If you didn't like Rampage before, now is your chance for redemption. Bellum Infinitum is the latest in Lord Vic's prolific metal crusade and the most well-written material to date. It's a slight departure from past Rampage releases, heading into power metal territory at times, but overall it remains rooted in '80s thrash.

In spirit, this reminds me of Hallow's Eve's debut album, Death and Insanity. The musicianship here is above par, meaning Vic knows how to write a good song. He also mixes in the occasional well-placed clean/acoustic guitar for atmosphere. Some of the riffs are just so majestic that they alone will take you back to the '80s. The guitar sound during some of the solos reminds me of Death circa Symbolic/The Sound of Perseverance, which is a positive thing. Most of the time, Vic opts for a cleaner, more power metal-ish vocal approach than his usual rough thrashy vox and it really aids the music. One of my favorites is "Nemesis", especially toward the end, for the guitar work--most memorable! "Sisters of Death", "The Wakening/Soulsword" and the fist-worthy "The Vow" also deserve mention as these are stand-out tracks.

The only downfall of the record is its length, but this is a concept album (bringing to mind the tale of Drizzt Do'urden), so it's understandably an hour long. Listening to it would just be easier were it cut down about twenty minutes. Small complaint, though, as the good, pointed out above, easily outweighs the bad.

taken from Eternal Frost #8, written by goden

To say that I was blown away by this album would be an understatement. "Bellum..." sees Lord Vic and company tackling a much maligned musical beast : traditional metal. Now, truth be told, I don't care much for "new" traditional metal these days - after all, it's a genre which has been fairly exhausted over the years, and there isn't much left that one can add to it...which is why it really speaks volumes when I say that this album is a "must-have"...

Ever wonder what mid-period Bathory would have sounded like if Quorthon had spent a little more time listening to Iron Maiden and a lot less time listening to Manowar ? Well, wonder no more, as that's exactly what will come to mind when you give this gem a few spins. Take the epic nature of "Hammerheart", thrown in some tasty metal (and I do mean M-E-T-A-L) lead guitar lines, a healthy handful of the trademark Rampage sound, and what you end up with this : a good old fashion skull crushing fists in the air metal album. I think a great deal of why this album works is due to the fact that Rampage don't make the mistake of trying to re-invent metal, nor do they simply plagiarize what's been done before - the two main downfalls of most metal albums since the late 80s. "Bellum..." simply and elegantly combines the best aspects of traditional metal and spits them back out in a manner which is both comfortably familiar yet new enough so as to not leave you feeling like you've "heard it all before"...

I suppose it should also be mentioned that "Bellum.." is a concept album (which one can gather from the linear notes of the CD itself), but not to worry - this carefully avoids all the pitfalls of pretentiousness usually associated with this sort of thing (and a damn good thing too, as I generally loathe anything with the word "concept" in it)...and, as has become the norm for Rampage albums, there's a couple of uncredited cover songs thrown in at the end (this on top of the 10 original tracks which make up the bulk of this 65+ minute album) as a bonus...

Note : the more astute amongst you might notice that I'm given co-production credits on this album, which of course brings up the question of bias in this review, so let me sort this out right now : damn right I'm biased! If I didn't feel this was a superior album to begin with, then I wouldn't have helped out with it's production! Whether or not this makes me capable of giving this album an objective review is a matter of opinion, but I'd like to think that if "Bellum..." was a stinker, I'd say so - regardless of my involvement (then again, if "Bellum..." *was* a stinker, then I wouldn't have gotten involved to start with - Catch 22)...

taken from LARM!, written by ChorazaiM

Here it is... the promised/threatened power metal album from RAMPAGE. I can't tell if they're serious with this thing, or if they're just making an elaborate joke. The music is engaging enough, the problems that I heard on the live CD are gone. But dammit Vic, you really need to get a different singer for this thing. If you want a power metal singer, get one. Or if you want to have death growls over the music, that would work as well. I'm sorry man, but I just can't stand your vocals. Stick to guitar, you're great there. Just realize that not everyone is cut out to be David Lee Roth or Bruce Dickinson.

written by Tom Wren for Metal Nightmare #8

After hearing the somewhat amusing Misogyny, Thy Name is Woman EP and the rather unbearable This End Up, Bellum Infinitum is a rather pleasant surprise from Rampage. This album ranks as Lord Vic's first truly serious and well thought out album. While the previous releases had moments of promise, Bellum Infinitum is rather enjoyable through and through. The only similarities that remain between this and earlier efforts are the home-brewed production values and some of the vocal styles Vic has used in the past.

What makes Bellum Infinitum stand out from past Rampage efforts is the concentrated effort on focused songwriting. There are hints of old school epic metal, such as a tad of Iron Maiden mixed with mild modern doom metal influence in the mood. The album is technically a concept record, although a story about elves battling for supremacy in times before modern man isn't compelling enough to encourage me to decipher all the lyrics. The lyrics are delivered in both a grating hoarse rasp and wavering clean, high pitched singing. The music, however, is where this album's strength's lie. The guitar lines are well written, with leads and solos enhancing the main thrust of the song. The bass is intelligent and underscores the song while often carrying its own countermelody. There are hints of keyboards in the very faint background. Moreover, there is absolutely no silliness involved anywhere and Rampage thus can be taken much more seriously.

