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Considering this came with an excerpt from the novel written to go with the album, I was prepared for this to be nothing but pretentious crap, but the music here is actually pretty cool. Fallen Angel are a band who supposedly formed in 1983 but broke up in 1986 without having recorded anything. Now they have reformed and self-released this monstrous, 20-track CD clocking in at over 70 minutes. They use overwrought nicknames, they wear silly costumes and KISS-style makeup...in other words they give off every nonmusical signal that warns "Beware – Shitty Music."

But this is most emphatically not shitty. Fallen Angel rip out a solid disc of US-styled Heavy Metal, very much in the vein of bands like Helstar or Cage. Heavy riffs, wailing vocals, galloping rhythms, even some slight proggy tendencies in the complex arrangements. In fact, Helstar seems like a pretty solid comparison, with the slightly chaotic arrangements and dense songwriting. The production is heavy and dirty, with a big drum sound and propulsive guitar tone. The leads and riffs are always good, sometimes better than good, and while vocalist John Cruppe is not awesome, he does wail with real force and charisma. The album creates a real vibe and energy as a whole, rather than just a pile of disparate songs, and I find myself thoroughly entertained pretty much nonstop. The disc is a bit long all together, but the power and heaviness are enjoyable to keep me sailing right through it.

This album came with a CD containing some decent artwork, terrible band photos, and an excerpt from a novel based on the album (or it might be the other way around). Anyway, the excerpt is terrible, being filled with illogical action, lack of focus, and passive sentence constructions. I would hope the author sticks with the band, as the music here is much better than the ideas behind it.