Rages of Sin – Saligia 2.1 (review)

January 8, 2024

Releasedate: 22-12-2023

Rages of Sin is a death metal band from The Hague, and 3,5 years after their latest release Divergence, they’re back with a new album, Saligia. Saligia 2.1 is a concept album of seven tracks about the seven deadly sins. Sit back and strap in for a little over 40 min of gut-wrenching death metal.

Rages of Sin

Rages of Sin has been around since 2009. The band started out as a death/thrash formation, and with time their music evolved with them. Rages of Sin gets inspiration from melodic death metal bands but tries to add their own flair instead of copying others’ styles. The influences are heard throughout Saligia 2.1, naming Ingestion/Regurgitation as just one clear example. The album is diverse, but coherent as well in lyrics as music.

Saligia 2.1

Saligia is a Latin acronym for the seven deadly sins: Suburbia, Avarita, Luxuria, Invidia, Gula, Ira, and Acedia. Or in English: Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. The tracks of Saligia 2.1 are based on those seven sins, therefor there are seven tracks on the album. Not necessarily in the order described above though, since the first track Skeletons in the Closet seems to be about Sloth, and Gluttony is the theme of the fourth track, Ingestion/Regurgitation. The musical order of these tracks makes total sense though. There is a nice build-up in intensity throughout the album, and Skeletons in the Closet is a good opening track.

Skeletons in the Closet starts off strong with a great mix in which all the instruments are well defined, and the drums hard and heavy to drive the whole track forward. Halfway through the song there’s room for a few guitar solos and some headbanging to get us in the mood for the rest of the album. The riffs are recognizable enough to make you think of bands from the north, and definitely interesting enough to keep you wanting to listen to the rest of the album.

Leeched starts off with some orchestration, to give it an even more epic feel. The trash influences come through right away on this track. However, this is a diverse track and while fast riffs make up most of the songs, there is plenty of room for melodies and interesting breaks. For me, after hearing this track, I was hooked on the album.

Inspiration

And keeping it diverse, Silence starts off with an acoustic Opeth-inspired riff and more Doom influences. The scream-along part ‘The Silence Deafens Me’ is an earworm that will stay with you long after hearing the track.

With Ingestion/Regurgitation, we return to death-metal country again with some nice melodic riffs and headbangable riffs. The chorus for this track is the most melodic, with even some clean vocals. If you listen closely there are even some progressive influences in the melodies here as well, showing the broad spectrum of musical influences Rages of Sin combines in their tracks.

Monster of Riga starts off with an acoustic intro again, feeling like the ballad of the album. That only lasts for about a minute though. After the intro, we plunge into a heavily orchestrated track, which again reminds us of the Scandinavian scene. I’m not a fan of the almost heavy-metal-style vocals, luckily they are sparse. I hear some Dream Theater influences around 4.20 min in, but that might just be me (I’m a huge fan).

Speaking of inspiration: Baptized and Sodomised reminds me of Kataklysm’s Naciccist. It starts of as more of a thrashy song, but halfway through that changes into an intense, dark almost doomy vibe again.

The final track, Zero Sum Game is also the longest track on the album. It starts off with an epic intro, perfect for the closing track. The band gets help from guest vocalist David R. Kreft to make their final statement. For me personally, the track is a little too monotonous to really make an impact.

Final thoughts

I didn’t know what to expect from Rages of Sin, since I had never heard this band before. And I have to say, the Netherlands can really be proud of the quality of metal we produce. Rages of Sin is another great example that you really don’t need to see established names like Kataklysm to get great music. The quality of songwriting, the quality of the mix, and the diversity in the tracks, it all exceed our tiny country’s borders. Personal favorites of this album are Leeched, Silence, and Ingestion/Regurgitation.

Tracklisting