RAGE OF ROMANCE is a Greek Power Metal band formed in the early 2010s. Dark Equation Of God is their third full-length album and sees the band incorporating elements of Symphonic, Gothic, Progressive, and Cinematic Metal. Steel Gallery Records issued the disc on December 16, 2022. The album opens with "Sands Of Time," a nice, heavy track with a great rhythm. It has all the things you like about Power Metal, epic vocals, often layered to provide extra force to the sound, dueling guitars, and bass/drum combo that exceeds normal expectations. There are semi-Progressive Metal shifts in tempo here, but not as impactful as you will hear later in the record.

"Distant Worlds" has more of the vocal gymnastics that fill this album from start to finish. Whether Esthibaliz Rojas is in lower register or soaring head voice, showing off her runs going both up and down the scale, or just belting out insane vocalizations, she is a maestro with her instrument. Fortunately, she has an excellent band working with her, It takes that to wrap around the lyrics and her voice. With "Kingdom Of Ashes," you get the slow-burner that opens with a more Symphonic Metal tone and a heavy, melodic rhythm. The double bass drum work is excellent and the bass absolutely thunders, elevating the guitar work to new heights. More layered vocals, coupled with the driving keys, propel this song like many of the others, with precision and beauty.

The haunting "Dark Sides Of God" opens with an eerie intro that leads to a heavy riff. Sporadic keyboard notes act like little interjections, puncturing the rhythm in random spots. This track has a more Progressive Metal feel, using more stark changes to highlight the different sections. The album concludes with the epic "Imperators." At just under eight minutes, this track has some of everything, bringing all the styles and techniques to bear in a single song. You get the Power and Progressive Metal composition, the Gothic Metal tones, and the soundtrack feel of the Cinematic Metal.

Lyrically, this album is about the struggle to grasp the concept of the eternal and the desire to explain and understand the mystery of why we even exist. "Why are we here" and "What are we meant to do" are two questions that have been contemplated by philosophers and poets for millennia. RAGE OF ROMANCE gives us their take on this, adding music to their explanation. This is one of those albums that grows on you a little more each time you hear it. Digging into the words, focusing on the different instruments, those are all things that must be done to appreciate the overall effect of how the lyrics and music work together in harmony. This is one you will want to listen to on repeat just to make sure you hear everything there is to hear.