''Speak of the Dead'' is the 18th studio album by German heavy metal band Rage, released in 2006 by

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. The album contains a mix of different music genres, adding symphonic and progressive influences to their usual fast

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

/melodic

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

. The band go back to the album ''

Lingua Mortis ''Lingua Mortis'' is the eleventh full-length album by the German heavy metal band Rage, released in 1996. It's the band's first collaboration with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, which played with the band Rage's songs re-arranged for a classic ...

'' themes and atmospheres in the suite that opens the album, called "Suite Lingua Mortis" that consists in eight parts, using a full symphonic orchestra recorded in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus. The album marked the last featuring drummer

Mike Terrana Mike Terrana (born January 21, 1960) is an American hard rock and heavy metal drummer. His first professional work was in 1984 with the MCA band Hanover Fist from Toronto, Canada, after which he recorded and toured with other bands, playing m ...

Track listing

Personnel

Band members

Peter "Peavy" Wagner Peter "Peavy" Wagner (born 22 December 1964) is a German heavy metal musician best known as the lead singer, bassist and main songwriter of Rage. Biography Wagner was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, the second of four children. Hi ...

– vocals, bass *

Victor Smolski Victor Dmitriyevich Smolski (russian: Виктор Дмитриевич Смольский, be, Віктар Дзмітрыевіч Смольскі, born 1 February 1969) is a guitarist who was a member of the German heavy metal band Rage fro ...

– guitars, piano, keyboards, cello, orchestral arrangements *

– drums and percussion

Additional musicians

*Inspector Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Andrey Zubrich *Thomas Hackmann – backing vocals

Production

*Ingo 'Charly' Czajkowski – producer, engineer *

Charlie Bauerfeind Karl Rudolf "Charlie" Bauerfeind (born 30 May 1963) is a German sound engineer and producer who has worked mostly with power metal bands such as Angra, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Primal Fear, Rage, HammerFall and Saxon. Works Productio ...

– mixing, mastering *Jan Rubach – additional digital editing

References

{{Authority control Rage (German band) albums 2006 albums Nuclear Blast albums Symphonic metal albums by German artists Thrash metal albums by German artists