Customer Reviews

Perfect Man

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hello metallians, by the way before i start to review this album take note that execution garunteed was in no way a let down,as it was one of the best power thrash albums to ever come out, the review above says that execution was a huge letdown but countless metallians the world over dissagree and say that execution garunteed remains one of the best metal albums of all time, people check it out, any way this was the 3rd attempt by rage and was very fresh and unique, here they took a more mellodic and progressive approach all the while still staying true to their power metal roots, they in no way wimped out on this release, hell they have never wimped out period. i do not know why dont fear the winter became the most popular rage song because there are alot of songs by rage that kill that song, dont get me wrong i like that song but it is not their best to me. there are plenty of killer rockers and anthems on this album. of course drummer extraordinar jorg michael left rage after execution and that was a shame but the drummer who replaced him was pretty darn good as well. but the new guitarist manni schmidt was just what peavy needed, manni is a killer guitarist and you can hear that on this album. like i said before if you love metal and i mean real metal then you can not go wrong with any of rages great albums and if any thing is a let down it is some of these other reviews. your friend in metal brandon whitson 25 of north carolina

Rage are one of those bands that seem to produce one of two reactions, either great loyalty or total apathy. My personal take is that both views are understandable.

With this album - one of their earlier efforts - the latter is my viewpoint. The songs belt along and are quite well played. The vox are an acquired taste but certainly no worse than many other bands have, and they are at least mixed above the music, some of the early thrash bands not being able to afford decent production values and falling into a vocal no mans land.

With this album Rage started to gain some momentum, the guitar playing is biting, the intent clear - these guys want to level the room. The snag is that the songs tend to wash over the listener without really grabbing hold.

Of this bands early output - I'd have to recommend prospective buys skip this disc and instead buy Secrets in a Weird World instead as the songs on that disc have more connectivity with the audience and a slightly more human feel.

Perfect Man is probably most famous for introducing the European metal scene to Rage's most famous song "Don't Fear the Winter". But, there's a lot more to this album than just that one anthem. Perfect Man remains one of Rage's most unique and well written albums. From the goofy prog-metal style "Supersonic Hydromatic" to the more epic metal of "A Pilgrim's Path" and the Motorhead sound alike "Round Trip" this is a true masterpiece of Metal. This particular version of the album is worth even greater attention because it contains some extra live tracks from Rage's two Noise era live albums "Power of Metal" and "Beyond the Wall". A must buy!

Rage's second offering, "Execution Guaranteed", was a major letdown. But Peter Wagner, founder of the band, decided to take another attempt at hitting big. With all the band members fired, he brought in some fresh blood in guitarist Manni Schmidt and drummer Chris Efthimiades. The resulting album "Perfect Man" was the band's first major success, and remained their best album for quite some time. The speed and energy of their music is even more impressive if you think that there are only 3 people playing. Being a trio, Rage's ferocious hyperspeed melodic metal is superior to what many bigger bands ever put out. Rage's version of speed-metal bears a notieable Accept and Running Wild influence, but here the band displays itself as a creative force, not just one of Accept-wannabes.

Here Rage did what they did best, played metal at some unbelievable speeds. However, they never played fast just for the sake of it, and managed to keep a nice melody and display some good handling of their instruments. The songwriting is consistently strong, and there are only 2 or 3 sub-par songs among the 14 pieces on the original album. Classics like "Wasteland", "Perfect Man", "Don't Fear the Winter", "Supersonic Hydromatic", or "Time and Place" show what's so good about Rage. One can argue that they could use a better singer, but I think that Wagner's raspy screams suit the music just fine.

5 bonus tracks on the CD allow the listener to take a glance into the band's future, as they are either written or taken live in 1992-1993. There's a significant improvement in Peavey's vocals, and the band shows itself as a good live act. Acoustic version of "Not Forever" strikes as very unexpected after this 70 minute speed-metal assault, and is one of the CD's highlights as well.

This album is arguably the best to get acquainted with Rage, and is recommended to fans of German metal, and to anyone interested in the origins of power-metal.