Search - Angel Dust :: Bleed

Thank God for Angel Dust

somewhatdamaged | 07/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Very few people will understand when you say Angel Dust, and those who do will know how fantastic these guys are. No one deserves success more than this band- There LP Bleed can only be described as brilliant. The genre of power metal is hardly a well known one- there is no amazingly successfulwell known band who can say they belong here. So Bleed is something refreshingly new and unfamiliar. It kicks off with the title track, a sweet sounding piano and strings melody peice before kicking into a sprawling piano melody and heavy guitars. This is, in my opinion, the best peice here- the first I heard, and the song that immediately addicted me. This album is notoriously difficult to find; I was lucky enough to find a copy filed in the wrong place in an out of the way corner at my local record store. Your best chance is to order it off the internet (ie here). There is everything on this album; Muscular, solid riffs by metallica-style guitarists (these guys even look like 80s metallica) full strings sections, electronic beats. The true highlights on this cd are firstly Dirk Thurisch voice (bizarrely Freddy Mercury on "black rain") and the piano lines. The piano in itself is complex and involving, and darkly pretty. Put underneath layers of guitar and vocals, and its magnificent. There really is nothing like it; Its a surprise no matter what your expecting."

Power metal that has POWER !

Murat Batmaz | Istanbul, Turkey | 05/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I own all Angel Dust albums except their first one Into the Dark Past, and I can easily say that Bleed is by far their best work. Actually I like all of their discs but I think they released their most essential records from the Border of Reality to the Enlighten the Darkness era. Bleed was their album in-between... and their best!Bands like Angel Dust and Rage updated their older sound with some more modern elements (symphonic arrangements, inclusion of keys and piano, more detailed production, etc.) and became the much needed breath of fresh air in the Euro power metal scene. The keyboards on this album have absolutely taken the depth of Angel Dust's music to a higher level. The piano intro of the title track is pure genius and one of the most unorthodox power metal songs of any band. This was the song that hooked me to Angel Dust and prompted me to go out and buy all their back catalog. With each release going backwards I discovered the band's thrash metal roots had indeed never been abandoned completely. Actually the thrash metal ingredients are still present on Bleed but they're not very much in the forefront. The band has chosen to bury them a bit deep in the compositions but it's definitely there when you give it a good listen.Dirk Thurisch's vocal delivery on this album was one of the greatest changes as far as Euro power vocalists were concerned. He has a medium vocal range but quite often goes out of his way to hit higher notes with a very aggressive delivery. It is this expressive style in his singing that makes Bleed so special. All the keyboard arrangements have brought a very sparse and cool vibe to the songs yet Dirk's fiery vocal lines along with the sharp guitar solos which are all centred around Frank Banx's subtle bass work are phenomenal. Bleed is not only the best Angel Dust album, but one of my favourite outputs of the entire power metal genre. It is far from the happy-go power metal albums with singers screaming their hearts out or twin guitar work dancing around incessant double drums. Angel Dust was among the first German bands to destroy this stale songwriting concept in power metal and actually aimed at creating heavy metal songs with a lot of power. There is a great deal of variety on this disc going from the melodic song "Never" to the "Follow Me" parts 1 and 2 both of which offer different sides of the band. One of them is a slow and emotional ballad while the other employs the band's older thrash roots without getting overly loud. "Addicted to Serenity" and "Surrender?" are both insanely catchy with a nice chorus which you can sing along to although they both contain solid lyrical work. My copy of this CD is the regular edition with 9 tracks so "Liquid Angel", their ballad, closes the album. I noticed this copy contains the band's Rainbow cover "Temple of the King" which is also available on the amazing Dio tribute album Holy Dio. I think this is one of the best Rainbow covers I've heard. (The whole tribute album is very much recommended as well.)If you don't own any Angel Dust discs, start with Bleed. Get Border of Reality and Enlighten the Darkness next. Most people I've met consider ETD their best work but I tend to disagree with that, still you can't go wrong with any Angel Dust disc. The only one I don't like as much as the rest is perhaps The Human Bondage."

Angel Dust - Bleed: Good Album!

Joe White | Layton, Utah United States | 11/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Angel Dust gives the listener something fairly unique to progressive/power/epic metal music in that you rarely hear guitars THIS heavy coupled with a piano as is the case on the opening track "Bleed" (keyboards and synth maybe but not a piano, though it may be the keyboards that are mimicking a piano sound)). I mean, this is some heavy stuff--Iced Earth heavy--but the intertwining piano melody really throws you off. And that is good! As the album moves on, the keys take on a more traditional prog metal sound (think Awake-era Dream Theater) but it is still good. The songwriting is very strong on Bleed and the keys never overshadow the rest of the band as happens all too often in progressive metal (no, I'm not saying Angel Dust is prog but they do have similarities to many prog bands). Angel Dust's singer is good, though he is a bit rough. Don't let this scare you off but he (AD's lead singer) kinda reminds me of Offspring's lead vocalist only not nearly as annoying.Angel Dust, from what I understand, used to be a thrash metal band and sometimes you can still hear that side of them. This is a good thing for it makes Bleed (and Angel Dust) all the more interesting and unique.This album is for fans of Iced Earth, Savatage, Dream Theater & Superior. I'm not saying that's what Angel Dust sounds like (though there are some similarities to all four aforementioned bands), I'm just saying that if you like those four bands, you'll probably like Angel Dust's Bleed.Angel Dust walks in the gray area that seperates power metal from progressive metal and epic metal from thrash metal. I don't know what to call 'em, but they're good."