Boston’s Ravage, one of the newest bands to join Metal Blade’s ever-growing roster, sure does have a strange discography. With more than 10 years and two full-lengths under their collective belt, the group has more EPs, live albums and demos than you can shake a studded stick at. They even have a best-of album (which saw the light of day-or would it be dark of night?-long before either of the full-lengths, interestingly enough). One can assume this is due to a strong hometown following – which is excellent, because these dudes rip.
The End of Tomorrow is a gem in the rough these days – no keyboards, no female vocals, no -core tendencies. This is straight up, balls-out heavy metal in its purest form. The album gallops and thrashes along a path laid down by the likes of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, only with a modern crunch. Scorching, soaring guitar leads rise out of the depths and collide with a thick, deliciously audible bass sound to create catchy, fist-pumping melodies. On the same token, the tracks of The End of Tomorrow are truly, bone-jarringly heavy. And vocalist Al Ravage’s mid-range howls really accent the band’s power/thrash sensibilities, especially on tracks like “Nightcrawler,” a kick-ass Judas Priest cover.
There is hope for American metal yet, if Ravage has any say in the matter. Of course, bands like Cage are doing the same schtick, but something about Ravage rings true. Perhaps it’s their refusal to give into the metal norm in Boston. Perhaps it’s The End of Tomorrow’s cover art, done by the inimitable Ed Repka. With luck, this band will remain on the heavy metal radar for years to come.
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I will be checking this for sure.
on Sep 7th, 2009 at 08:33Great review, Jodi! I’m going to check this band out now.
on Sep 7th, 2009 at 09:54It’s good to hear someone else basically say that the state of American metal today is in bad shape.
Sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the review, Jodi.
on Sep 7th, 2009 at 12:34this is for sure a ripping album, though the vocals can get a bit annoying in parts…
on Sep 7th, 2009 at 16:20Yeah I checked it out and the vocals killed it for me.
on Sep 7th, 2009 at 23:43I also agree on the vocals – the music is tight and crisp,…the the vocalist is just not up to the task at hand – he’s out-of-time and off-key slightly – just enough to wreck it for me.
Too band, cuz the music is worth a listen. New vocalist needed??
on Sep 9th, 2009 at 10:44One of the best Metal Blade releases in years, I love this album
on Oct 19th, 2009 at 21:15