concrete Wall "tells of inner strength, since all adversaries can bite their teeth on it ..."
- In Eternally it goes according to Wagner suicide.
History of origin
On August 29, 2011, Rage announced on their website that they want to go to the studio in October to record a new album. At this point the band was already working on the new songs. She had decided to separate the orchestra, which was previously used on albums, from Rage in the future . For the new album they wanted to write heavier songs again.
The band reported about the recordings for the first time on October 30, 2011 in a so-called studio report, which was continuously expanded until November 27, 2011. This describes the individual songs in more detail. The guitarist Victor Smolski made a statement at the end of the studio report: “Everything is very powerful and aggressive and has got even more energy and the necessary aggression. [...] The concept of the album has become very well-rounded, all the songs seem like one piece, hard, aggressive, no 'happy metal melodies', but still varied. "
The album was produced by Victor Smolski and Charlie Bauerfeind in the Twilight Hall Studios in Grefrath .
The band finally announced on November 30, 2011 that the new album had been completed. February 24, 2012 was given as the release date.
Track list
- House Wins - 1:30 (Music: Smolski)
- Twenty One - 6:16 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Forever Dead - 6:20 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Feel My Pain - 5:41 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Serial Killer - 5:46 (Music: Wagner, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Psycho Terror - 6:57 (Music: Hilgers, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Destiny - 5:15 (Music: Wagner, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Death Romantic - 5:59 (Music: Wagner, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Black and White - 5:20 (Music: Wagner, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Concrete Wall - 3:51 (Music: Wagner, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Eternally - 5:09 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Limited Edition Bonus CD - Live in Tokyo
- Opening - 1:16 (Music: Smolski)
- The Edge of Darkness - 5:11 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Hunter and Prey - 5:45 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Into the Light - 5:41 (Music: Wagner, Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Drop Dead - 5:30 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Empty Hollow - 8:58 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Light Into the Darkness - 5:02 (Music: Wagner / Text: Wagner)
- Higher than the Sky - 6:19 (Music: Wagner / Text: Wagner)
- War of Worlds - 8:18 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Carved in Stone - 4:37 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Soundchaser - 5:49 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
- Down - 7:44 (Music: Smolski / Text: Wagner)
Versions
The album was released in the following versions:
- Regular version in a jewel case .
- Limited Edition Digipak with a metallic look - contains the regular CD and a bonus CD with a live concert in Tokyo.
- Red Vinyl - 2-LP version consisting of two 180 gram red LPs in gatefold with DIN A2 poster.
- Download - including the bonus CD.
The regular version as well as the limited edition contain a video with the title Rage-Race 2011 as an enhanced part . It shows live recordings of the band and excerpts from races that Victor Smolski has contested.
Video
On February 20, 2012, Nuclear Blast released the official music video for Twenty One . A making-of for this video has been available since March 6, 2012.
reception
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The album was positively received by the trade press. The Rock Hard awarded 8.5 out of 10 points. The editor Brother Cle judged: “The riffs pop out of the speakers harder than ever, the refrains ignite as always and quickly bring the compositions to the point. […] '21' simply offers great, original and heavy music with loads of eggs. "
Metal Hammer rated the album 6 out of 7 points. Katrin Riedl wrote: “After two years of work, an extremely successful album was created that Rage can be proud of. [...] Rage are not reinventing metal in 2012 either, but the feeling for hits and good-sounding, rousing pieces still distinguishes the trio. "
The Legacy awarded 12 out of 15 points. Andreas Schulz judged: "'21' is an entertaining album [...], shines with great guitar work, varied vocals and strong songs."
The online magazine vampster had some criticisms to make. The author wrote: “The main problem is that, with a few exceptions, the song material seems mostly nice but also interchangeable to me.” He also criticized the “relatively sterile production”. He restricted, however, that 21 of course “is not a bad record and Victor Smolski's guitar playing is once again at its best. However, Rage used to be much better and today, despite all the playful class, they lose themselves a little in irrelevance. "
tour
| Tour dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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22.03.2012 - Prague
23.03.2012 - Speyer
24.03.2012 - Andernach
25.03.2012 - Braunschweig
27.03.2012 - Hamburg
28.03.2012 - Nuremberg
29.03.2012 - Bochum
30.03.2012 - Aschaffenburg
31.03.2012 - Mauerstetten
01.04.2012 - Pratteln
04/02/2012 - Milan
04/03/2012 - Montpellier
04/05/2012 - Madrid
04/06/2012 - Valencia
04/07/2012 - Pamplona |
The band went on a European tour in March and April 2012 under the title "Metal Firestorm 2012". Opening acts were Týr , Communic and Scar of the Sun . The band performed a total of 15 shows in Germany , the Czech Republic , Switzerland , Italy , France and Spain .
In May 2012 Rage gave three concerts in Japan and South Korea ; also seven concerts in Russia in September 2012 . It was also confirmed for seven festivals between June and August 2012 in Germany, including the Summer Breeze .
Web links
- Discography on the band's official homepage, with lyrics
Individual evidence
- ↑ Discography: 21. nuclearblast.de, accessed on April 24, 2012 .
- ↑ a b Brother Cle: Review . In: Rock Hard . No. 298 .
- ↑ a b Andreas Schulz: Review . In: Legacy . No. 77 , p. 130 .
- ↑ a b studio report. (No longer available online.) In: rage-on.de. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 25, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ News. rage-on.de, August 29, 2011, archived from the original on September 8, 2012 ; Retrieved April 24, 2012 .
- ↑ News. rage-on.de, November 30, 2011, archived from the original on September 10, 2012 ; Retrieved April 24, 2012 .
- ^ Rage - 21st nuclearblast.de, accessed on May 3, 2012 .
- ↑ Rage - 21 - Limited Edition. (No longer available online.) Nuclearblast.de, archived from the original on April 14, 2012 ; Retrieved May 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Rage - 21 - Red Vinyl. (No longer available online.) Nuclearblast.de, formerly in the original ; Retrieved May 3, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Rage - 21 - Download. amazon.de, accessed on May 3, 2012 .
- ↑ RAGE - Twenty One (Official Video). youtube.com, February 20, 2012, accessed April 24, 2012 .
- ↑ RAGE - Making Of "Twenty One". youtube.com, March 6, 2012, accessed April 24, 2012 .
- ↑ Rage in the German charts
- ↑ Rage in the Austrian hit parade. austriancharts.de, accessed on April 25, 2012 .
- ↑ Rage in the Swiss charts. hitparade.ch, accessed on April 25, 2012 .
- ^ Review. metal-hammer.de, March 2, 2011, accessed April 24, 2012 .
- ^ Review. vampster.com, February 13, 2012, accessed April 24, 2012 .
- ↑ tour dates. rage-on.de, archived from the original on September 7, 2012 ; Retrieved April 25, 2012 .
- ↑ News. nuclearblast.de, March 7, 2012, accessed April 25, 2012 .
