Review Summary: After the departure of Mike Terrana, Rage knew how to recover with a good album! Did anyone expect something different?
Continuing his contract with Nuclear Blast that began with "Speak of the Dead", as well as his fruitful relationship with producer Charly Tzjaikowski along with famed metal guru Charlie Bauerfeind on the mixes, the only noteworthy change would be André Hilgers’s entry on drums.
And to face this change, it must be admitted that Rage decided not to take risks, since this "Carved in Stone" can be seen as a compendium of their entire career, with songs that will satisfy lovers of his more symphonic vein (Carved in Stone, Lord of the Flies), good speed metal songs with melodic choruses (Drop Dead!, Gentle Murders), pure thrash metal (Open My Grave) as well as nods to their more hard rock vein (Long Hard Road, One Step Ahead )
However, in my opinion the compositional level is not as high as in the band's three previous studio albums, making this "Carved in Stone" a bit below them in my opinion. I also miss a bit more power in the album, mainly because the predominance of hard rock riffs (I love hard rock, but it's not the strongest Rage's style) and slower tempos comparee to previous albums, and also because of the mellow production of the guitar’s sound, which reminds me of the also a bit weak guitar-sounding “Soundchaser”.
However, Victor Smolski's guitar work deserves a special mention despite its sound, as he is capable of surprise us in the instrumental interludes of each track with amazing solos and creativity beyond any doubt. His mere presence is capable of making somewhat more mediocre songs like Lost in the Void and Mouth of Greed worth listening to and the album is almost never boring (songs like Without You are beyond salvation) because of this work. Excellent!!!
In short, "Carved in Stone" opened in a satisfactory way another stage of Rage, the one made up of Smolski, Wagner and Hilgers, which would be one of the longest-lived and more stable formations the band has ever had!
Best Tracks: Carved in Stone (not very original, but epic and hooky), Gentle Murders (I really like Smolski's experimentation on guitars, which continues in the beginning of the next track Open My Grave), Long Hard Road (it's a good Hard Rock theme where Peavy sings with guttural voices never heard before on him, and which has another great guitar solo by Victor) and Lord of the Flies (in the vein of Unity's Dies Irae)
