Ravage - Spider on the World (2024)

★★★

RAVAGE is one of those bands that seem really awesome on paper, but are less awesome upon execution. It’s not even that they’re poor musicians or anything, they just aren’t all that good, y’know? I listen to these new songs and it’s all stuff I’ve heard before but done by better bands. And it’s not for a lack of trying because their past couple of albums have been pretty decent, but this just is not what I want from a band like RAVAGE – the goofy song titles, the childish album aesthetic, etc. If you’re gonna play under a power/speed moniker, you need to be able to deliver the goods. Most of these songs are mid-paced power metal with uninspired vocal melodies and pretty basic riffing, which already undermines their genre descriptors. The rhythm parts – mostly the drums, the bass really isn’t worth talking about – are very solid and help this album out a little, but there’s only so much a rhythm instrument can do if the preliminary songwriting isn’t strong to begin with. The leads are solid and tight, but once again, putting a brilliant solo over a boring song isn’t going to make it more enjoyable. Overall, if you need some good modern power metal, there’s so many other acts you could turn to – I won’t say you should skip over this release, but I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to ignore it.

FAVORITE TRACKS: “Sign of the Spider,” “Without a Trace,” “Face of Infamy”

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Originally published in April '24 (Issue No. 3)