Rage has always been one of those bands that, in spite of their undoubted talent, have never been able to really break into the big time. The band’s twenty first album, appropriately titled ‘21’ once again sees the German metal trio deliver a slick and technically flawless album of high caliber heavy metal but like many of its predecessors ultimately doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression once the dust has settled.
The last Rage album that I well and truly enjoyed all the way through was 2003’s ‘Soundchaser’ while subsequent efforts tried to capture some of that release’s excellence but unfortunately fell a bit short on each occasion. ‘21’ is no different from what came before it. Top notch musicianship, great production, killer artwork and solid from first minute to last but still unable to get the pulses racing fast enough to make you run out into the streets flashing the devil’s horns at random old women.

I’ve always been of the opinion that the one thing holding Rage back from becoming a real force in the metal world are the vocals of Peavy Wagner. His gruff, burly voice never had the range or the oomph to elevate the band’s superb musicianship to the next level. It is absolutely astounding that in the 30 years they’ve been around they never seriously considered recruiting a singer along the lines of D.C Cooper or even Ralf Scheepers, because quite frankly the music just cries out for a vocalist of real authority to grab it by the nuts and drag it screaming through stadiums all over the world.

Even so, the levels of virtuosity displayed on ‘21’ are nothing short of jaw dropping. Victor Smolski continues to solidify his reputation as one of the most underrated and under appreciated guitarists in all of metal. His body of work over the years has been nothing short of staggering and it’s a wonder he can still conjure up absolutely A-grade riffs and solos more than two decades into the game. Some of the outstanding tracks include the enormously catchy title track, the excellent ‘Forever Dead’, the smoking hot ‘Psycho Terror’ and the balls to the wall thrust of ‘Concrete Wall’, which sees the band flex their Teutonic muscles to the max. Lyrically it’s all a bit low brow but then again it has never been any different from past releases.

Overall ‘21’ is certainly a solid metal record and is still a worthy addition to any Rage enthusiast’s collection but sadly that’s about as far as it will go. Personally I’d recommend this album (or any Rage album for that matter) to any budding metal guitarist looking to fine tune his chops because a talent like Smolski deserves at least that much.

Rating: 7/10