Wings of Rage

Wings of Rage binds the forward drive typical of German metal to the band’s own melancholy. A three-piece of Peavy Wagner’s distinctive voice, Marcos Rodriguez on guitar and Lucky Maniatopoulos on drums moves freely between speed and weight, and a tight, trio-born unity runs through the whole record. Even in the fierce songs the melodic outline stays clear, and in the mid-tempo passages the emotional shading deepens. It gathers thrash sharpness, power-metal songcraft and the sturdy footing of heavy hard rock into one, standing as lean, stripped-back metal. Being a small lineup does not mean a lack of power; rather, with the three interlocking closely, the outlines of riff and voice rise more plainly. It is a strong record showing that a band with a long career still unites aggression and melody — a work that vividly captures the strength of the trio format.