While this is still far from being a contender for album of the year for 1999, Bellum Infinitum could be seen as the kind of "power metal/fantasy metal" album that black metal fans can take home without being embarrassed by the silly tendencies of that genre. Hopefully this is a good omen for future things to come for Rampage.

written by John Chedsey for Satan Stole My Teddybear

I was anticipating getting a hold of this after a listen. Lord Vic has created a very traditional heavy metal album. "Up From The Depths" is a great intro with Pink Floyd/Black Sabbath guitar noodling. It segues into "Rainbow Skies". Heads down! This riff smokes like old Maiden. The vocals are deathy trying to be traditional, sort of like an unattractive cousin of In Flames or Carcass' Swan Song.

Song three (track 2 in your CD player), "Sisters of Death" is a decent plodder, but is marred by attempted bombastic, emotional singing like Pavorotti!

"Storm of Avalon", first heard on Rampage's last release "Cummin' atcha LIVE" sees Lord Vic's crooning improved. He's attempting something. What it is I don't know (I think he has some secret Manowar-isms to resolve!) Great guitar licks.

"The Wakening" is so fuckin god! Totally amazing, classic soloing with accoustic guitar along side. "Soulsword" is a suitable title as it bursts onto the scene. Imagine hearing early Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride for the first time. ANY ONE into doom metal has to hear this track, and the deathy growling will appease the masses.

The hard driving headbanger "Excalibur" reminds me of cool underground I could get my hands on in 1984. Same with "Nemesis". An Early Warning song re-written. Classic riffs. Fans of Accept, Armored Saint, Dio, Iron Maiden, Metallica will have a shit-eating grin by the time Nemesis is over. Well written song, mixed in with not so great singing. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! Ok, Lord Vic's vocals aren't that great on "Bellum Infinitum", but they aren't so horrible you would turn off this CD. I've overlooked singers before if the music rules, plus this is gut honest underground metal.

"The Vow" has killer riffing, sort of like if Bathory cleaned up their sound and were playing NWOBHM. Trust me dude, it rocks.

"The Final Day" is two minutes of cool guitar harmonies. "Into the Great Beyond" is a metal march, in the Metallica "For Whom the Bell Tolls"-vein. I love the doomy feel, and the soloing conjures up some great undertaking that gets out of hand. "Orbis Tertius" is a hypnotic keyboard outro officially ending the album.

Bonus tracks. KISS' "War Machine" is a fun version, and SOUNDS heavy. I feel like an idiot for not knowing who did the last track here "In the Shadow of the Horns" as I know I've heard it before. It's a faceripper, in the upper echelon with Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. What a fuckin brutal god way to end "Bellum Infinitum"!

written by Mlotek for LARM!

Here's an album that's not exactly easy to review. Over an hour of playing time and not really one song that sounds like the others. Here Rampage takes us on a trip through a variety of metal genres, Rampage-style. This album is a blend of traditional heavy metal, Thrash, Doom, with some Blackened elements here and there, and then throw in some acoustic guitar and a couple of instrumental intros/outros for seasonning. Variety is something that's definitely not missing on this release. Hell, the first 25 seconds of one song (track 5) remind me a bit of a song on Bon Jovi's "New Jersey" album (it took me a hell of a long time to figure out where I had heard something similar to that before!) Don't take this the wrong way, however: Rampage doesn't do into the glam rock stuff.

No matter the song, one thing each one has in common on this album is that the sound is raw. Raw is good. Raw is metal. And that is how Rampage sounds. The band doesn't restrain itself to one specific genre of metal (on this album and also on their other ones for that matter) yet carries its sound very well from one genre to the other: You hear it, you know it's Rampage, whether it's a Thrash or Doom song. They could give some pussified bands a lesson on how to evolve in their music without going pop.

Musically I really don't have anything negative worth saying - this is metal to the bone and the music just sounds... real and honest (I'm out of words. ;)) The only downside to this album is that the vocals sometime sound a bit forced or inadequate - on some songs the vocalist seems to have tried to hit notes that he could not handle and the result is so-so. On some other songs however, the vocals range from adequate to very good - you get a mix of clean vocals (very variable results), Thrash vocals and death-style growls on the Doom song. Is that enough variety for you? The music is good enough that it far compensates for the occasional so-so vocals, so all things considered, this is pretty much just a minor complaint.

The album ends on two "hidden" tracks, a cover of Kiss' "War Machine" and one of Darkthrone's "In the Shadow of the Horns", both quite interesting - the Kiss cover is pretty heavy compared to the original, and the Darkthrone cover is amazingly raw as hell.

The album is a concept album, but doesn't include the lyrics - rather a short description of what each song is about in the liner notes. Also worth noting is that like other UHR releases, this comes on CD-R only. Stop whining, it's priced accordingly.

In short, this album kills, and just won't leave my CD player. Highly recommended (also stop by the pharmacy and get something for neck pain, you'll need it after all the headbanging.)

taken from Metalcrypt, written by Michel Renaud

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