German Heavy Metal band working together with an orchestra? Not exactly a new thing, as the band already has 4 albums with such collaborations to its name : 1996's Lingua Mortis (with collaboration of the Symphony Orchestra Prague), 1998's XII (now with the “Lingua Mortis Orchestra”) and 1999's Ghosts (again with Lingua Mortis Orchestra) were released by a band still existing as the quartet of Sven Fischer & Spiros Eftimiadis (on guitar), drummer Chris Eftimiadis, and singer/ bassist Peter “Peavey” Wagner, the band's mainstay.
Peavey then recruited Russian guitarist Victor Smolski and drummer Mike Terrana, and went on to record the albums Welcome To the Other Side (2001), Unity (2002), and Soundchaser (2003), but it wouldn't be before 2006's Speak Of The Dead, that the band would return to their “Lingua Mortis” themes for the album opening 8-part suite (in essence 5 instrumentals and 3 songs with a total length of just under 22 minutes) entitled “Suite Lingua Mortis” (backed by the Inspector Symphonic Orchestra). Its follow-up album, 2008's Carved In Stone (which was the first for current drummer André Hilgers), was also released in a special edition with bonus DVD, which included the band's full show at 2007's Wacken Open Air, featuring a symphonic orchestra from Minsk (White Russia) which toured Europe with Rage as the Lingua Mortis Orchestra). But so far there had been no full-length collaboration with an orchestra...until now (another notch on their belts!)!
Well, actually things go back a bit, back to 2010 to be exactly. That's when, incited by the successes of their Orchestral shows at the Rock festivals, Rage decides to fly under two flags in the future. On the one side, there's still Rage with its Heavy Metal side (which went on to release the 2010 and 2012 albums Strings To A Web and 21), but on the other side there's Lingua Mortis Orchestra with its combination of Classical and Metal, for which the band expanded with the two female singers Jeanette Marchewka and Dana Harnge. For the orchestral part, the band collaborated with orchestras from Spain and Russia (making for a list exceeding 100 musicians on the album) to record the music which was mainly written my Smolski. Lyrically, the band follows a concept on the burning of witches in Gelnhausen, written by Wagner (and based on a true story).
What to expect? A mixture of your usual Rage, with orchestral interjections which may be either subtle, or majestic, depending on the track's needs. Vocally, there's of course the embellishments by the two ladies, and truly...if you're interested in knowing how all of that fits together, you really should buy the album. If you're a fan of what Rage has done in the past, you'll not tally...in fact, you've probably already gót the album. Others should consult (www.) rage-on.de/lmo for a full story on the project and some video footage of the proceedings in the studio (end of page). For 30-second samples of all 10 album tracks, look up the album's page at Amazon or iTunes! Aw...and if you're interested in hearing even more, maybe you'll wanna see the band (with orchestra) perform live some time? Check the dates in September!