'Reign of Fear' is 'Rage's' debut, although they did previously release two albums under the name 'Avenger'. This is pretty much a mixed bag consisting of mainly Thrash orientated Speed Metal, opposed to the more successful Power Metal of later albums. The material in my opinion is surprisingly good and well executed, regrettably the production is poor and there's a distinct lack of clarity throughout. 'Peter 'Peavey' Wagner' at this stage of his career isn't really half the singer he is now and while at times he sound pretty solid, at others he come across strained and uneven in his delivery.

After a building intro 'Scared to Death' launches into a brisk thumper, driven by relentless rhythm work and laced with pretty decent lyrics for the theme, while 'Peavey' gets some solid 'Mark Gallagher' style screaming vocals in. 'Deceiver' follows and rides on the crest of thunderous drum and bass work, overall too Thrashy and crude for my liking, despite some solid guitar solos. The title track is next and overlooking the awkward vocals, the song pulsates along pretty nicely, complete with more melodic instrumentation and some severe guitaring. Progress is made with 'Hand of Glory' which has a slight leaning towards Power Metal, while incorporating some ripping guitar work and a great wind down with gang style chants of the chorus and sweet instrumental close. Shades of 'Priest' are felt on the less hell-bend plodder 'Raw Energy', the rhythm work is solid and makes a change from the previous four rippers, 'Peavey' screeches his way through, but this is still fairly strong. The Thrash tempo is restored with the repetitive 'Echoes of Evil', a furious paced track, that is plainly run-of-the-mill for the genre, albeit decent lyrics. The pace drops for 'Chaste of Flesh' which is a trite affair especially the chorus, while 'Suicide' is a pretty awful track, with some terrible strained vocals. Improvements are made late on with the 'Metallica' reminiscent 'Machinery', a blistering Thrasher, with some smart variations in pace and solid instrumentation. Last up is 'Scaffold' an epic which commences as an acoustic number, but builds into a well penned plodder, a lot less Thrash oriented than most present, but still manages to maintain a certain menace, all said far too long at nine minute.

The re-mastered version of 'Reign of Fear' comes complete with five bonus tracks, the first three are all live and were originally released on the album 'Power of Metal' recorded in Hamburg '93. First up is 'Suicide' and betters the version described above due to improved vocals and more interesting guitar work, however still far from one of their best songs. 'Refuge' (live)' originally released on 'Missing Link' follows and while the production of this live working isn't impressive, it's a strong track that's well executed, complete with some impressive guitar soloing. 'Baby I'm your Nightmare (live)' taken from the studio album 'Trapped' ensues and although this slightly quirky number isn't one of my favourites, it's still a solid rendition. Last up are two acoustic versions, both taken from the album 'Secrets in a Weird World'. First up is 'Light into the Darkness', overall the performance isn't really faultless but a nice account of an enjoyable song, 'Invisible Horizon' which is previously unreleased is also a mixed bag and doesn't totally come off convincingly, much better are the two acoustic bonus tracks that are included with 'Rage's' next album 'Execution Guaranteed'.

If a more experience group had reworked this material, along with a quality production, this album would have made waves back in '86, unfortunately as it stands, it sounds pretty dated and clumsy at time. Fans of Thrash might want to check this out, but less die-hards should stick to 'Rage's' later material which is top notch.