In this series of posts I'll discuss a random album in my collection I feel like talking about!
Anyway, Soundchaser is an album that's gotten multiple spins per year since I first got my hands on it all those years ago! Why? Because this album is a friggin' awesome example of pure speed/power/heavy metal brilliance, that's why! Rage had already been around forever by the time Soundchaser appeared in 2003, so it feels like the product of a band who are very comfortable with their craft - and I mean that in the best possible sense. I feel like sometimes a comfortable band can also mean their albums feel overly safe and autopilot-y. With Soundchaser, this isn't the case.
Considering vocalist/bassist Peavy Wagner is not the world's greatest singer, he really has a way with his vocals. On it's own, his voice is distinctive and well-suiting to the music for sure, but I wouldn't say he's particularly gifted vocally from a technical point of view. Yet he's so good at arranging his vocals and coming up with hooks to die for that it doesn't matter. Rage just wouldn't be Rage without him. Throughout the album, songs like 'War of Worlds', 'Great Old Ones', 'Defenders of the Ancient Life' and 'See You in Heaven or Hell' all have choruses and verses that have stuck with me ever since I first heard this album. As a metalhead, generally speaking I consider the actual music and riffs to be the most important aspect of a band. Poor vocals can absolutely be off-putting, sure - but I find with this genre, I can often deal with subpar vocals if the music is great. That's just how it is with metal some of the time. But with Rage, I'm almost always impressed with how Peavy lays down his vocals, even if he's not a technically-impressive singer. You know, I picked up their most recent album, A New World Rising, last year and even though his voice is clearly getting worn out at this point in time... man, the vocal hooks on that record are still great!
And as for the instrumentation, Victor Smolksi's guitar playing is just as inspired as Wagner's vocal work! This album ticks every box in terms of guitars. There's fast and intense riffage to be found here, beefy mid-tempo stuff, intricate shredding solos and tons of melodic licks and leads throughout every track - just what a traditional power metal album deserves! There's enough variety in the riffs and neo-classical solos going on that I honestly can't pick any holes whatsoever. Even the acoustic playing on the intro to 'Falling from Grace - Wake the Nightmares Pt. 1' is spectacular! I'll summarise the guitar work as melodic, focused and technical, yet still riffy and heavy enough to remind you that Rage are indeed a metal band, even if they ironically often tend to concentrate more on melody than they do actual rage!! Alongside the fantastic guitars is a tight drum performance from prolific drummer Mike Terrana. I've always struggled to discuss drums in detail, so I'll just say they're pretty damn great on this album too!
The production too, is excellent. The album has a clean and crisp tone, yet it never sounds fake or overproduced. That's a tough balance to achieve, but by golly they did it! It's also easy to forget that Rage are a power trio - just 3 guys in the band, yet their sound is massive. Great players combined with great production and songwriting will do that to a band I guess, regardless of how many members there are.
Really, I just wanted to talk about Soundchaser because I think it's awesome. Well, that and the fact I don't know when or if I'll ever make a dedicated page to this band due to the limited availability of their catalogue in my country. But this particular album is worthy of a shoutout. Personally, I think Soundchaser is a modern power metal classic - and by "modern" I really mean "old" - this thing came out 23 years ago now! The songs never overstay their welcome; unlike your Helloween's, Gamma Ray's or Running Wild's, there are no epic-length numbers to speak of here - just fantastic slabs of pure power metal brilliance. Heavy metal songs full of energy, melody, catchy hooks, punchy riffage and technical solos. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!
Adam's rating: 9.2/10
