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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.