Angelical Tears - The Eleventh Hour
CD Info
2012
Blue Freya / Australia
13 Tracks
English & Russian Lyrics
Amongst the many female fronted rock and metal bands you can find in North America’s underground music scene only few stand out in uniqueness and song writing character quality. One band I’ve come across in the past few years and have also had the chance and honor to play with are Angelical Tears. When they describe their sound as "Angelical Voice and Demonic Guitars" they aren’t far off in their description. Fronted by Julia Flansburg she has a quality to her voice that makes her memorable in ambience and earthy tones. What caught my attention and I feel sets them apart in their addition of Russian lyrics in their song, which is a great idea and has helped their fan base grow in the European femme metal scene. Clever, smart, and definitely what’s sets them apart. Along with band members Steven Bittle on Guitar, Glenn Flansburg on Bass, and JC on Drums their first self-titled EP was a great effort and now they give us their full length "The Eleventh Hour".
First off in their sound and song writing they have grown and matured since we last heard from them. The band sounds fuller and Julia’s voice in strong and confident. The song structures are well thought out with well-placed synth parts. The guitars, bass, and drums are a huge step up in quality of tracking and performance. You can tell this powerhouse of musicians really gel and came together to properly plan and record this release.
The album intro’s with a spooky track that chimes in on a clock ticking to induce the theme of The Eleventh Hour. Then we have Pool of Sorrow which shows off Julia’s vocal range as well as amazing melody and cool jams from the band. The album is strong throughout and songs like "Queen of Hearts" a chugging metal anthem as well as "Missing" a beautiful heartbreaking ballad are both single worthy. One track that particularity stands out as unique is "Falling" which includes a harp and upbeat rhythm while keeping their ethereal sound, it’s worth checking out. A surprise is their cover of Journey’s "Separate Ways", an interesting pick considering We Are The Fallen did their own version of this earlier last year. I have to say Angelical Tears do definitely give it their own unique feel bringing us mentally back to the times of Depeche Mode and Duran Duran, it’s very cool! And of course on tracks 11 (Hate) and 13 (Alone) you get Russian lyrics which is nice to see a North American band have this mix in culture implemented in their music, sound, and image.
Tracks that stand out are "Pool of Sorrow", "Queen of Hearts", "Missing", "Falling", and "Another Day". I recommend Angelical Tears to fans or Nightwish, Within Temptation, We Are The Fallen, Evanescence, and Lacuna Coil.
7.8 / 10
