Angels on Acid - Exile

Angels On Acid describe their sound as a mix of Psytrance, EBM, Industrial, Terror, and Metal or as main man Michael Banks puts it Psybercore or NEUROMETAL.

Unsurprisingly then, 'Exile' uses a mixture of electronic and guitar melodies to paint it's story, and also mixes up a melodic vocal style with aggressive vocals which gives them a fair palette of styles to pick from..

The vocals go from a near Jay Godon-esque melodic style through to a more metal-core vibe, similar to Aesthetic Perfection at times, although often preferring the deeper vocal stylings typical of dark European style bands.

Despite this being a US record, the gothic vibes and pacing of the album mean that 'Exile' feels as though it could be a European release, and would sit quite at home alongside the Covenants and Blutengels of this world, delving into the futurepop sound palette from time to time, although often then veering back towards a more aggressive sound.

If I am honest, the rockier elements generally add little to the tracks other than to drive them on a bit, although "Into The Dark" does put them to the fore with some nice riffage, but this as at odds with their use most of the time.

Curiously, my favourite track on the album was the instrumental and slightly more urbanized "Oblivion" which sheds some of the gothic clobber, for a more modernized twist, throwing in some of the obligatory nods to Dubstep, but it does do so without feeling conceited, which is quite a feat these days.

Penultimate track "Exile" also caught my attention with it's simple but infectious lead synth melody; it won't win any awards for creativity necessarily, but it does the simple things well and is a high-point for the album, with some nice rhythmic changes towards the last third of the song.

Ultimately, the main thing holding this album back is its lack of highlights however, there are no bad tracks either, but without the highlight of a real standout track or two, it is hard to pull much from the listen afterwards.

There is a strong consistency to the songs, which helps identify the album as a consistent body of work, but this also works to its detriment, as the sounds selected do seem to wash together as the album plays out, and this reduces the character of the individual tracks, which whilst not necessarily a bad thing (Mind.In.A.Box for example do it very well) in this case it does work to its detriment.

This is a solid album, and if you like Blutengel/Terminal Choice and to a lesser extent the European futurepop acts like Covenant, there will certainly be something for you to like, but it?s lacking a little in the WOW factor, and ultimately it falls a little flat because of it. Feb 11 2013