The Raven Age’s ‘Exile’ Album Critique
Written by Johnson Stephen on September 14, 2021
The Raven Age
Exile
Explore1 Music Group /EX1 Records
According to The Raven Age, ‘Exile’ is their new collection album and is a passion project for their fans waiting for their new studio album.
What’s on offer and is it any good, I will illuminate you as to what’s good and what’s not…
The album is made up of 11 songs, of which 2 are new, namely ‘Wait For Me’ and ‘No Man’s Land’. These two tracks showcases what was a memorable intro, however…
There are 5 tracks from the bands 2019 album ‘Conspiracy’, namely ‘Fireflies’, ‘As The World Stood Still’, ‘A Look Behind The Mask, ‘Dying Embers’ and Hold High The Fleur De Lis’, and these are performed acoustically and come across rather well, albeit a little self-indulgent in places.
What comes next is what I have an issue with…
To close the album, it has 4 live tracks tacked on to it, namely ‘Seventh Heaven’, ‘Angel In Disgrace’, Surrogate’ and lastly Forgotten World’, which for me, detracts from the overall feel of the album, as having Live songs on what is a studio collection of songs, doesn’t really fit the flow of the album.
P’raps, the record company or the band, should’ve made the decision to have released these 4 Live tracks on a stand-alone EP, to help satiate the fans who’ve missed seeing ‘em live.
Collection albums, on the whole, are rather hit and miss affairs at the best of times and only really please the die-hards fans and potentially alienate newbies to their cause, who may or not be familiar with the tracks on offer.
All in all, without the live tracks, the album would’ve been better off, with it, somewhat diminishes the overall impact, which is a shame. The studio tracks are where The Raven Age shines for the most part.
