The Raven Age - New Music

THE RAVEN AGE / NEW ALBUM / TOUR

Melodic metal quintet The Raven Age have released their new album Exile, out now via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records. The new album is a beautifully curated selection of songs featuring 11 tracks including two new original songs, plus fan favourites from their 2019 release Conspiracy as well as hand-picked live tracks from tours in front of massive audiences in Chile, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“The concept for Exile is something we had been toying with for a while,” said vocalist Matt James. “We had done alternate acoustic style versions of songs before and the response was so positive it made us think about doing a whole album this way! Obviously, The Raven Age is first and foremost a metal band but due to the melodic nature of our songs they can lend themselves to this kind of treatment. We were pleasantly surprised how great so many of the songs sounded stripped back to their bare bones.”

One of the tracks that received a stripped-down makeover is ‘As The World Stood Still’. The track, a derivative on ‘The Day The World Stood Still’ from the band’s 2019 album Conspiracy, forgoes The Raven Age’s brazen bassline and drum kicks in favour of a stripped back acoustic backing. The song takes on a vulnerable new sound, showcasing a side of the metal band that isn’t often put on display.

Exile sees the introduction of two new tracks from the band, ‘No Man’s Land’ and ‘Wait For Me’. ‘No Man’s Land’ reflects the band’s mental state in the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and the fear they – alongside so many others in the music industry – felt. ‘Wait For Me’, a velvety rock ballad, weaves a promise that despite any separation from loved ones, the ties that bind you together will bring you back eventually.

“We [were] at the stage in our careers where we rely on that momentum and buzz to keep us reaching forward,” James shared, “and to have the rug pulled from underneath us left us in a state of limbo where we suddenly didn’t know if everything we’d built so far and worked so hard for was all for nothing.”