Only Heavy Metal

2017-04-28 - The creativity and productivity of the German heavy metal trio RAGE seems to have no limits. Only 14 months after the successful "The Devil Strikes Again" neckbreaker, RAGE deliver their new, 23rd studio album called "Seasons Of The Black", which will be released on July 28th!

"Our fans are getting RAGE metal of the very first grade. We've been able to bring the band's typical trademarks into eleven new songs, and we're sticking to the course that we forged on the last album! This means hard and very catchy compositions that also sound thrash, aggressive and epic", tells band leader Peavy.

Since the reorientation of 2015, the three band members have now fully adapted to each other and the lost harmony has been fully restored. "We are even better matched with each other," says Peavy happy. "We offer new ideas to each other like we’ve never done something else before! It also happened that we created a whole new song within just two hours from start to finish, from scratch! Regarding the production we were also able to prevent some complications, which had been an element of the last album due to a lack of experience. This time, everything worked perfectly."

Guitarist Marcos Rodriguez and drummer Vassilios "Lucky" Maniatopoulos have been long-time RAGE fans from the very beginning. Their input also leaves its mark on their second album. "Marcos and Lucky well know the "classic" style-creating spirit of RAGE so to speak, and on a personal level we all really like each other as well. This contributed to the possibility of continuing to develop and expanding the band’s spirit," the vocalist adds.

The stylistic connection between "The Devil Strikes Again" and "Seasons Of The Black" is also visually reflected in the artwork, once again created by graphic artist Karim König. "We developed the idea together," says Peavy. “In this way we want to show that both albums belong together in their own way. I modelled the sonically inspired sculpture that dominates the cover on my own. As a basis, I used a very rare skull from my collection, which I poured myself and then re-modelled. Karim created the gloomy landscape with the Golgotha Hill."

The title song ‘Seasons Of The Black’ will be the opener of the 11 track-album. “The song is very personal, it is about a failed life-long dream. Imagine being stamped to the ground and looking at the broken pieces of your existence. This sadly is a destiny that many people have to share. Most of the songs on the album include a very gloomy view of the world, so we thought “Seasons Of The Black” would be suitable for the entire album,” the vocalist, who founded RAGE over three decades ago, sums up.

"Seasons Of The Black" was recorded in February / March 2017 at Megafon Studios (Burscheid, Germany) and at Soundchaser Studios (Zandhoven, Belgium). Its production was handled by RAGE, whilst the renowned Dan Swanö (MARDUK, OPETH, KATATONIA) took care of the mix and mastering at Unisound Studios (Grefrath, Germany).

**RAGE - sign with SPV/Steamhammer!***

25th studio album due out in January 2020
Festival tours in summer & winter 2019

15 years after the arrival of their live recording From The Cradle To The Stage, German metal legend Rage have returned to Hanover imprint, SPV/Steamhammer. The band featuring frontman Peter "Peavy" Wagnerr, guitarist Marcos Rodriguez and drummer Vassilios "Lucky" Maniatopoulos is currently busy working on new material for their upcoming album Wings Of Rage (working title), scheduled for release on 10 January 2020. A lead single will be out in September 2019, the second single to be lifted from the album is due to be released just before Christmas. Wings Of Rage is the group's 25th studio album and will be recorded at the Soundchaser Official Studio in Burscheid. Peavy promises an offering featuring "the essence of our musical development, the kind of songs that we have stood for since the mid-eighties."

Rage are planning to embark on a festival tour across Europe even before delivering their new material to present, together with the Lingua Mortis Orchestra, the full XIII album live for the first time. The show had its baptism of fire at the 70000tons of Metak, and a special highlight will be Rage's appearance at the Wacken Open Air at the beginning of August 2019. Towards the end of the year, Rage are scheduled to play lots of important winter festivals, before their major Wings Of Rage tour kicks off in February 2020.

"We're really happy to be back with SPV/Steamhammer," says Peavy Wagner. "Since our very successful and enjoyable collaboration in the early 2000s we've known that we're in expert hands with Olly Hahn and his team. Olly and I share a long-standing friendship, he will continue to promote Rage with his usual commitment."

SPV/Steamhammer label manager Olly Hahn is delighted with his new signing: "It's fantastic to have a band such as Rage on our roster again, their outstanding role in the development of German metal is undisputed. To be in a position to release their 25th studio album fills me with great pride and ambition."

New Studio Album “Wings Of Rage” in January 2020

– NEW STUDIO ALBUM IN JANUARY 2020 –
– FIRST SINGLE AND VIDEO TODAY –

Few metal acts can look back at as comprehensive, multi-faceted and varied a career as Rage. Founded in spring 1983 in Herne in Germany’s Ruhr region, the band surrounding vocalist/bassist Peavy Wagner has integrated a wide range of stylistic nuances into its musical concept. There have been releases which focused primarily on hard thrash sounds, but also recordings featuring anthemnic power metal as well as albums with a – in the true sense of the word – symphonic orientation. Wings Of Rage, the latest offering by the three-piece, consists of all this and much more. Peavy Wagner and his colleagues Marcos Rodriguez (guitar) and Vassilios “Lucky” Maniatopoulos (drums) have succeeded in summarising the diversity and experience of almost 37 years of band history in twelve topical songs, starting a new chapter at the same time.

Thanks to the diversity on Wings Of Rage, Wagner, Rodriguez and Maniatopoulos can be one hundred percent certain that every fan will find something to their very own, personal taste. Friends of earthy thrash tracks with a typical Rage attitude will get their money’s worth mostly on numbers such as the opener ‘True’ with its sinister verse, the lead single ‘Let Them Rest In Peace’, the title track ‘Wings Of Rage’ and the intense ‘Don’t Let Me Down’.Aficionados of atmospherically dense power metal anthems will love ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Chasing The Twilight Zone,’ while elements of classic orchestrations, as featured on Rage’s 1998 album classic XIII, mark the progressive ‘A Nameless Grave’ and the ballad ‘Shine A Light’.


Wings Of Rage presents the band as dynamic as ever, and their next world tour is in the pipeline for 2020. The February dates for the European leg have already been confirmed, more dates will follow soon.

Today will see the arrival of the first single, ‘Let Them Rest In Peace’, including an impressive video clip which Rage shot in a closed-down paper factory.

Changes in the Rage line-up - Peavy explains the reasons

Hi Rageheads, this is Peavy...

....there are some changes coming up in the Rage Camp that I want to inform you about. Our friend and guitar player Marcos Rodriguez will not perform with Rage anymore due to personal and private reasons that make it necessary for him to move on.

There are no bad feelings or arguments between us, we will continue being friends and we will surely continue making music together, just a bit more „behind the scenes". Life is changing constantly and so it is for us. As I want only the best for my friends, I accept his decision and wish him all the best for his future, so do all of us in the Rage Camp.

At the same time I'm planning for the future of Rage! Now, I am thinking about upgrading the band into a four piece line up with two guitar men at my side! My vision is to get a perfect line up in the way Rage sounded in the 90`s, only better and at a modern level. We´re working hard right now to bring Rage on that new level! Very soon we will present you the retreaded shape of the Rage Metal institution!

Watch out for upcoming news and stay healthy, so we can celebrate our favourite music and songs as soon as the corona crisis is under control...

Your Metal brother... Peavy