Arkangel

This is probably the reason metal still exists in Venezuela. Along with Resistencia's debut. Thanks to these albums which popularized metal, we got imports such Number Of The Beast, Holy Diver, Reign In Blood (In my father's generation).

And the numerous records shops, which opened. And the trading scene as well as the mallcore crew owe their existence to this album. Don't forget the rest of godly South American metal scene with V8, Sepultura, etc.

The songs are sung in Spanish which makes it the major difference of what was being played in England at the time. Condos_Lord translated the titles (credits to him) and here they are in English (I modified them a bit):

1) Wagon of death
2) Freedom
3) Crazy about rock & roll
4) Red baron
5) Nothing is eternal
6) Robot man
7) A child is born
8) Assassin
9) Fallen heroes
10) Arkangel

The sound of the music sounds similar to NWOBHM. The biting non-heavy guitars, great solos, punk-ish drums. You can hear the bass, wow. But he mostly follows the rhythm guitar. I can't really describe the sound but I get a nostalgic feeling when you listen to this and the vocals give the music a sorta atmosphere that you are in South America.

The opener, Wagon of Death, is one of the faster tracks of the album. The next track, Freedom relies on the chorus at times, which shouts "Libertad" most of the times. This is backed up by killer riffs and this track is also a high-energy track.

Crazy About Rock and Roll is done in a traditional rock n' roll way, the bass has a stronger presence here in terms of leading. The biting guitar riffs are gone for rock chords that are found in 50's/60's rock which probably shows the band paying tribute to their rock influences.

Red Baron resumes the metal. Nothing is Eternal is a groovy track and probably my favourite song here. The vocals here are are not as aggressive and give that nostalgic feeling that I talked about a while ago. The next track, Robot Man slows things down with some doom metal influences.

A child is born is quite mid-paced but you get a surprise of high energy metal at the end of the track. Probably the fastest song here (when it reaches the fast part). You actually appreciate the fast sections. (which are constant in thrash metal). Assassin is a pretty short speedster. Fallen Heroes gives a spoken section and some metal. Last but not least is the instrumental which features some killer riffs. The soloing of this entire album is also memorable, they are done in the traditional metal vein. This album is the best damn thing Gillman has done.

What makes Arkangel deserve 100% is that they stand out from the rest in South America in terms of sound and influence and it stands as one of the best Traditional metal albums of all time. I'm sure little people know of them outside South America. Hails to Gezol for having a picture of this record in his room. I hafta find that picture. The album art is well done too.

You should get this if you like NWOBMH or are a South American metalhead.