DANGER ANGEL - review added 1st April 2010
Album Review: Danger Angel (self-titled) (2010)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and wincing
Greek hard rock collective Danger Angel - Jimmy Cage on vocals, Ethan Chionos and Spiros Foussekis on guitars, Antonis Venieris on drums, Rudy Rallis on bass, and George Lignos on keyboards - are, er, an interesting proposition. This self-titled debut album has plenty of positives and one BIG negative. The best way to review the album is simply to look at each half...
Okay, the positive bits first...
The guitar playing is fantastic. Ethan Chionos and Spiros Foussekis play some superb solos and really do rock it up in a big way. The rhythm section does it's thing admirably too, as does George Lignos on the keys. The songwriting is decent. With a bit of work some of the songs could be pretty damn anthemic.
The artwork has a classic feel that harks back to albums from rock's heyday - uncomplicated but strangely compelling. Jeff Scott Soto's stint on the record - on 'Never Let You Go' - is a highpoint. It's a long way off Jeff's finest vocal performances, but bad Jeff is still better than good most people. 'Till the End of Time' features a female vocalist (who for the life of me I can't find the name of anywhere) who does a sterling job. Some of the lines she sings are stunning.
And those two vocal performances bring us onto the BIG problem with this album. Main vocalist Jimmy Cage is right on the edge of what is comfortable to listen to. At times he sounds like someone strangling a lovesick cat with a set of bagpipes. Not always, occasionally he manages a decent note or three, but generally he really is quite scary. Sometimes bad singers are actually good because of how bad they are. Not here.
So, yeah... potentially good music ruined by the vocal equivalent of root canal work. You might find some music to like here. You probably won't. What else can I say?!
Check out... Something else!
Track List:
01. Com' On Rock Me
02. Runaway Angel
03. Poison Dreams
04. I'll Be There For You
05. Rebel Son
06. Never Let You Go
07. Hangover
08. Together Forever
09. The Rain
10. Till the End of Time
11. Until the Morning Light
12. 9202
13. Burning Hearts
Label: Perris Records
Artist's website(s): Danger Angel , MySpace
