Black in Mind

Black in Mind is many ways the ultimate '90s Rage album', cognizant of the decade which led to it, but embracing a bit more of a stripped down production and harder grooving sensibility than the previous albums, to keep it current with the heavier trends of its day. I'm not saying the band had set out to create the German proxy for A Vulgar Display of Power, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Peavy and company had sat down and felt the influence of efforts like that as they continued to modernize themselves out of the shrieking excesses of the 80s. The band does not exactly shy away from some faster material, but clearly that is not the focus when writing most of the tracks on this album. I think the places where this still resembles the earlier material the most is in the great lead-work and the distinctive Peavy Wagner vocals.

I have problems with it...the songs on this album are far better than the production, which continue to feel slightly off as it was on The Missing Link. It's the way the vocals are filtered into the mix, or a constant feel that there's an airy wisp or hiss somewhere in the interaction of the drums, guitars and vocals that just doesn't sound as clean as it was meant. Perhaps its my equipment, but I've compared a few of the different masters of this one and while some do well to spiff it up, I still get that nagging sensation, and it does curb some of my enjoyment of what is otherwise a strong Rage effort for a new era. Wagner's vocals are very restrained here, far more focused on angrier, raging verses in "Alive but Dead" or "The Crawling Chaos"; he even woofs out a few harsher barks on the precipice of guttural. He does throw out some higher and more melodic chorus vocals to rein this in, like in "Shadow Out of Time", but he definitely sounds pissed off and constipated through a lot of the run-time...never to the point of caricature, but it's just not my favorite performance. The riffs here are much more chugging and crunchy, not bereft of some dexterity or frenzied pacing like the title track, but just so measured, which actually helps the solos to shine more as they just stick out from the dingy undercurrent like glints of gold spotted in a stream.

Lots of horror-based lyrics, the band has often had a fascination with Lovecraft's cosmic horror and I don't feel as if they've ever gotten enough credit for that, but it certainly runs through this record like a black blood to its angry, beating heart, and of the half-dozen 90s 'classics' here: "Black in Mind", "The Crawling Chaos", "Alive but Dead", "Sent by the Devil", "Shadow Out of Time" and "In a Nameless Time", the theme is strongly represented. A couple other tracks like "The Icecold Hand of Destiny" and "Until I Die", with the latter's screaming, definitely have riffing motifs or overall vibes that remind me a lot of the band's masterworks from the latter half of the 80s, but these too are shaken a bit from the production values, which if I'm being honest, seem to be an issue for me more than others who were probably just getting into the band at the time. Black in Mind is yet another of the Germans' myriad works worthy of respect, and I admire how they were able to make the aesthetic, stylistic shifts of the time without abandoning their identity, but this is one I'd love to hear with a severe remastering unlike those we've already gotten, or even a re-recording. It's not the material itself, as is evident when you hear the live versions of some of these gems, which sound more vital.

I think if you ran them up against a number of their contemporaries of the time, they fared quite well. Of the 9 studio albums to its day, all were very good or better other than the piecemeal Ten Years in Rage. Peavy and his new lineup might have strayed further from their roots than Running Wild, who with Masquerade sounded like a more polished, seasoned version of the same thing (not complaining), but not nearly so much as the 90s Accept. It works though: solid riffs, structures, ideas that were fresh and not terribly derived from their own canon, some aggression, good lyrics. I just don't love how it sounds in my speakers, and the two and a half decades since haven't warmed me up to that aspect.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I'm still mitigating internal strife birthed by the fact that Rage actually managed to one-up The Missing Link on this one, especially considering the ejection of Manni Schmidt and inclusion of two then-relatively unproven axemen in Fischer and Spiros. Few can argue that Rage was riding a relative upswing creatively around this period, disregarding the substantially persuasive paradigm shift altering the musical landscape. Reflections of a Shadow was something of a one-off fluke, but starting on Trapped!, Rage took account of their surroundings and adapted surprisingly well. While this particular lineup is one defined by more of the atypical experimentation solidified on XIII and Ghosts, Black in Mind is for all intents and purposes classic Rage, albeit for a few departures unique to itself.

While this is a lot of material to take in under any one sitting (as was The Missing Link), the band gets away with it more here due to more memorable songwriting and riffs. The Missing Link was a great listen, but was oftentimes too upbeat and bouncy, undermining Wagner's throaty bellows at more than a few junctures. Rage has never been a band to shy away from melodic, catchy choruses and licks, be it "Who Dares" or "Shadow Out of Time" on this one, but the truth is that it simply endears more here, possibly due to more minor-key flirtation and adherence to a more pummeling temperament encircled around a heavy/groove template that is as rancorous as anything Wagner and co. ever put out up to this point (and perhaps until Soundchaser).

