Release Date May 29th, 2026
Format CD/Digital
Genre Power/Speed Metal
Origin USA
Emerald Rage is a four piece power/speed metal band from Akron, Ohio, USA, formed in 2017 by vocalist Jacob Wherley, guitarist Patrick Kern and drummer Tyson McCauley. With bassist and vocalist Erik Curry joining in 2019, the band built its name in the Midwestern US scene, released “High King” in 2021 through Stormspell Records, followed it with “Valkyrie” in 2023, and now returns with its third album, “The Eyes Of The Dragon”.
Emerald Rage returns with their third full-length, and the Ohio four-piece have arrived at a record that justifies the anticipation without overreaching it. "The Eyes Of The Dragon" is power/speed metal in the truest sense, melodic but armed, bard-like in its storytelling, and sharp enough to keep things rolling for the full run. This is a band working at the peak of what they've built since 2017, and that building shows.
The songwriting here sits squarely in the tradition of Blind Guardian's mid-era epic sweep crossed with Running Wild's fist-pumping directness. Jacob Wherley's vocals are a real asset, expressive enough to carry the fantasy-tinged narratives without sliding into the overwrought histrionics that sink so many of their genre peers. Patrick Kern's guitar work trades in the kind of riffs that are immediately satisfying, and Erik Curry's bass presence holds the low end with authority. What separates this album from "Valkyrie" is a tighter compositional focus,fewer wandering moments, more moments that land squarely.
The production suits the music without smothering it. There's air in this recording, which matters for a genre that can easily collapse under compression. The folk-inflected touches, melodic flourishes, layered vocal lines, add dimension without tipping into the prog-pretense trap. It's still metal first, ornament second, and that ordering matters. Some passages in the album's second half do settle into predictability, and a couple of the mid-tempo tracks don't push as hard as the opener suggests they might. Minor friction in an otherwise well-constructed sequence.
At the end of it, "The Eyes Of The Dragon" is 47 minutes of power metal that earns its runtime. Emerald Rage has written a third album that consolidates rather than stagnates, which at this level, underground, independent, Midwestern, is exactly what a band should be doing before they step onto a European stage for the first time. Headbangers Open Air will get a band ready to deliver.
|7.5
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