I still remember an old Rock ‘n’ Rolf interview where he mentioned that RUNNING WILD was the only band (apart from ZED YAGO) that adopted a pirate relative theme. Poor old Rolf, little he knew that years later the legacy of RUNNING WILD would spawn a whole new generation of black eye-patched bands. And while many of them tend to stray from the German power metal sound, forged partly by RUNNING WILD, some of them faithfully follow Captain Rolf‘s music vision.
RAGING FATE is one of those aforementioned outfits, in fact they have been around for quite some tome, as a project of Mattias Lövdal, who wrote and performed most of their stuff. In fact this is their third album, five years later from their previous effort. And while someone could expect a re-branding of the band, a common practice after such long periods of time, RAGING FATE continue the path they have taken since the beginning: Guitar driven, solid German power metal that pays a homage to RUNNING WILD, ACCEPT, GRAVE DIGGER, X-WILD, PARAGON, STORMWARRIOR among others.
Looking both in the 80’s and 90s, these guys live and breathe power metal , something obvious from the first seconds of “Dead man’s land”. Their strongest influence is of course RUNNING WILD, something that it is established as defacto in the following track “Skull and bones”, that could easily pass for a “Blazon stone” (album) outtake. Ans speaking of “Blazon stone”, take note that the one and only Cederic Forsberg, the guy behind BLAZON STONE band, ROCKA ROLLAS, CLOVEN ALTAR (among others) did the mixing and the mastering. This alone should be enough for someone to realize that we are talking for a classy power metal album.
As the album progresses more influences come forth: GRAVE DIGGER (“Horror Movie Mania” and “The Vendetta Ride”) or very early RAGE (“In Darkness and Sorrow”) giving the album an early 90’s German Metal vibe. Occasionally the band strolls into thrash metal (like SQUEALER or TANKARD) but their heart and soul is into power metal. Suffice to say that the sound is rock solid: Riffs above concrete solid drum and bass. Catchy choruses, upbeat tempo and effective lead and harmonizes that compose memorable tunes. Jarno Ollila‘s vocals are grunt with the Rock ‘n’ Rolf sneer that gives them a touch of malice.
There are no ups and downs in this one. From start to finish the quality of the songs is maintained. Should someone look for hits, I’d recommend the title track, along with “Skull and Bones”, “Powder and Flame” or “The Great Heathen Army”. Nevertheless the whole album is a must for fans of power metal.
”Mutiny” will be released on the 11th of January 2025 by Stormspell Records and will be available on CD and Digital format.
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Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
