by Nikiforos Skoumas
– Columnist —
Greek melodic hard rock band Danger Angel is back with their second full length album Revolutia. Danger Angel were one of the first Greek bands to establish a deal with American label Perris Records back in 2009 at which point their debut album was released.
As a matter of fact their self-titled debut album would receive a fair amount of criticism from segments of the press, particularly when it came to the peculiar vocals, while most would agree that the songwriting itself was remarkably solid. Arguably the highlight of that album was the mid-tempo “Never Let You Go” sung by none other than Jeff Scott Soto who had clearly taken an interest in this newcomer.
With the above being noted, Jeff’s involvement in this second album is even more thorough as he produced the release while also bringing in John Ellis to take charge of the mastering. In terms of production Revolutia benefits from the same team that captured Soto’s highly acclaimed Damage Control album. In addition Jeff performs all the core melodies on each and every song on the album, tying in perfectly with the admirable vocal talents of the new vocalist M.T. Some would say that Soto might be taking Danger Angel a bit too much under his wing, still it is all for the benefit of Revolutia as it comes out as professional an offering as anything baring the signature of the iconic front man. Soto goes as far as writing a foreword for the album, praising its artistic value overall.
Now as far as the band is concerned, the quintet has more than stepped up to ‘Soto’ standards; delivering a harder-hitting, though undeniably melodic, hard rock song track list. The guitars are even more in the forefront carrying the majority of instrumental melodies along with some very technical solos. The drumming is by all means more refined and precise delivering those irresistible staccato fills before each chorus making the end result even more intense. Lyric-wise the album is based on the same protestant themes as the Eclipse albums. In fact Revolutia could be roughly described as a mixture of Eclipse’s Bleed and Scream and Soto’s Damage Control, clearly matching the standards of the two melodic hard rock highlights.
Indeed, Revolutia has the potential to win over even the most skeptical listener on the strength of its first couple of songs being the unforgettable “One Hit in the Night” and “When I’m Gone”; from there onwards you get the dramatic “Falling” the pessimistic “Decadence” and “Dead by Christmas” both of which are contrasted by the redeeming “Don’t Die Young”. All the songs feature memorable hooks and instrumental melodies that will bring you back to Revolutia over and over.
Once again the only criticism, if any, is that Revolutia sounds a tad too much like JSS. Other than that it is nearly impossible to find a flaw in this seemingly perfect melodic hard rock offering. Since Revolutia is crafted to the standards of the premiere melodic rock league, one has to be absolutely critical on the rating, still anything below 8.5 is simply unfair for a release of such proportions. If you enjoyed the latest Eclipse, JSS and WET albums, you should definitely get Revolutia, it really is up to standards.
Genre: Melodic Hard Rock
Line up:
Ethan Snow – Guitars
M.T. – Vocals
Rudy Rallis – Bass
Tony V. – Drums
Ahas – Keyboards
Track list:
01. One Hit In The Night
02. When I’m Gone
03. Not An Angel
04. Falling
05. Decadence
06. Dead By Christmas
07. King Of Thieves
08. Road Kill
09. My Last Day On Earth
10. Don’t Die Young
11. I’m Not Here
12. Last Call
Label: Perris Records
Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5/10
