Pacto con el Diablo

Spain is considered by many for giving birth to the most remarkable highlights in Spanish heavy metal, introducing this genre to the mainstream, and generating a huge boom back in the 80's. There are many bands from this country which have released only one, two or three albums and then, they have strangely disappeared of the scene (Niagara, Banzai, Tarzen, Triton, Rosa Negra), but founded the sounds and rhythms which marked an era, and have influenced the new talents that emerged in the years to follow. There are, as well, unforgettable legends that lasted longer or are still active nowadays like Ñu, Leño, Obus, Muro, and Baron Rojo.

However, there is a band that doesn't have the same depth or not so many interesting elements as the ones aforementioned, but it earned a place in the CD collection of any true metal head, establishing a strong fan base which has lasted for decades, and has attracted young new listeners, who are avid to devour old school rock 'n' roll. Thanks to its catchiness, simplicity, and controversial lyrics, it made the band become one of the pioneers of Spanish classic heavy metal, and fueled its unforgettable boom in the early 80's. This band is none other than Angeles del Infierno. The name is more than explicit, and maybe it wasn't very original, but what the hell? What mattered in those days were sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. In a time when Judas Priest, Manowar, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and such similar metal acts were rising to superstardom, there was a need to honor their work, and Angeles del Infierno did exactly that, paying homage to those giant influences throughout a successful long-lasting career which has spanned for more than 25 years.

Robert Alvarez, who was the former guitarist of a Swiss group named The Flood, returned to his homeland (Spain) and was the brain behind the creation of Angeles del Infierno. The band's musical direction was defined in three words: "Rockers 'til death". Juan Gallardo's outstanding vocals and innovative ideas allowed him to join the band, and to co-write most of the songs with Robert, who is also the lead guitarist. There's a second guitarist, named Manu Garcia, and he delivers an efficient, but average show. Santi Rubio plays the bass, and has a decent participation in a few songs. Finally, Iñaki Munita takes control of the drums department, and I must say that I love how the instrument sounds in this album, because it's the typical thunderous drumming that almost every heavy metal band owned at that time. Although Iñaki's performance is not spectacular, his job is pretty well done. Finally, like in any REAL heavy metal act there are no keyboards to ruin the night. And, that's how we have the first ever lineup of Angeles del Infierno.

"Pacto con el diablo is slow, boring, repetitive and mediocre". This is the absurd opinion that a normal kid who hasn't explored the roots of heavy metal and has wet dreams with Luca Turilli, Dragonforce or Hammerfall can instantly reply to you. However, and as you can imagine, that's far away from the truth. What you will listen right here is the pure essence of metal, and this certainly is not suitable for everyone. With that being said, how can I define "Pacto con el diablo"? Well, first of all, pick up a young musician who has some experience in former bands with a null or low degree of success, and is suddenly gathering this whole bunch of ideas about society, rebellion, satanic themes, and rock 'n' roll to start his own project. He needs to express himself in some way, and therefore, he builds up a band which carries the energy of Jimmy Hendrix, Deep Purple, and Iron Maiden and takes it to a new dimension, in order to break some taboos which over flooded the Spaniard society by that time. Add energetic songs with no pretentions at all, basically having catchy melodies with easy and predictable choruses, soaring vocals in the vein of Bruce Dickinson or Robert Plant, and lots of rock 'n' roll adrenaline. Oh, yeah, of course. Don't forget to dress with tight jeans, a leather jacket, and get yourself the longest hair that you can possibly have. After this, we're ready to motherfucking rock with Angeles del Infierno's worldwide acclaimed debut album.

