Unity

Unity combines weighty riffs, fine rhythmic shifts and memorable vocal melodies. Keeping heavy metal’s linear force, the songs also carry technical twists and a progressive sense, their structures revealing themselves with repeated listens — a record of craftsman-like strength that balances hardness and flexibility. Even in driving cuts like “All I Want” and “Insanity,” the details of the arrangements work richly and keep monotony at bay, while hook-strong songs such as “Set This World on Fire” and “Seven Deadly Sins” give the album a clear spine. In pieces like “Dies Irae” and “Shadows,” weight and melodic shading intertwine strikingly. Around this time RAGE had gained Victor Smolski on guitar and greatly heightened the precision of its playing, and the results show clearly here. Throughout, the record holds the listener through the deftness of its construction, not speed or weight alone — a fulfilling display of power metal’s many sides.