Angels Wear Black

What we got here is a German band called Black Abyss, and their album titled as 'Angels Wear Black'... Another "black"/goth ghastliness from the land of beer, bratwurst and big boobs??? My ears say: "Thankfully no!"

Black Abyss play darkened heavy metal mixed with power metal and thrash metal bits. Well, what did you expect from a German band, then? To begin with, Black Abyss are another example of "heard it all before" bands, but to their credit, while there's nothing new to hear, at least the song writing and performances are above average. Sometimes a lot. When I was browsing through an outlet list of cheapo records and gave this one (hey, 3 Euros...) a listen, the voice of Oliver Hornung is the first thing that catched my attention. No helium!!! He mostly stays in mid-range which is fine by me. He utilizes clean singing, coarse throat vocals, and can also do it, if the music needs it, the calm way, but mainly he is letting it rip. This guy has a great voice!

So, how's the music, then? Along with insignificant individuality, the songs are pretty much predictable. The lyrics are bland, totally predictable, too. 'Damnation' is a real thrashy powerhouse, which immediately drilled into my brain. Great riffs and guitar solo, fantastic vocals, a really powerful piece. 'Unholy War' begins with very Running Wild-esque riffage, and then enter into power metal realms. But it's still very catchy and yes, above average stuff. 'Dark Legacy' continues the same way, but slower 'Shadows of the Past' takes turn to darker territory, making me think of Iced Earth because of those non-distorted guitars. 'Pure Evil' is a ramming, yet uninteresting heavy metal song. 'Rebellion' continues in that vein, as well as 'I Don't Care' and 'The Messenger', but drop the "un" prefix apiece. 'Time' brings back the power metal, sounding totally German. Another highlight for me, together with the opener, is the title track which is an evident Iron Maiden tribute, with its great vocal melodies, guitar harmonies, riffs, holler part and the bass/vocals ending, but including some really shit synth work. In general, if there was 3 levels for cheesiness; really cheesy, mid-cheesy and not-so-cheesy, this one would go between mid and not-so.

The production work is bad, unbelievably bad!!! The sound is of cheap demo level stuff. The vocals are the only thing that sound good. Drums are double-dyed: They generally sound like machine-made, and hi-hats are audible for 3 seconds on one of the songs. There's hissing, clinking and clanking. Guitars sound hollow, powerless. I can't listen to this with headphones, because the sound simply kills songs.

'Angels Wear Black' is the band's third album already. This leaves a lot to be desired. Not so much songwise, and especially not performancewise, but come on, the guys are (were???) on Massacre Records and their album sounds like this (make an anagram from t-h-i-s)!!! Black Abyss are an interesting acquaintance, and definitely deserve a listen by those who like dark heavy metal and don't shudder about power metal elements. Great vocals, some good songs, cocked up production job.

- Originally reviewed for Archaic Metallurgy in May 2008 -

I like Running Wild, Paragon, Iron Savior and Grave Digger. They're all very dependable bands with strong riffs and fistfuls of solid albums, and if I ever want a full-blown metal attack with teeth, claws and machine guns, I can turn to them and headbang all afternoon. This album is along the same lines, definitely not falling into the flower metal school at all, with hard-hitting, precise speed metal riffs of the modern German school, and plenty of catchy choruses and double bass runs throughout. The production is clear and crunchy, so it's not like anything is being neglected or left in the background here. It reminds me quite a bit of Iron Savior's Condition Red, although sadly, the music here isn't nearly as cohesive or powerful as the music on that immortal album. It's just run of the mill German speed metal, played without any real flaming passion, cool thematics, gimmicks or even any big, cheesy hymn-wide choruses to pull me in and keep me headbanging. It's as sterile as a fucking hospital room. Those vocals too, ugh. The singer isn't bad, boasting a solid midrange, but he doesn't sound like he cares about what he's doing at all. He sometimes goes into this odd pseudo-death growl that sounds like exactly what you'd expect from a power metal band trying to do that sort of thing - not menacing or evil sounding at all, that is. The choruses are all boring, super-processed sing-along garbage that make me want to vomit, and it actually makes me think that this would be better as an instrumental album. Seriously, what the fuck is with this band?

Angels Wear Black isn't original, and neither is Black Abyss as a band, and that wouldn't be a bad thing if they were a good band, but there's literally nothing here that you haven't heard a hundred times before. Black Abyss should really be better than this by now, this being their 3rd album already, but they're not, so it's safe to assume that we can just write them off forever as a fourth-tier clone of already second-tier bands. Since Black Abyss didn't put much passion into this album, I won't put much passion into this review, so it's over now. Go get the new Paragon instead.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

Black Abyss is a band that is seemingly rather unknown in the metal scene, which is a shame since they’re so good. It’s kind of impossible to define their style of music – they mix some power metal influences with thrash/speed and traditional heavy metal styles without really being any of them. For example, take a song like “Pure Evil”, a crushing anthem featuring speed and bludgeoning riffs galore. It’s certainly much more aggressive and thrashier than something like Edguy, but it’s also not really thrash or speed metal. Then we have tracks like “Time” which are closer to traditional power metal with catchy choruses and melodies. In short, this album spans a pretty wide array of styles, meaning it has something to offer a lot of metalheads. Perhaps this is why the band is not more popular – it’s hard to accurately describe their sound.

Special mention must also be made of vocalist Olliver Hornung. Lots of reviewers describe him as a mix of Ozzy and Matt Barlow, which is a perfect comparison. Sure, this may sound a little odd at first, but wait until you hear him - his performance on this album is exceptional. He can do the angry stuff very well, but can also exude all kinds of emotion during the slower sections. Standout tracks on this album include the aforementioned stomper “Pure Evil” as well as the mammoth title track (well, it’s actually called “When Angels Wear Black”, but close enough), one of the best heavy/power songs I’ve heard in a long while.

During the production of this album the band endured a seemingly endless cycle of unfortunate events, one of which was apparently having their gear and recordings stolen. As such, sometimes the songs seem a little stilted when listened to in a row, almost as if they were all recorded at various times (meaning the production varies a bit between some songs). However, the guitars still often sound very meaty (listen to the riffs on “Pure Evil”) and the drum work is great with liberal double bass action. The sound is also usually very bass-heavy in general, avoiding the tinny sound that plagues some power metal releases. Actually it’s a testament to this band’s talent that the record turned out as well as it did. The band’s previous album, Land of Darkness, was a very solid record but this one is definitely a step up. Spread the word about Black Abyss – they are one of the best “unknown” bands out there and one can only imagine what they’ll come up with the next time around (hopefully no more stolen gear for them).