XIII [IMPORT]

Rage

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 28, 1999)
• Original Release Date: December 28, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bmg Int'l
• ASIN: B0000089E0
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #610,348 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture [Instrumental]

2. From the Cradle to the Grave

3. Days of December

4. Changes: Sign of Heaven

5. Changes: Incomplete

6. Changes: Turn the Page

7. Heartblood

8. Over and Over

9. In Vain (I Won't Go Down)

10. Immortal Sin

11. Paint It Black

12. Just Alone

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mellower Side of RAGE!, June 1, 2005

By	Mr D. "Artist/Designer/Kibitzer" (Cave Creek, Az United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

With a name like Rage you might think our band is manned by three mad escapees from the set of 28 Days Later but on this album at least they sound like Metallica, in tuxes, backed by a symphonic orchestra. The Lingua Mortis Orchestra of Prague to be exact and XII is the second of three Rage albums which feature this orchestra.

German Heavy Metal band Rage has been around for almost twenty years(their first album was Avenger in 1985) and has the Discography to prove it with over twenty releases. I had never heard these guys but just being around for twenty years give a band a certain amount of credibility.

From 1996 to 2001 Rage entered their Symphonic Heavy Metal phase wherein they made three albums in collaboration with the Symphonic Orchestra Prague in which they fuse Heavy Metal with symphonic elements.

You may think that a confluence of Heavy Metal with a symphonic background would sound odd but in reality it's very pleasant. It seems like the backing orchestra tends to moderate the heavy edge that Heavy Metal normally exudes but it in no way compromises it. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Metallica themselves have done something similar, recording with the London Philharmonic.

The album runs a healthy fifty eight minutes and the music itself is diversified and intriguing, running the gamut from slow melodic moments to grinding heavy metal and in between. The background music from the orchestra is strictly supportive sometimes hardly noticeable.

All in all it's a nice sound and I'm surprised Rage abandoned this style after their third disc - Ghosts. All three discs are worth having and I think XIII is the best of the three at four and a half stars.