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SOLDIERS OF RAGE
New Age Of Inhumanity

Self-released (2024)
Rating: 5.5/10

Having been created a decade ago by Diogo Jones (vocals and guitar) in Portugal, Soldiers Of Rage has remained inactive to say the least. Now rocking out of the UK, the band has finally issued a debut full-length album which fuses thrash and groove metal.

At times, there’s a decidedly late 90s feel to the flow and mechanics as the four-piece churns out robust if somewhat colourless metal. There’s a great deal of muscularity on offer alongside confrontational grooves, especially in the barked vocals, which tend to grate after a few songs. Soldiers Of Rage belong in the same league – although lower down – as Lamb Of God, and to a lesser extent Machine Head.

Each track is direct and punchy, but bereft of identity. This means that very quickly such blasts and shouts become not just bland but dated outbursts as the likes of ‘Fists Of Violence’ and ‘I Will Not Be Turned’ attempt to get up in your face.

Sure, the album is dotted with some catchy riffs, highlights being ‘Restlessness From The Dead’ and the chugging ‘Dipsomaniac’, but there’s nothing here I haven’t heard before. Slot Soldiers Of Rage on a bill with classic Pantera and not so classic Slayer and Machine Head and you’ve got yourself a tidy macho band to open up.

Thrash elements aren’t afraid to creep in, ‘Pits Of Society’ is decent as is ‘Living By The Irony’, but it’s just not a musical style that I can warm to. I would need to grow me a beard, get some tattoos and get to the gym before I could even begin to appreciate such dynamics.

Neil Arnold

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