BLACK ANGELS • Hellmachine LP

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Bellaphon Records 1982
When you see a band photo like this, you might be tempted to think: leather, studs, big medallions, too cool for shirts... these guys have gotta be heavy, but look closer... there's one too many dudes in this band! 6 guys is always bad news. It means that there's at least one superfluous member who more than likely plays keyboards. I suppose there's a chance that the extra guy is a second drummer or percussionist (also an indicator of diminished heaviosity), or a third guitarist (in the case of MAIDEN, a guy who's probably unplugged and just prances about), or worst of all a horn player (thankfully DJs aren't something you have to worry about with a record of this vintage), but generally the sixth man is stuck behind a keyboard. Such is the case with BLACK ANGELS. In this scenario, the best you can hope for is a DEEP PURPLE sorta thing, and I suppose that's the best comparison I can make for BLACK ANGELS' brand of keyboard laden, 70s Rock. Unfortunately I've yet to hear a band that could match the hugeness and aggression of Lord's keyboard sound and playing ('cept for URIAH HEEP maybe). So despite the low rent album cover and misleading band photo, Hellmachine really ain't heavy at all. It's pretty cool, and the band is more than able, but it's nothing to write home about.
DOWNLOAD: BlackAngels-Hellmachine.rar (74.04 MB)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hilarious picture. The dude third from the left. It looks like he was photo-shopped in. Did they have photo shop in '82? :)

Seriously, he looks like Conan O'Brien with feathered hair... and probably a mullet too.

Alcolm X said...

Yeah I thought the same thing. He's photoshopped in (or whatever the '82 equivalent was... scissors and glue prolly), and the guy on the far left is someone's dad, or the keyboard player, or maybe someone they grabbed from a renaissance fair.

Metal Mark said...

I am not which is worse the band picture or that album cover.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure this wasn't Monty Python's stab at Heavy Metal parody? I can almost smell "Upper Class Twit of the Year" awards on them... =D

Anonymous said...

You want to hear some aggressive organ work to match Jon Lord or Ken Hensley?
Check out the lone self titled album by the US band Attila from 70 or 71.
Heavy as a sperm whale full of anvils!