Rage

Challenging all those who long ago dismissed them as second-rate and painfully cheesy Teutonic power-thrashers, Rage inaugurate their 18th studio album, Speak of the Dead, with an ambitious, 25-minute song suite subtitled "Lingua Mortis." OK. Get ready for this, though: it's actually very entertaining! Part symphonic orchestration, part Spanish guitar austerity, part organ-driven progressive rock in the style of '70s legends Kansas and, obviously, part heavy metal at its most over-the-top dramatic (and, sure, just a little cheesy, in true Rage tradition), the magnum opus' multiple compositional dimensions are, at the very least, unexpected, and at most, a whole new avenue of expression for the group - who knew…

Following on from the success of Vienna, Ultravox cemented their position as a New Romantic phenomenon with their follow-up, 1981's Rage in Eden. The martial beats and political undertones of "The Thin Wall" single acted as a potent taster for the album, to be joined in the U.K. Top 20 by the even more powerful message of "The Voice."…

Rage Against the Machine will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut with three separate reissues on November 27th. Rage Against the Machine — XX features a remastered copy of the original album with three B-sides from the era.

German heavy metal outfit Rage originally formed in the early '80s, and although the group has issued albums on a steady basis ever since, lead singer/bassist Peter "Peavey" Wagner is the only original member still in attendance. First known as Avenger, the group issued a pair of recordings (Prayer of Steel and Depraved to Black) before switching their name to Rage to avoid confusion with a British band of the same name…