Production values are at an all-time high, and there is an obvious trade-off abstraction revolving around the dual guitarists, which leaves the listener on the receiving end of more variance regarding delivery and tone, particularly a notable prevalence of acoustic texturing underpinning the thrust of the crunchy lead. One can really see the band pulling these risks off with great returns, particularly on the ten plus-minute "In a Nameless Time," which goes through a multitude of permutations, embodying a mid-point high on an album that sadly fails to maintain the brilliance of the first several tracks on its waning half.

Without a doubt, the first half of Black in Mind is easily one of Rage's greatest moments of all time. "The Crawling Chaos" is simply a riff monster, making Schmidt's departure much easier to stomach, and then comes the best cut on the album: "Shadow Out of Time." This one rides a melodic lick into oblivion, but the earworm nature of it is undeniable, and it coexists quite well with the mid-paced jackhammer allure of the rhythm section. Later on, "Forever" utilizes some of Wagner's characteristic off-time vocal delivery, and "Until I Die" stands out as well. Regardless, this is where Black in Mind sputters a bit, as a running time exceeding well over an hour is tough for even Rage to pull off consistently. Nothing is abhorrent or anything near such, but I can do without about half of the songs on the B side of this one.

This all said, for 1995 this is a true monster and testament to Rage's longevity and ability to adapt surprisingly well for what is a band working in an arguably dated style to begin with. Wagner's vocals are, as always, the biggest deciding point concerning whether or not Rage is for you, but his approach is decidedly less exaggerated and more streamlined via an anguished template here, interspersing gutturals with his characteristic melodic shouts. If the earlier material bores you and the later, more orchestra-centric approach is just too much for you to stomach, check out Black in Mind. It converted me!

Playing a darker style of power metal is always a risky proposition and more often than not it’ll simply result in a band plying down-tuned riffs and pinch harmonics in an effort to make their sound aggressive in a superficial and generally hollow manner (and as much as I don’t want to name names, Helloween’s The Dark Ride is the textbook example of this). Such was not the case for Rage on 1995’s Black in Mind, as they managed to incorporate darker themes and a generally a blacker sound whilst still retaining their signature melodicism. Yes, it seems like Rage had finally entered the nineties, but given that they were still a German band (despite the presence of two Greeks) the nineties only lasted for a few brief weeks, and they always kept on plying their metallic trade despite hushed mentions of things such as “grunge” and the dreaded “heavy metal recession”. Indeed, they were not alone in their newly found darker sound; as their contemporaries and fellow 1980s survivors, Running Wild and Grave Digger had also put forward their darkest works in 1995 (with albums like Masquerade and Heart of Darkness both having a fair bit of gloom when compared to your average German power metal album).

Ushering in this new era for Rage was the introduction of two comparatively unknown guitarists, Spiros Efthimiadis and Sven Fischer. Of course, filling Manni Schmidt’s shoes was no easy task and these two were always going to struggle somewhat, but I do appreciate their playing in the second-twin-guitar era of Rage. Interestingly, Peavy Wagner has said that they needed to take on a second guitar player because Spiros wasn’t good enough to play Manni’s parts on his own. But given the circumstances surrounding this particular line-up of Rage’s split I think it’s highly possible that Peavy doesn’t have much good to say about the Greek. But inter-band politics and pop punk mishaps aside, I do like this line-up of Rage quite a lot and Spiros certainly seems up to the task when it comes to shredding. And tellingly, given that Rage have plied their trade as non-Helloween-sounding-German-power-metallers since 1988 or so, it’s a given that an additional guitarist does not simply mean endless harmony sections and lead trade-offs, but rather a greater use of electric and acoustic interplay. It’s a nice dynamic to have on the album, really. I guess my only real complaint is that with the two guitars, Peavy’s bass is less prominent in the mix and this was certainly a big part of the appeal on albums like The Missing Link and Perfect Man.

Of course, with a darker sound you’ll need a little dash of horror to go with it. Unsurprisingly, given his lyric-writing past and association with bands like Mekong Delta, Peavy wrote a lot of Lovecraft-related stuff for this album and while Lovecraft-themed power metal never really took off to the extent that it did in, say, death metal I must say that I think Peavy really adapts this material well. After all, I’ve heard my fair share of “Raghhr, Cthulhu!” death metal bands who do absolutely nothing with their chosen lyrical material. In comparison, take a song like ‘The Crawling Chaos’; the lyrics match the music, and the material is actually dealt with in a thoroughly engaging way. I guess the difference would be that most death metal bands try to sound like the Old Ones making music, Rage try and capture the thoughts of Lovecraft’s weird, doomed protagonists. Those strange solitary men must’ve struck a chord with Mr. Wagner, huh?

