RAGE OF LIGHT – Imploder (Napalm Records)

English:CD-review
  Van Muylem    27 maart 2019

Metal meets Trance, Melody binds to Violence, Screams interspersing with an enchanting voice. A contrast made of light and rage. This is RAGE OF LIGHT and their stunning, multi-faceted debut album Imploder in a nutshell. The Swiss newcomers embrace extreme metal, growls and hyperblasts as much as they cherish electronica and soaring melodies. These seemingly incompatible factors shine in breathtaking anthems. On top of all that you get the charismatic vocalist Melissa Bonny (Evenmore, Warkings & Ad Infinitium)!


As they will perform at the Kraken metal Rock Fest 6 I decided to give them a review and their moment of fame. Do they deserve it? Well read underneath what my private thoughts are about when talking about their debut …

It all starts with the enigmatic intro called Light followed by massive raffling drums and empowered guitars. When Melissa Bonny starts to sing you know she has it all and turns you into a slave of their music! Enraged is the best description for the first real track. The backings create the typical beauty and the beast moment, the guitar solo sends you to heaven, whilst the drums destroy it all and turns it into hell. This duality reflects the spirit of this album! The metal feel binds with the electronic sound and the double vocals. Fallen starts with an industrial feel, empowered by sharp guitars and panther minded growls mixed with an angelic voice. Once again the drums sound like bombs or a submachine gun on speed. There is even a slight break that gives you a bit of time to catch some breath until it all explodes again.

I Can I will sounds a bit funny if you focus on the electronics in the beginning, but once Melissa starts to sing you forget about it and let the beast go. The techno minded break doesn’t last long and the demons are screaming like hell, whilst angels are fighting against them. The cool thing is that they give us so much variation that it takes a few times before you hear it all and notice every bit of the details worked into each track. It’s clear that they took their time to work on every bloody detail and thus forcing you to listen to it until you are pretty sure you discovered it all. It’s clear that this is heaven for those who seek for a wider taste and a mix of all kind of styles and sounds.

Just listen to the techno minded start of Away With You, the sweet vocals and the metal minded sound mixed with electronics and techno. The vocals do the same kind of thing: from soft to hard, back and forth: melting, fighting against each other and still sounding very melodic! In The Shadow is a sweet hard hitter and at some point it reminds me even of Technoirwhen they still had Julia Beyer behind the mic backed up by Silver versus Nervosa. The mix of all this makes this track one of the coolest on the album. Battlefront has even a chello and sounds like a massive shooting at incoming aliens, but it’s only about the upcoming battle. The vocals are raw, angelic and very diverse. Somehow it sounds like a more worked out version of The Unguided, with a wide range of vocals on top. Imploder sounds like a battle between synths and drums with the guitars on a side-note. Don’t expect any vocals here!Mechanicals sounds really weird in the beginning: mixing industrial, metal and techno with very aggressive vocals. The synths could have been taken out, but that’s my personal opinion. There is a tiny passage in which we even get some fragility before the beasts strike again and reboot the fight against The Light.

Nothingness mixes a classic sound (a chello), with beats, exploding drums salvo’s, sharp guitars and mixed vocals. There is a certain melancholic feel in it. Last track is Twilight of the Thunder God: giving it all and dealing that last and final blast! It’s powerful and just perfect as last track! And yes: it's a brilliant Amon Amarth cover!

I must say that this band brings a very diverse sound and I’m really curious on how they will sound on stage! Can’t wait to see them!

Live
04.05.19 BE - Ittre / Kraken Metal Fest
31.05.19 FR - Saint Hilaire Les Places / RockMetalCamp Fest 8
more tba

Line Up
Melissa Bonny - Main vocals
Jonathan Pellet - Vocals, keyboards, synth & drums programming
Noé Schüpbach - Guitars, bass

Eventpage Kraken Metal Rock Festival

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