The Raging Project – Future Days

The Raging Project emerges from Project Rage, conceived in 2007 in Besançon, France by Ivan Jacquin and Lionel Fevre. This initially an electro-metal duo was later joined by female vocalist Jeannick Valleur. In 2009 they released a 5-track EP that received a warm reception and great feedback both in the press and audience of that time. After a long hiatus in their musical pursuits, they are finally back with a renamed project called, The Raging Project.

Unlike Project Rage, this new The Raging Project is more of a studio project, as an amazing gathering of sixteen musicians and vocalists who take a part in creation of their songs. Black Dog Promotions recently released their latest album entitled, Future Days.

Future Days contains twelve songs with twelve different moods, sometimes metal, sometimes progressive, a little bit electro and atmospheric. It’s rather a varied and great sonic experience listening to all twelve compositions. The length of the tracks is also varied; from the opening 2.36 minutes long “Warning”, to “On Earth” which is almost eleven-minute-long epic track.

The title Future Days is now easy to understand, but according to the main protagonist, it talks about what the future days of the Earth will be if we don’t act before it’s too late. Thus, most of the songs are talking about the way we are treating our planet and this will lead to the end of mankind. Having said so, I feel as if the lyrics are not as important as melodies which weave in and out of focus due to their unevenness.

The album starts with the aforementioned intro “Warning”, featuring some cinematic lines with dominant keyboard parts which add this special atmosphere and setting the mood for the rest of the album. “Rage” features a very cool synth and keyboards sound at the opening of the song. The piano and keyboard playing is excellent, esp. when paired with soaring electric guitar parts. “Don’t Want” is more groovy and delivered in a more aggressive pace, with screaming metal vocals, further enhanced by female vocals from Jeannick Valleur. This song has cooler synths and keyboards to it. On the other hand, “Colère” starts out with a more traditional rock/metal sound, with metal guitars, powerful drums and screaming rage vocals. The lyrics are in French, but more on the lyrical content and mening behing this song when we come to “Wrath”.

“Even if I Bleed” is easily one of the best songs on the album. It opens with some very cool keyboards and synths, regular rock/metal vocals and some of the best guitar playing on the entire album. Next one is called, “I Wanna Dance”. It opens with another cool synth and keyboard collaboration, with later addition of electric guitar and pounding drums. “Ambient”, as its moniker would suggest, is the slowest track on the album. It opens with beautiful piano and slow electric guitar. Meanwhile, it has a variety of ambient sounds, mixed with guitar, keyboards, slow drums and one of the best vocal performances. “Turn” is an easy song to explain; being a true head-banger with great amount of heavy metal guitar, storming drums and full-throated metal vocals. Another of my favorite songs is the next one called, “On Earth”. It also opens with excellent synths and distant keyboards. Vocally speaking, it’s another beautiful song, where Ivan & Amanda Lehmann sing together, while famous keyboardist, Derek Sherinian (from Dream Theater and many other great bands) plays keyboards and Theremin. “Procession” has this slow opening with warm and engaging keyboards, piano and synths parts. When complemented with bass & guitars, it almost sounds like a funeral march. “Wrath” is really a bonus track, the English version of the fourth track on the album, titled, “Colère”. The same almost goes for album closer, “Même Si Je Saigne” which is another bonus track and the French language version of track 5, “Let it Bleed”. Another interesting feature about this song is the return of Amanda Lehmann, who plays guitar and sing on this album’ finale.

Future Days has been mixed and mastered by Markus Teske at ‘Bazement Studio’ and production is modern and pretty listenable. The whole atmosphere is a bit gloomy, yet engaging.

Lastly; Future Days is a nice discovery for me, so I will recommend it for fans of modern progressive metal and acts such as Pain of Salvation, Ayreon, Faith No More, Pink Floyd, Camel etc.

For further information on this particular release visit https://theragingproject.bandcamp.com/album/future-days