Angel Blake - Angel Blake

*=Staff's pick	The Force Retaliate* Lycanthrope Self-Terminate* Solitude, My Friend Atumnal The Forsaken* Thousand Storms* Paint It Black …'Til The End

Genre	Melancholic Metal	Tony Jelencovich	Vocals
Tracks	10	Marko Tervonen	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade	Marko Tervonen	Bass
Release	13 March 2006	Marko Tervonen	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Paradise Lost, Sentenced

Angel Blake is the solo project of Marko Tervonen from The Crown. Therefore he has taken care of every instrument himself in the studio. All but the microphone, which he handed over to Tony Jelencovich (Transport League). I didn't know how to label this, so I made up a 'new' genre, melancholic metal, which is a description Tervonen uses about his music.

Retaliate is melodic metal with some quite heavy groove. Not bad at all actually. Lychantrope continues on the same path. Self-Terminate leans over more to melodic thrash, in the vain of later Megadeth. Solitude, My Friend slows down the tempo and is too melancholic to appeal to me. The Forsaken has a melodic chorus that sticks like glue. Thousand Storms wins my personal appreciation, because of its heavy riff and nice melody. We also get a cover on Rolling Stones' Paint It Black. I guess this speedy version is quite okay, but I think Rage did it even better on XIII. …'Til The End is a slow, six minute piece, that grows a bit every time you listen.

Tervonen can make good songs, no doubt. But it is some difference between a studio project and a band. Angel Blake now seems to be on its way to move from the former to the latter. That is promising for even more qualitative releases in the future. This record will probably not be any immediate success, but it is worth checking out for the one who is searching for some fresh musical influences, with roots steady in the old nice heavy metal.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	7	8

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - David