Fallen Angel - Crawling Out Of Hell
It's all been done before... the whole 'apocalypse come to take over the world and escape from hell' story. And why is it that only power/ melodic/ progressive/ speed metal bands do concept stories like these? At this point bands who create such a concept have only two highlights: how the band tells the story and the album cover art. For USA speed metallers Fallen Angels (who all wear monikers like King Diamond when onstage), their album art certainly lives up to the proper level of 'coolness.' As far as their album Crawling Out Of Hell goes, it is a mixed bag. About half are longer tracks with the story and the other half are short instrumentals. The short instrumentals are all epic and fitting, making them very enjoyable, while one usually needs to take the other half with a grain of salt.
Fallen Angel apparently are very intent on living up the King Diamond image. The music isn't as melodic as Diamond's work, but it is fast and there's enough melody so it doesn't just feel like a freight train the whole time. The vocals are what may make fans think of King Diamond when they hear Fallen Angel: the high pitch falsettos are remarkably similar. When they are doing that they resemble a more thrash metal vocal base with Slayer as a template or something much more original and fresh with the gusto of a band like, dare I say it... Queen! Tracks like "Reapers Shall Gather" feature crushing drums and more falsetto while others such as "The Answer" feature deeper, operatic vocals (this is the track with the Queen similar chorus vocal style). Surprisingly, this is one of the most enjoyable 'vocal' tracks on the album because the vocals suit the music. A lot of the times tracks like "Sinner's Vengeance" and "Dark Lord" are far too fast for their own good in the speed metal department. The music is so fast and aggressive that it overtakes the vocals and lyrics and the enjoyment of the concept is gone. This is perhaps why the shorter instrumental interludes are more enjoyable because the epic tone embraces the story rather than pushes it away.
Does this mean that Fallen Angel can't perform music or write a story that's been done many times before for shit? No. Once one takes a good look at the lyrics, Fallen Angel's song writing becomes very appreciable. Fans of bands like Hammerfall and Iced Earth will enjoy the mystic aspects combined with the apocalyptic feeling. As far as music goes, the band's ability to perform power metal merged with speed metal is fantastic, but not the best for a concept album. While a concept album needs a particular pace, the band's frantic and impressive ability to hammer out notes as fast as possible with only the vocals to try to keep things in line tends to throw everything off a bit. If each track had an individual story, sure this would be great. But, for Fallen Angel, Crawling Out Of Hell needs a bit more flow than it was given.
Fallen Angel apparently are very intent on living up the King Diamond image. The music isn't as melodic as Diamond's work, but it is fast and there's enough melody so it doesn't just feel like a freight train the whole time. The vocals are what may make fans think of King Diamond when they hear Fallen Angel: the high pitch falsettos are remarkably similar. When they are doing that they resemble a more thrash metal vocal base with Slayer as a template or something much more original and fresh with the gusto of a band like, dare I say it... Queen! Tracks like "Reapers Shall Gather" feature crushing drums and more falsetto while others such as "The Answer" feature deeper, operatic vocals (this is the track with the Queen similar chorus vocal style). Surprisingly, this is one of the most enjoyable 'vocal' tracks on the album because the vocals suit the music. A lot of the times tracks like "Sinner's Vengeance" and "Dark Lord" are far too fast for their own good in the speed metal department. The music is so fast and aggressive that it overtakes the vocals and lyrics and the enjoyment of the concept is gone. This is perhaps why the shorter instrumental interludes are more enjoyable because the epic tone embraces the story rather than pushes it away.
Does this mean that Fallen Angel can't perform music or write a story that's been done many times before for shit? No. Once one takes a good look at the lyrics, Fallen Angel's song writing becomes very appreciable. Fans of bands like Hammerfall and Iced Earth will enjoy the mystic aspects combined with the apocalyptic feeling. As far as music goes, the band's ability to perform power metal merged with speed metal is fantastic, but not the best for a concept album. While a concept album needs a particular pace, the band's frantic and impressive ability to hammer out notes as fast as possible with only the vocals to try to keep things in line tends to throw everything off a bit. If each track had an individual story, sure this would be great. But, for Fallen Angel, Crawling Out Of Hell needs a bit more flow than it was given.
- Crash to Oblivion
- Sinners Vengeance
- March Into Hell
- Blood On My Soul
- The Grinding Wheels Of War
- The Reapers Shall Gather
- Arrival
- Dark Lord
- Darkness
- The One Who Walks Alone
- The Answer
- Respiration Despiration
- The Neurtal Zone
- Life Or Death
- On And On
- Ashes To Ashes
- Leaving It All Behind
- Watching
- Sad Wings
- Grant Me Peace
Self released
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Aug 22, 2010
Aug 22, 2010
Next review:
Apeiron - Among The Lost
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