Alright, so there’s obviously plenty I like about this album, but it’s certainly not without its problems. And let’s get to major one right away: 70 minutes is a bit testing. I’d definitely have cut a few songs from here. Although, on the other hand, there’s not really a bad song here, just a few ones with limited replay value when compared to the album’s harder hitters. Basically, I don’t ever really find myself wanting to come back to songs like ‘The Price of War’, whereas I’ve always got time for ‘The Crawling Chaos’ or ‘Until I Die’. Similarly, the groovy ‘My Rage’ is a little bit odd for the band and I’m never really sure how much I enjoy the said track; it’s a strange song for them to say the least. Quasi-groove metal? That sounds like a very, very dirty term. Well, imagine Rage playing a song akin to Motörhead’s ‘Over Your Shoulder’ and you’re in the right ballpark. At the end of the day, though, there is a bit of flab here but no-one’s forcing you to play the whole thing in one sitting. Beggars can be choosers, apparently!

But when it’s at its best this album is truly memorable; a darker shade of Rage with a touch of Lovecraftian horror. Indeed, the quasi-conceptual part of the album – as approximately its first half is mostly Lovecraft-themed other than the opening, title-track – is all excellently done. Peavy Wagner’s vocals have seldom sounded finer on the likes of ‘Sent by the Devil’ and ‘The Crawling Chaos’. Certainly, when Black in Mind hits its stride it’s an urgent and confident album. Even when the band try something a little new, like ‘Alive But Dead’ it works very well despite baring a slight resemblance one of Metallica’s oft-misguided slower songs (think ‘The Thing that Should Not Be’ or something of that ilk). Certainly, this isn’t the sort of Rage song you would have heard on, say, Trapped! or Reflections of a Shadow but it still has those same identifiable traits that make the band quintessentially, er, Rage-esque.

Well, with a discography as extensive as Rage it’s often difficult to say where to begin or which album is the most representative of their style overall. Black in Mind certainly isn’t their most representative album. In fact, I would say that this is an atypically typical Rage album in a sense; it’s a bit darker, a fair bit heavier and the rhythm guitar tone is a bit more claustrophobic compared to what I’ve come to expect from the band. On the other hand, however, it’s a distinctively Rage-esque work; the choruses, the keen melodic sense and the fact that it’s, well, too bloody long are all Rage hallmarks. I do like it when a band can change without losing you there are. As such, Black in Mind almost seems like a testament to how a band can modernise without compromising their own style.

Despite having a career spanning 20 albums RAGE always seemed to be freshening themselves each progressive release they made. The same can be said for Black in Mind which remains a key turning point for the band. It was the second featuring guitarists Spiros Efthimiadis and Sven Fischer. RAGE constantly evolved their sound but stayed with a speed metal base. This CD marks a progression from the previous style showcased in Trapped! and Missing Link and stands as a base for the 1st modern era of RAGE that would include the next 4 RAGE releases. Introduced are new, straight forward heavy riffs, new melody styles and an evolution of Peavy’s vocal style that was conceived on 10 Years in RAGE.

The opener Black in Mind is a RAGE classic and an enormous thrasher. A classic opening riffs sets you on a speeding, heavy journey of what this lineup of RAGE has perfected. The next track, which is a single track as well, introduces us to that memorable and standout melody style that would be included on the next few discs from RAGE. Then comes yet another RAGE classic, the incredibly heavy and doomy Alive but Dead. The guttural scream that Peavy belts out at 52 seconds is bone chilling. The video that accompanied this song was great as well. They decided to follow it up with another RAGE classic and their fastest song to date “Sent by the Devil”. The chorus is spectacular. They follow up with 2 solid songs with amazing choruses which occur pretty much in every song. Then comes another RAGE classic “In a Nameless Time”. It’s heavy and dark and really freaking epic. There’s some avant-garde violin playing near the middle that suddenly breaks into a massive thrash riff which is completely amazing. The build up in this song is just incredible. Then there’s 3 very solid tracks all, again, with spectacular choruses and then comes ”My RAGE” which is one of the heaviest songs RAGE ever wrote with a little bit of death metalish vocals near the end. Then come yet two more solid songs.

By this time it’s safe to say RAGE will have impressed you and fulfilled nearly everything you want in a metal album. But wait there’s more. I’m currently reviewing the album with the bonus tracks and at this point it hits a bonus track and a steaming good one to bat. “Tie the Rope” somehow was only a bonustrack but it goes to show you that anything RAGE writes is album material. Then there’s a good song for a bonustrack as well in “Forgive but don’t Forget”. Then ending it is a standard album non-bonustrack and a true RAGE classic “All this Time” it is a beautiful ballad complete with a symphony and perfect end as it foreshadows what was in store coming up for RAGE.

