Artist: RAGE
Album: SEASONS OF THE BLACK LTD. EDIT. (2CD DIGI)

Release date: 2017
EAN/UPS: 727361398408
Media type: CD

RAGE is unstoppable. On July 28th, 2017, only 14 months after the release of the predecessor record, the band around mastermind Peavy Wagner releases its 23th studio album, called »Seasons Of The Black« via Nuclear Blast Records.

“Many of the songs on »Seasons Of The Black« were already finished by last October”, Peavy comments, who is having “a hell of a time” with his current band members, Marcos Rodriguez on guitars and Vassilios “Lucky” Maniatopoulos on drums. “We are incredibly creative and inspire each other so much, that the songwriting happens almost by itself, so to speak. We are constantly spewing out new ideas, on tour, at rehearsals, even at dinner…it is fantastic.”

The eleven tracks on »Seasons Of The Black« directly tie in with the predecessor album and show clearly that -thanks to the new line-up- the band has virtually re-flourished and that the return to the old strengths that have once made the band big and which started with »The Devil Strikes Again«, has made the band stronger than ever.

With the more than 20-minute-long opus 'The Tragedy Of Man', RAGE also revive the old tradition of connecting some songs with epic transitions and regarding textual content, like they have done before e.g. on the albums »XIII« and »Welcome To The Other Side«.
Peavy Wagner explains: “The concept of the four songs that are combined under 'The Tragedy Of Man' are straight and simple about the extinction of mankind. The world could be such a wonderful place, if people weren’t so stupid to sawing off the branch they are sitting on, waging war, driven by jealousy and greed. We are telling the story of this development, from the beginning ('Gaja') to the total destruction ('Farewell')”.

As a special goodie, »Seasons Of The Black« comes with a bonus CD of six songs, which some die-hard fans from the beginning probably have in their record collections, in the form of »Prayers Of Steel«, RAGE’s debut album from 1985 and the EP »Depraved To Black« from the same year that were released under the band’s original name AVENGER.
“This CD is a gift to our fans and to ourselves”, says the RAGE frontman. “These songs are among the earliest ones I have ever written and since they were released under our old band name back then, but are RAGE songs, of course, we have re-recorded these tracks to bring them home, so to speak. These songs are timeless and still work perfectly and it was great fun to re-record them with the current line-up.”

Just like the previous album, »Seasons Of The Black« was recorded at the Megafon studios in Burscheid, Germany and at the Soundchaser studios in Zandhoven, Belgium and produced by the band itself. Once again, the renowned Dan Swanö (Marduk, Dissection, Opeth…) contributed the mix and mastering, and the impressive artwork was created by Karim König.

»Seasons Of The Black« is the musical proof of RAGE in top condition that is so back on track as it can possibly be, even featuring a new freshness, 33 years after the band’s foundation. And there’s more to come…..


TRACKLIST CD:

01. Season Of The Black
02. Serpents In Disguise
03. Blackened Karma
04. Time Will Tell
05. Septic Bite
06. Walk Among The Dead
07. All We Know Is Not
08. Gaia
09. Justify
10. Bloodshed In Paradise
11. Farewell

BONUS-CD:

01. Adoration
02. Southcross Union
03. Assorted By Satan
04. Faster Than Hell
05. Sword Made Of Steel
06. Down To The Bone

LINE-UP:

Peter „Peavy“ Wagner | Leadgesang, Bass
Marcos Rodriguez | Gitarre, Gesang
Vassilios „Lucky“ Maniatopoulos | Schlagzeug, Gesang