What mattered was to keep alive the heavy metal flame created a few years prior to the birth of this release. "Pacto con el diablo" is a very nice way for the band to start an epic journey, featuring powerful aesthetics and "pummeling" lyrics where there is no place for imagination at all. As it always happens with almost every debut album from any band, the production is not at its 100%, but every instrument is generously audible, although the guitars and drums are the main stars here. Good mix, somehow raw, but very professional. Robert Alvarez has never been a guitar virtuoso, but he can deliver catchy and interesting riffs which do the trick and entertain any metal head, hooking him up for this album. Thanks to the collaboration of Santi Rubio, classic tracks as "El principio del fin", and "Maldito sea tu nombre" instantly become essential in every band's gig, because of the immediate impact that the riffs cause in the people's minds. However, Juan Gallardo is the one who does a breathtaking performance, since his pipes allow him to emulate the best NWOBHM voices, adding to them a devilish spice, which makes his voice sound totally different from the rest of the singers of those lands. Mid-paced and average "Condenados a vivir" is a nice example of this, but especially because of the song's last stage, since Gallardo sings a mind-blowing falsetto, which electrifies the listener's ears. His high range vocals made him one of the best front men of the 80's, driving you insane with slow-growing anthems like "Sombras en la oscuridad", which features a totally high-pitched chorus, followed by a clean shriek (Something he can't do anymore), which also lives in the power ballad "Sangre", where Juan Gallardo's voice seems as if it has been sent from hell itself. Meanwhile, drums don't stand out to shock you, but they are efficiently played, and "Rocker", being one of the fast tracks, tests Iñaki's speed and abilities, but apart from that, there's isn't anything remarkable in store.

Sometimes, the atmosphere is dark, ("El principio del fin" falls in that description) but as rebellion is another word which describes this LP, the overwhelming title track (Pacto con el diablo) is nothing more than a clear invitation to make a pact with God's eternal number one enemy: the devil. Do I have something against that? Not at all! Nevertheless, I don't think that I can find a weak mind that is going to devotedly follow the lyrics from this song in particular in these days. Well, I'm not including the typical immature lame-ass posers dressed in black outfits most of the time, and who barely know one or two songs from the album. Anyways, that's another story, and I don't give a crap about it, either.

Well... There are a few songs which sound quite similar, and give you that odd familiar feeling which makes you think "I've heard this before". However, if you're a newfound fan of this music genre, then you'll probably enjoy this album with no prejudices at all. That's the case of "Rocker", "No juegues con fuego", and "Es un pacto con el diablo", which also sound quite similar, but a good thing is that the tracks are not close to each other, so you won't notice too much the similarity of the tempos. Speaking of lyrical themes, I think it's packed with everything that an angry and rebellious teenager is looking for, and in some way, what heavy metal is supposed to be, but if you have some experience in this field, it will also give you a good time, so you can't go wrong with this album at all. We go from apocalypse, to the typical anthems about uniting each other in the name of rock. Freedom is another theme that the band touches, where you can smell songs "a la Motley Crüe". It doesn't leave out a small spot for love (In a very cheesy way), so you can enjoy the song "Sangre", or you can hate it with a furious passion. Oh, yeah, and let's don't forget about the Satanist lyrics, the controversial part of the album, and as you can imagine, most of the songs' titles guarantee a tremendous head-banging experience.

I'll rate each song independently, but I won't do a detailed "track-by-track" review today, just a quick overview. My rating is as follows:

Maldito sea tu nombre - Fierce opening, catchy as hell, nice riffs. 8/10

Rocker - Amazing speed, a classic rock 'n' roll anthem, nice drumming. Rocker til death!! - 9/10

Unidos por el rock - Slow-paced song, unlike the previous one, but it has the same vibe, which is ruined by the last stage of the chorus when Juan says "Por el rock". He could have sung that part with more strength, damn it! - 7/10

Esclavos de la noche - A classic heavy-metallish mid-paced tune, one of my
favorites - 8/10

Sombras en la oscuridad - Although it's quite slow and generic, this is one of the most praised songs by the fanbase. Tremendous performance by Gallardo, who brings the dark ambient to life - 7/10

El principio del fin - The most diverse and complete song of the album, it's a nice continuation of "Sombras en la oscuridad". Check out its intro, where you can hear a drill, and since the song speaks about apocallypse, you conclude that the drill is destroying our planet - 9/10

No juegues con fuego - Robert Alvarez takes control of this average song, and it transforms again the atmosphere of the album into a rock ‘n’ roll madness - 7/10

Condenados a vivir - This is another fan favorite, where the adrenaline flows without control. When I went to their concert back in 2003, and they played this song, I went nuts. There's such a wonderful energy that I can't explain it. - 8/10

