The 69 Eyes - Angels

Published April 12 2007

*=Staff's pick	Angels Never Say Die* Rocker Ghost* Perfect Skin* Wings & Hearts Star Of Fate Los Angeles In My Name* Shadow Of Your Love Frankenhooker*

Genre	Gothic Rock	Jyrki 69	Vocals
Tracks	11	Timo-Timo	Guitar
Runningtime	44 Min.	Bazie	Guitar
Label	EMI Music	Archzie	Bass
Release	05 March 2007	Jussi 69	Drums
Country	Finland	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	The Sisters Of Mercy, Danzig, The Cult

"The 69 Eyes are not cool! Only the weird goth-kids listen to them!" That's what a cute Finnish girl, clearly embarrassed of her countrymen, told me on a pleasure cruise between Sweden and Finland recently. In spite of this negative remark, I decided to investigate the matter further. I had only heard bits and pieces of The 69 Eyes earlier, and even though I'd liked what I heard there isn't until now that I've listened to one of their albums from beginning to end.

Angels continues where the previous album Devils left off; the band still plays gothic rock with elements of glam, and vocalist Jyrki 69 still gets most of his inspiration from legendary singers like Peter Steele, Glenn Danzig and, well, Elvis. While The 69 Eyes have found themselves working in the shadows of HIM abroad, in later years their albums have always topped the charts and achieved gold-status in their home country. They even released their first record back in 1992, which is five whole years before the first HIM-album saw the light of day.

The lyrics on The 69 Eyes' ninth studio album have been much inspired by Hollywood, but there are also a few songs that have a horror theme to them. Like the title track for example, which contains spooky organs that could have come from Lordi's The Arockalypse. Then follows the Sisters Of Mercy-flavoured second single Never Say Die, which might be accused of merely being a re-write of Lost Boys, the single from the previous album Devils. Then again, it's so good that you won't really bother. Even better is the dramatic Ghost, which has strings courtesy of Apocalyptica - the band who now has appeared as guest artists on so many rock albums that they never seem to find time to complete their own. Then we arrive at the standout track, namely the first single Perfect Skin. It has an adorable keyboard-hook in the verses and a sing-along chorus that might just be The 69 Eyes' sharpest yet.

All is not quite well with Angels, though. Rocker, for example, is a mere trifle and should clearly have been deleted before the CD was sent to the pressings. And when listening to the cheesy ballad Star Of Fate it becomes apparent what that Finnish girl meant by "not cool". While The 69 Eyes perhaps never will be a band for all the hip kids out there, I myself will take great pride in following the rest of their career. And if that makes me a "weird goth-kid", then so be it.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	7	8	8	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Niklas