Independent Release
Review by Tony Cannella
From Australia, As Angels Bleed plays beautifully vampiric gothic metal with a romantic edge. Their self-titled debut is out now and for fans who love their metal a little on the dark side, then I would highly recommend As Angels Bleed. The ominous intro leads off the first song “Sinfully Yours”. Lead vocalist Avelina De Moray has a vocal style that stands out from a lot of female vocalists, with a sound that is mournful and she forgoes the operatic route. “Let me show you what death tastes like” is the opening (spoken) lyric to the next song “Desire”. Some crunchy stop/start guitar riffing dominates the song, but what can’t be understated enough is the bands use of melody. The songs are heavy and dark but also packed with some memorable melodies throughout its 52-minutes of playing time. Lyrically, the band is influenced by gothic, vampire type subject matter and songs like “Carfax Abbey” and “A Love Worth Dying For” are examples of this. The album is completed by the 10-minute epic “Beautifully Decayed” as the band really created a multi-layered ethereal masterpiece to close out the album. Prior to that final song -which is a huge high point to end things on – the band offer up some more memorable moments on the songs “I Drown”, “Driven to Flames” and “Bloody Kisses”? What can I say? I was impressed by many things about As Angels Bleed, the writing, the songs, the musicianship; it’s all there. “As Angels Bleed” is a bloody good debut, if I do say so myself.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Sinfully Yours
- Desire
- I Drown
- Driven to Flames
- Lumiere
- A Love Worth Dying For
- Carfax Abbey
- Bloody Kisses
- Beautifully Decayed
Line Up
- Avelina De Moray – Vocals
- Von Lehmann – Guitars
- April Noele Byrnes – Keyboards
- Jack Savage – Bass
- Frankie Macrie – Drums