Sangre - Slow, soft, angry, and boring ballad, which is only saved by the bass shredding and Juan Gallardo's vocals - 6/10

Es un pacto con el diablo - An appropriate way to close the album, so they can underline what this production is all about. Not brilliant, but very effective to close any concert, since it can never be left out (That would be a crime for the audience) - 7.5 / 10

CONCLUSION: "Pacto con el diablo" is in some way, something old, but at the same time, something new. Today, everything that they talk about it's very well-known by the audience, but by the time the album was released it was as fresh as a gentle breeze within a sunny day. It's something that had been explored before by other bands in Europe, but for the Spanish scene it was something that not any band wanted to reflect in their albums. "Pacto con el diablo" marked the difference, and entered the top 10 of the most important albums in Spanish heavy metal, as it let the young crowds feel free for once in their live times. It has a few weaknesses, but that doesn't forbid the album of being recommended. Actually, if you read my whole review, you might as well be ordering it by now. Angeles del Infierno is one of the first bands that allowed me to get in shape in the heavy metal scene, and this release is, indeed, another crucial part in the history of metal.

This album is kind of generic when compared to other traditional metal acts, nothing compared to other Spaniards of the same days as the almighty Barón Rojo. But is certainly a great rocking piece: nothing innovative, some Judas Priest rip offs here and there, standard musicianship, quite cheesy, but pure traditional heavy metal to sing aloud and headbang a little bit. Very powerful album, as in your face as it gets.

The album cover is horrible, there's this chick with her tits -or is it a weird bra- filled with stains, and she's horrible. Their logo in those days was horrible as well.

The album starts with one of the best Ángeles songs ever, Maldito sea tu nombre -Damned be thy name-. Great track, starts with a very heavy riff and goes on with traditional standards. Singing is good, so is drumming. Besides the opening riff -played again somewhere else twice-, guitars are very generic. Lyrics kind of pretend to deal with satanism.

Rocker is the second track of the album. Mid-tempo kind of aggresive/happy tune. Cheesy lyrics... "sexo, drogas y rock n' roll, es el lema de mi generación" (sex, drugs and rock n' roll, is my generation's saying). Overall, very enjoyable and specially cool when played live. Musicianship is average, as in the whole album -and the whole career of the band, actually-.

Unidos por el rock -united by rock- is the first low point of the album. This band is all about energetic heavy metal -kind of reminds me of Raven's "athleticism"-, but this song is just plain boring.

Esclavos de la noche -Slaves of the night- brings back the energetic element. It sounds like Judas Priest's Hot Rocking in some ways, only that Gallardo's voice actually sound better than Rob's (!).

With Sombras en la oscuridad -Shadows in darkness- the band slows down again, but still they put out a classic tune, that was to be a live favorite. This is a technically simple song but is certainly filled with this dark emotion that would have easily fitted any dark NWOBHM act such as Witchfynde or even Angel Witch.

El principio del fin -The beginning of the end- is kind of a jumpy song, but very good, one of my favorite songs on the record. The chorus is awesome -the lyrics are about ecology, but they are written in a way that they don't seem to-. This song is a little slower than regular mid-tempo songs, but still it is very energetic.

Condenados a vivir -Condemned to live- is a dull song. It's funny cause they use this verbal forms that we don't use in Latinamerica, but besides that, which is irrelevant, the song is boring and simplistic.

Sangre -Blood- is the worst song on the album. Slow, cheesy, boring.

No juegues con fuego -Don't play with fire- returns to mid-tempo. The song circles around this crunchy chord being played strongly through verse, which is kind of cool, but it always gives you this sensation of "I've heard this too many times". The chorus is lame. In general terms, this song resembles Priest's Green Manalishi in many ways.

Es un pacto con el Diablo -Is a pact with the Devil- closes the album, and it is, although very energetic, the most generic song on the album. Nothing remarkable. This one is the cheesiest of the album.

Overall, this is a cool album. Certainly not a "must have", but a very good piece of a regular traditional metal band. As I said, at the beginning, don't expect anything unique here, don't expect any kind of innovative things. It's just one more heavy metal record.