Perfect Man
| Perfect Man | ||||
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| Studio album by Rage | ||||
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Publication |
June 6, 1988 |
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admission |
February to March 1988 |
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| Label (s) | Noise Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP, MC |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
43:57 (LP & MC version); 50:22 (CD version) |
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Studio (s) |
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Perfect Man (English for "Perfect Man") is the fourth studio album by the Herner metal band Rage and the first to be recorded in the classic three-man line-up.
Emergence
In the run-up to the creation of the album, drummer Jörg Michael and guitarist Jochen Schröder , who had been listening to Prayers of Steel Avenger and Rage since the debut album , and the second guitarist Rudy Graf left the group. According to an interview that the German Mugge magazine conducted with Peavy, Jochen Schröder was "a bit left out because as a guitarist he couldn't follow the development of the band", which is why only Rudy Graf on guitar on Execution Guaranteed could be heard. Jörg Michael and Rudy Graf, on the other hand, wanted to take a different direction musically, as Graf would have “been more into Bon Jovi and this commercial stuff” and “wanted Rage to go in that direction”. Since Peavy did not want to leave the original route and thus encountered resistance from the rest of the band members, they left the group. Nevertheless, Wagner was able to find new musicians in a very short time, as Peavy knew Chris Efthimiadis “from kindergarten days” and met Manni Schmidt through an acquaintance. This was the first trio line-up in the band's history and should remain unchanged until the 1993 album The Missing Link .
style
In contrast to the previous albums, the songs here have been kept much shorter. To date, Perfect Man is the band's only studio record that did not contain a song with a playing time longer than five minutes in the original CD version - the group had previously released the record Reign of Fear , on which the longest track, Scaffold , was released as only song with a playing time of over five minutes was only available on CD-pressing. In addition, of the total of 14 recorded songs, only two were over four minutes long. According to the rock-hard magazine, the band wanted to "make compact songs [...]" and the thesis was put forward that "others [...] might claim that this record has nothing to do with the old Rage", whereby The interaction of the new line-up was also highlighted. In fact, the sound on Perfect Man was very different from the previous albums - reverb effects and the drum kit typical of the 1980s were completely dispensed with. Instead they went to work much more basic, although the production was still very powerful. The fact that complex structures were dispensed with due to the short playing time of the individual songs meant that the chorus was more prominent and more concise. This scheme with recognizable choruses and a powerful but melodic sound was to establish itself as a trademark of the band, which was also retained on all subsequent studio albums. According to Deutscher Mugge , Perfect Man was the album that established the actual sound of Rage.
reception
According to Peavy's statement at Deutsche Mugge, Perfect Man was “the first disc that was really well received by the people” and “manifested the style that is still considered the band's trademark today”. With Don't Fear the Winter , the album contains the first real classic, which is still part of the band's live repertoire today. Most of the magazines also highlighted Manni Schmidt's guitar playing and Chris Efthimiadis' drumming. Alex Straka from powermetal.de wrote in 2004 about the album: “[Rage] showed on their album Perfect Man, released in 1988 , what a Teutonically brutal and yet deeply innovative Thrash or speed rake is. You can say what you want. No other band sounded like Perfect Man at that time and unfortunately Rage never sounded like that again. ”However, at the time of its release, the album did not meet with undivided enthusiasm, as according to the rock-hard publisher Holger Stratmann not all songs ignite would. In a later analysis called "dissection table", which the magazine made for the band's discography, the weaknesses in songwriting were uncovered, which could only be corrected on Secrets in a Weird World , which "for the first time offered almost consistently brilliant song material". Peavy's high-pitched vocals were also a point of criticism. In retrospect, one can say that Perfect Man played an important role in the further development of the band and the release of later classic albums, as weak points in the music became recognizable on the album due to the modified sound and the changed songwriting, which then became apparent the following albums could be weeded out.
Track list
- Wastelands (Peter Wagner) - 3:26
- In the Darkest Hour (Peter Wagner) - 3:15
- Animal Instinct (Peter Wagner, Manni Schmidt) - 3:43
- Perfect Man (Peter Wagner) - 3:32
- Sinister Thinking (Peter Wagner, Manni Schmidt) - 3:17
- Supersonic Hydromatic (Peter Wagner, Manni Schmidt) - 3:31
- Don't Fear the Winter (Peter Wagner) - 3:26
- Death In the Afternoon (Peter Wagner) - 3:56
- A Pilgrim's Path (Peter Wagner) - 4:26
- Time and Place (Peter Wagner, Manni Schmidt) - 4:14
- Round Trip (Peter Wagner, Manni Schmidt) - 3:23
- Between the Lines (Peter Wagner, Manni Schmidt) - 3:18
- Symbols of Our Fear (Peter Wagner) - 2:59
- Neurotic (Peter Wagner) - 3:32