High quality symphonic Italian power metal filled the little ol’ Arch venue in Brighton on this cold and windswept December night, courtesy of Secret Rule. Founding lead vocalist, Angela Di Vincenzo, has an impressive vocal range and enthralled the, admittedly small but growing, audience with her diverse tales. Seven albums into their career and it should be no surprise that the band have a well-honed stage presence.
There is certainly a touch of the epic about them and (founding) guitarist Andy Menario led the musical charge tonight with aplomb, ably supported by bassist Nicola Pedron and drummer Sebastiano Dolzani, whose drums may have been a bit low in the mix at times. Their musical style is probably best described as symphonic power metal and, from the Ghost-like intro onwards, there were enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.
The set included cuts from their (just released) album UNInVERSE and from what I have heard so far, things bode well for the future. They did their best to warm up the early crowd and encouraged some audience participation, including the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ to the soundman, as well as one of the younger members of the crowd, which was a nice touch.
This reviewer had not come across C.O.P. UK before but apparently it stands for Crimes of Passion (and not the Court of Protection or Church of Pentecost, as Google would have you believe – ha). The band have had a bit of a reboot recently but problems seem to have beset them on this tour, being forced to cancel the first date and then having to find an emergency replacement drummer for tonight’s show.
Tonight’s band seemed to be a bit of a patchwork, with the efforts of lead vocalist Dale Radcliffe and his bassist and keyboard player being driven forward by Rage’s shit-hot guitarist, Jean Bormann, and an array of different drummers. The regular drummer couldn’t make it and so drum duties were shared by the band’s drum tec (Georgi), Sebastiano from Secret Rule and, even Lucky from Rage! Basically, the drummers saved the day, having learned a couple of tracks each PDQ and they all did a sterling job!
The band played a much more middle-of-the-road brand of hard rock than the previous support with a definite Skid Row feel to proceedings (no bad thing in my book). Main man Dale has a classically competent rock voice and there is a flamboyant element of Axl about him, which is always appealing in a front man. The first track (“The Core”) set the scene, leading into “My Blood”, although this seemed to lose a bit of momentum for us, as it was a bit of a plodder. They pulled things back soon after though, with tracks such as “Catch Me If You Can” and the excellent closing track, “God Made Me Your Angel”. The latter allowed Dale to show off his vocal skills and Jean to perform lots of nice widdly- widdlies, resulting in a very well-constructed piece of rock fayre.
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Peter ‘Peavy’ Wagner’s Rage have been pounding eardrums with their German power metal for almost 40 years now, albeit with an early name change and many, many line-up changes in their astounding 26 album history. That is some feat in the metal world! With the Spreading the Plague EP still ringing in our ears (although only “A New Land” is played from that release tonight), they have been touring the UK in advance of releasing a new album very soon. We are reliably informed that they will be revisiting the collaborative elements of their repertoire, involving an orchestra (in a Lingua Mortis vein), as well as their signature power/speed metal too.
Rage are now playing as a three-piece for the foreseeable, with Peavy on vocals and bass, Jean Bormann on guitar and Vassilios ‘Lucky’ Maniatopoulos on drums but you wouldn’t know it from the fully rounded sound they conjured up tonight. The set list spanned recent and more ancient tracks, but they still pleased the old school fans present. The Arch is a cosy little venue (and I quite like it because of the friendly staff and proximity to the performers) but there is always the quandary as to whether bands prefer small gigs, with rabid hardcore fans, or huge festival crowds (who may be completely indifferent)? The answer is, of course, that both scenarios offer different things but both can be gratifying or useful to the band. This gig fell squarely in the small but enthusiastic category and it seemed to be enjoyed by the band and crowd alike.
Rage are a tight musical unit, despite the false start on the first song “Resurrection Day” (someone forgot to tune the bass…whoops). “Great Old Ones”, “Solitary Man” and “End of All Days” upped the pace with some great power thrash, allowing Jean to show off his considerable skills. “Solitary Man”, “Black in Mind” and “Refuge” had an old school thrash feel to them, while “Back in Time” and “My Way” plotted a slightly more standard metal course but still remained upbeat in tone. They kicked off a three-song encore with “From The Cradle To The Grave” which I would say represents the more prog-rock end of their spectrum. “Don’t Fear The Winter” and “Higher Than The Sky” rounded festivities off nicely with high energy sing-a-longs.
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Header image by Manfred Jasmund
Rage: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | bandcamp | youtube
C.O.P. UK: facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube
Secret Rule: official | facebook | instagram | spotify | youtube