This is a long album but worth every second, each song has its own identity just as each RAGE album has its own identity, these guys just never fail to impress.

Highlights: Really all of them but: Black in Mind, Alive but Dead, Sent by the Devil, In a Nameless Time, Shadow out of Time, My Rage, Tie the Rope, and All this time.

Every band has that certain album or albums or songs that are considered "classic" and are generally known as the best ones to start with for a new listener. Black in Mind falls into this category, and was indeed among my first taste of Rage's work, but this album goes far beyond the usual possibilities of evolving into the usual overplayed cliche of a "classic" album. Rather, this album (like most of Rage's work) is severely overlooked by a good half of metal fans and will still reap rewards even for the veteran or jaded Rage listener for years.

Black in Mind is somewhat different from the rest of Rage's work sonically, and also marks a significant turning point for the band. First, longtime guitarist/co-songwriter Manni Schmidt left the band before the album was concieved, leaving Peavy Wagner (vocals, bass) and Chris Efthimiadis (drums) to bring in guitarists Sven Fischer and Spiros Efthimiadis, Chris' brother. Second, Black in Mind is also the debut of the orchestral/classical instrumentation that would manifest itself in a bigger way with the band's next few albums. The result album is a rebirth of sorts for the band that will crush your skull in any and every way it can upon recieving your attention.
As aforementioned, Black in Mind differs a bit from the rest of Rage's material musically. The album is a seamless mix of thrashy aggression and slight classical tendancies, sprinkled about with some paranoia laced doom metal and traditional power metal influences, which would all never be heard again in the same mixture from Rage. It's this well thought out combination, put into the band's generally classy songwriting skills that nicely sets apart Black in Mind from a good number of albums out there. Sonically, this album sounds nearly the harshest Rage has ever sounded. The rhythm guitars are dense and dark, striking just enough treble to beat you over the head senselessly while retaining their output of melody in a crisp fashion. The leads (and there are plenty of them) and scales on the guitars have a unique, reverby, almost bell like sound to them when played that adds to the frantic eerieness of some of the songs. And the nature of Peavy Wagner's vocals are almost brutal in a sense, adding extra growl to his higher range and often coming off like a man possessed in the lower ranges, which combined with the cold production causes him to sound something like a severely angry cyborg. Add to this the war/depression/H.P. Lovecraft sci-fi horror lyrical focus throughout and you have 14 tracks of raw, yet classy sledgehammer-grey metal deserving of your ears.

Most of the songs themselves have a refreshing, enthused feeling about them, competing well with the band's past accomplishments while keeping a steady foot in the present towards the future. The first seven songs on the album could all easily be considered some of Rage's finest work, and the second half, while lacking in consistency and retaining a bit of repetitiveness, matches up well in the songs' best moments. The album opener and title track does well to prepare the listener for the entire album, combining speedy metal and razor sharp thrash riffs with frantic introspective lyrics and Rage's trademark excellent sense of melody. The Crawling Chaos, Shadow out of Time, and In a Nameless Time are the three main Lovecraft inspired songs on the album, adding spicy variety musically and all succeeding in capturing the writer's grim visions by way of pure lyrically inspired mood and melodic sense. The Crawling Chaos is a crushing midtempo number with one of the album's strongest choruses. Shadow out of Time is another excellent midtempo song but with a unique, darkly subdued feel to it thanks to Wagner's lower, more speech level vocals, and In a Nameless Time is the longest and doomiest song on the album, comprised of almost 11 minutes of tales of eldrich horrors from the past and future. There are also great nods to the band's speed metal roots in the scorching, intense Sent By the Devil, the riff heavy Forever, and the traditional power metal of Start! as well as a tasteful couple of ballady songs. Alive But Dead is another top notch Rage song, with a slow, tight crunch accompanying the tortured lyrics, and a slightly present doom influence. All This Time takes the experimentation a small bit further, with an almost Latin or polka flavored opening leading into a standard power ballad with the everpresent Rage touch.

With the wealth of good material on this album, there are still some slight hinderings in the form of some over repetitiveness and generally weak songs in the latter half of the album, which tends to make it feel somewhat tired and grinding at times - an unfortunate pitfall for many albums with 13 songs or over. Putting that aside along with the occasional overtrebly production that rears it's head within the drum work once in a while, this is one of Rage's best all around offerings and a sure winner for anyone who feels a bit Black in Mind once in a while..