Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release date: March 6, 2020
Production: Victor Smolski
Length: 47.54 min
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 9.0 / 10
What do Roman gladiators, race car drivers, climber Alex Honnold and, last but not least, Victor Smolski have in common? Their amygdala kicks in very late, and in Honnold’s case probably never. “Late” (or veeery late) means that, unlike most people, who quickly recognize “fear” and react by either backing off or attacking, a person like this, once that almond-shaped gland in the limbic part of the brain gets fired up, would keep on enjoying the rush of mortal danger for a long time. Enjoying it long after they’d already staggered deep into the jaws of (almost certain) death. Well, the album »Rush of Death« keeps asking the question: what is so alluring about facing death eye to eye? What pulls you over to the other side?
Belarusian multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer Victor Smolski is the guy who a while back played an actually empty Orto bar with his Almanac, but then again, nothing surprises us anymore in Slovenia, a country where Dalmatian melos and assorted gossip about the superheroes of the tabloid pages have made their permanent home, right? Smolski is a musical genius, that’s the first thing, and he’s also always been known as a passionate driver of fast cars. This exceptional virtuoso and composer carried his love of living at breakneck speed straight over to his guitar playing too, and as a member of Rage he helped the legendary Hamburg metallers enter the most exciting artistic period of their career, which ended for good with Victor’s departure in 2015 (unless Marco Minnemann and Guthrie Govan join Peavy, which won’t happen).
Victor has put out two seriously good albums with Almanac, both leaning lyrically on Russian history in the days of the tsars. On the third one, »Rush of Death«, the central part of the record takes us all the way to ancient Rome (gladiator fights), and a few tracks will also be adopted by rally drivers. That may sound familiar to Rage fans, and bringing up Rage makes a lot more sense with the new album than it did with the previous two Almanac records. We’ll get back to that a bit later. What happened to Smolski before he started creating the new album is that almost all the members of the previous Almanac crew bolted. Just like that. Because of time constraints, the man basically had to build a new lineup from scratch for the third album. Almanac had simply started to rise and had become a well-regarded outfit over the past few years, with plenty of shows under their belt. Victor wanted to keep the band constantly active. So he rebuilt it with lesser-known names, but all the more committed ones. Besides the fact that the composing brains behind the new album are entirely Victor’s, the big novelty on “Rush of Death” is the reshuffling of vocal duties among new vocalists: singer Patrick Sühl, paired with a female duet partner (Jeannette Marchewka), and backed by screamer Frank Beck and the occasional growler Marcel Junker. That’s one of the key differences when you compare the new album with the first and second.
When it comes to pomp, “Rush of Death” is a considerably more stripped-down album than both of its predecessors. That means it’s a lot sharper: the guitar phrases are pushed forward and dominate over the orchestral arrangements, which are only a pinch in the mix on the new album, or simply don’t stand out in the production. Here it makes sense to go back to Rage again, straight to the days of “Welcome to the Other Side” (2001), “Unity” (2002) and “Soundchaser” (2003), since Victor was actually responsible for the arrangements, guitar, keyboards and production on those very Rage albums. At moments, “Rush of Death” pulls hard toward that period of Rage’s songwriting. No surprise, since the same composer is behind the songs. The feeling is all the stronger because this time Smolski wanted to make a considerably punchier, more direct album with way less “orchestral clutter”. That goes for the phrasing, especially in the solos, which once again take your breath away. Another very important ingredient in achieving those vibes, which will brighten the days of “Rage Smolski era” nostalgics, is the explosiveness of drummer Kevin Kott. That explosiveness and extreme technical polish, especially in the transitions, is astonishingly comparable to Mike Terrana’s style. The album is also considerably darker than both of its predecessors.
The decision to deliver the hardest Almanac album yet paid off big time for Smolski, because on “Kingslayer” (2017) it was slowly starting to feel like the formula carried over from the debut “Tsar” (2016) had finally hit the point where you could fall into the trap of artistic self-repetition. The change of direction thus delivered an excellent power metal album, in places razor sharp, with riffs that are properly “thrash-ified” and stunning in the sheer ramp-up of guitar speed, plus incredible escapades that showcase the virtuoso chops of this guitar wizard and otherwise brilliant composer. At the same time, the songs differ wildly from one another in their lead motifs, radiating extra freshness in atmospheric leaps within the modulations (outros, intros, “mid-eight” passages), while the finely tuned distribution of lead roles among the other musicians also does its part, firing on all cylinders in a glow of compatible dialogue and constantly high-level, tolerant coexistence. The mood swings are generous, if not downright dizzying, and high-tension, drama-theater development with just the right measure of bombast is guaranteed.
That’s it. Victor Smolski, whom we’ve always remembered in the best possible light, delivers a new top-shelf power metal read with the Almanac album “Rush Of Death”, one that, thanks to all the quirks that adorn this musician in his expressive vocabulary and his very philosophy of composing, comes across as exceptionally special and unique once again, within the (way too) often reheated and recycled formula of power metal rhetoric.
Track list:
01. Predator
02. Rush Of Death
03. Let The Show Begin
04. Soiled Existence
05. Bought And Sold
06. The Human Essence
07. Satisfied
08. Blink Of An Eye
09. Can’t Hold Me Back
10. Like A Machine
Line-up:
Patrick Sühl – vocals
Jeannette Marchewka – vocals
Frank Beck – vocals
Victor Smolski – guitar, keyboards, arrangements
Tim Rashid – bass
Kevin Kott – drums
Marcel Junker – growls
