Devils Rage come from Switzerland and have been around since 2006. The band consists of 5 members - Patrik "Schumi" Schumacher and Pascal "Feschi" Fischer on guitars, Stefan "Lalas" Häfliger on vocals and the rhythm section features Raphael "Booz" Müller on the drums and Stefan "Keule" Reinhard on the bass. Rise of Insanity is their debut studio effort, a self-released EP with 1 intro followed by 6 tracks of melodic death-metal.



After the short intro, Because Of You kicks in and quickly grabs our attention. The guitar harmonies allow the song to flow freely and add a lot of interest to the song, the vocals are growled, not too deeply, and fit nicely in the whole package, as the bass and drums keep pounding franticly, with some rhythm changes and double-bass, making my head move along to the music, nodding approvingly. The track's nearly 6 minutes long, but there's not a dull moment in it, and although it sometimes reminds us of older In Flames songs, it was never to such an extent that it would harm the experience - it was actually interesting to listen to that and experience this sort of reminiscence. Exit follows and takes us to a more aggressive mood, while Devil Rage adds some groove to their sound. The rhythm changes are still present but the guitar harmonies are more sparse on these two. The following song, Glorious Liberation, immediatelly reminds of Amon Amarth, as soon as the first verse starts, and again my head starts moving along with the music. Inhuman continues along the same lines, and although this one's more of a midtempo tune, it's full of melody and feeling. The EP comes to an end with Stupid - now, here's an odd title - another fast song, although tempo definitions are a difficult matter with these guys, since all of their songs have some tempo changes, and this last song will prove to be no exception to that.



So, the first thing that comes to my mind after listening to Rise of Insanity is that "Damnit, that was short! I want to hear some more songs!", which tell a lot about the EP. Although their 6 real songs can't be described as being short, with times ranging from 4:00 to 6:00 minutes, by the end I felt the need for a few more songs. The compositions are very well done and the inclusion of those changes in rhythm and melodies work very well, spicing things up and keeping the songs fresh and interesting all the way through. Both guitars play their parts quite well, with their harmonies painting some of the most vivid colors of this debut, although I felt a few songs were begging for a solo that never came, here and there. The vocals, strong and full of rage, add the necessary power and aggressiveness, while the drums and bass do a great job pushing the songs onward, having their own share of moments in the spotlight - even though, on the production side, the drum sound could have been worked differently, as it sounds a little dry and displaced, at times, specialy the snare, while the bass could have been a little louder, as I found hard to discern its sound from the other instruments several times during the songs (too usual a fault, as far as metal albums are concerned, unfortunatelly... either that or I'm becoming earblind to this lower spectrum of sound, but I'd rather pick the first option, for my ear's sake). My songs of choice from Rise of Insanity are Glorious Liberation and Inhuman, but they all have their points of interest, so this will always be a subjective matter that'll depend on the listener's own taste or state of mind.



So, to conclude, Devils Rage were able to make a great debut with their EP Rise of Insanity and I hope they'll be able to make it through to their debut full length - a few more songs, some guitar soloing and a little more effort on the production and that would make my day. I'll keep an eye on these guys, meanwhile, the final rating for Rise of Insanity will be a well worth 75 / 100.

Rating: 75%