Lingua Mortis Orchestra - LMO
Nuclear Blast
Symphonic / Orchestral Metal
10 songs ()
Release year: 2013
Nuclear Blast
Reviewed by Chris
Album of the month

Ok so for those who know Rage, you already know what the Lingua Mortis Orchestra is. For the others, a little history lesson is in order. In 1996, Rage released their 10th full length album, called Lingua Mortis on which they collaborated with the Prague Symphony Orchestra to deliver some seriously wicked orchestra / symphonic metal ! The album was a success and many a fan favourite, yours truly included. The album took some of the band's best hits and incorporated the orchestral element. If you know Metallica's S&M, then you know what it is all about, except Rage did it first, though one can always argue that Metallica did it better :), I love both albums even though I'm not a big Metallica fan, don't get me wrong I love many songs, just not a true fan. But then we can also say KISS did it first with The Elder.

So after Lingua Mortis, Rage made a few more albums with the Linuga Mortis orchestra, XIII and Ghosts, both great albums, and this time featuring original songs mixed with orchestration. XIII is a classic, Ghosts, with it's more commercial and catchy approach is still great and has some super hits, but is not as consistent throughout IMHO. Then on many occasion the band toured with the orchestra to deliver unforgettable shows. The fans just love the Lingua Mortis orchestra so it's no surprise that the band decided to deliver more goodness in this direction. However what's new in this case is that the band's name is now Lingua Mortis Orchestra featuring Rage, not the other way around. The band decided to provide two types albums (bands), the usual Rage heavy metal rompers and the more orchestral stuff under the new LMO moniker.

I was a little worried that the LMO stuff would be a little on the soft side, but was quickly re-assured as the album contains some really heavy tracks, like the second song Scapegoat or Witches Judges which is one of the band's heavier songs. As always they manage to deliver very heavy riffing and verses that contrasts well with awesome bridge and ultra melodic/catchy choruses. That's were the band has always shined in my opinion, this mix of strong, heavy, thrash like verse versus ultra melodic choruses. In fact if I should describe Rage (and by extension Lingua Mortis Orchestra) with two words it would be heavy and melodic. Peavy's vocals are awesome and powerful as ever, even though I get the feeling the way some of the songs are written gives him even more chances to showcase a bigger spectrum / range of his vocal abilities than the usual Rage album.

If you thought that bands like Nightwish & Rhaspody (of Fire) were the only one who can bring a true orchestral integration into the metal sound then you will be pleasantly surprised by LMO. This album contains heavy rompers, cubic riffs, absolutely amazing guitar work by master Victor Smolski (who wrote most of the songs with the help of Peavy) who also produced the album, and said it was the most difficult album he ever produced. From the quality and depth found in the result I understand why. Let's not forget his father tought him classical music, I can still remember the awesome intro (on one of his previous band : Mind Odyssey) where his dad tries to teach him the basics of classical and then he says "my time will come" and takes the violin melodies and plays them heavy metal style on his guitar, gives me shivers every time :).

This split of names from the same band, Rage on the standard Heavy Metal, and LMO for the orchestral stuff is a good idea, though it's mostly a commercial one imho. It's a little like Edguy's and Avantasia, though the later is different in the way that it is mostly composed of guests gravitating around Tobias' composition and ideas. Still, there are also guests on LMO :), Jeannette Marchewka and soprano singer Dana Harnge. There are also guest vocals by Henning Basse (ex Metallium).

In the end if you like Rage and the Lingua Mortis stuff, you will easily fall in love with the songs present on this excellent symphonic metal offering. It's difficult to chose favorite songs but my selection is : The epic opener (and single, though it was shorter as a single) : Cleansed by Fire, ScapeGoat, The Devil's Bride, Eye for an Eye & Straight To Hell

Most songs clock at 6 minutes and more (10+ for the opener). The artwork is as beautiful as the orchestration and production on the album, and probably one of the ("new") band's best artcover. The album is a concept about the burning of witches in Gelnhausen in 1599.

LMO is a worthy successor to the original Lingua Mortis album, and bascially if you like Rage, you will love LMO, as simple as that. A true symphonic masterpiece !

Killing Songs :
All of them !
Chris quoted 94 / 100
2 readers voted
Average:
 98
Your quote was: 98.
Change your vote

There are 8 replies to this review. Last one on Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:59 am
View and Post comments