ROUGH ANGEL – Hear The Angels Rock

Rough Angel, a U.S.A. Metal act, have released their debut effort, Hear The Angels Rock. This is not a full length album, and the songs are two decades old, but the songs are current and believable for today’s market. Vocalist Csaba Zvekan, (Raven Lord, Killing Machine, and Emergency), decided to remaster these pearls that were originally intended for just industry people “back in the day” (1993), because he felt “they still have the power to convince the listener.”

The first track, “Standing By Mirrors”, could be considered current, but definitely is reminiscent of days gone by.  But, with the resurgence of every Metal/Progressive/Hair or otherwise band coming out of the woodwork these days with their shiny new albums and revamped haircuts, one might think that these songs were brand spanking new.  And like the previous statement being lengthy and winded, so is this song. The remastering is great if you like “remastering”.  The second cut is “Defiance”, which has the same crunchy guitar-oriented sound.  The vocals are decent and Dio-like in spots.  There is an interesting time change in this song, which breathes life into it just when needed.  On “Let It Burn”, the drums are this song, and the beginning alludes to an influence by Phil Collins???  The song is stable — the actual “Let It Burn” part is rhythmic and just plain cool. “Hear The Angels Rock” — the one song on this effort that should be the standout — is sadly not.

The best track is “Defiance” by far; and the worst is the opener, “Standing By Mirrors”.  Hear The Angels Rock may well have succeeded in its goal to become current, but it’s also a disappointing release.