Artist:  Cage
   Title: Science Of Annihilation
   Label: Musicbuymail Records

In the world of Power Metal the bands coming out of Europe have more or less dominated the scene, although there are some in America that say one band has taken this mainly Euro genre and made it their own and that band is San Diego’s Cage, who since their insertion into the scene in 1992, have taken the Power Metal world somewhat by storm.

Now on to their fifth release 'Science Of Annihilation', the band are about to set the tongues wagging once more as they take the whole genre one step further and expel the boundaries of the genre with their most exciting album so far.

'Science Of Annihilation' is purebred Power Metal to the core.  Fast, furious and yet still melodic, as the intro ‘The Power That Feeds’ fades out the real speed metal begins with ‘Planet Crusher’ and the superb ‘Scarlet Witch’.

There is a very thin line between good Power Metal and Thrash Metal and that line is called Melody and no matter how fast you can play, if it's not melodic then it's just not Power Metal.  And that's one of the many things that Cage have in abundance is melody, right from the guitars to the titanic rhythm section, to the mighty metal vocals they all produce melody and that’s what makes this album so ground breaking in the whole Power Metal genre.

The album constantly stretched the boundaries with great tracks like ‘Spirit Of Vengeance’, the excellent ‘Operation Overlord’, a metal tribute to allied invasion in World War II and is my personal favourite of the entire album.

It's full tilt once more with ‘Power Of God’ and the aptly titled ‘Speed Kills’, a track that reminds me very much of Judas Priest’s 'Screaming For Vengeance' days, raw and fast.

After the six string frenzy of Speed Kills it back to the harder edged metal with ‘Stranger In Black’ before once again putting the pedal to the metal once more with ‘Die Glocke’ another six string ripper.

The band show their darker side with the excellent ‘Spectre Of War’ a much more slower refrain but still a powerful track which merges into the faster paced title track ‘Science Of Annihilation’.

The album closes with ‘At The Edge Of The Infinite’ again the past and previous track combine as this narrative voice over ends what is a great powerful metal release and a must for all those into the like of Halford, Priest, Megadeth and any other melodic speed metal.


Tracklisting:

1. The Power That Feeds
2. Planet Crusher
3. Scarlet Witch
4. Spirit Of Vengeance
5. Black River Falls
6. Operation Overload
7. Power Of A God
8. Speed Kills
9. Stranger In Black
10. Die Glocke
11. Spectre Of War
12. Science Of Annihilation
13. At The Edge Of The Infinite 

  		                  

 

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