With a sound that screams ‘take me back in your time machine to 80’s Sunset strip’ and a vocal that sounds like it was recorded in a very large room ‘Craving Angel’s weighty (at 17 tracks) ‘Redemption’ is a bit of a surprise and a guilty pleasure.
With a career starting in 1984, and a Sunset Strip presence stretching from the heady days of 1988 to the not so exciting 1994 there’s a tale to tell for sure. But this one is not a reworking or a re-release of past glories it’s the brainchild of original vocalist Buddy Hughes who has assembled a new line up of the band and these are new songs despite their authentic anachronistic taste.
Tracks like opener ‘Dirty Girls’ and ‘Crash and Burn’ have a Ratt meets Priest meets early Motley Vibe: its a sound from the days before the Strip got slick, when Metal was Rock and Rock was Metal. This is actually a great collection of tunes, and whilst the production here might be a little rough around the edges, that’s sort of part of the charm and actually gives it a sort of cool vintage feel.
In a collection so large, there are of course, going to be a few misfires but nothing that really shouldn’t have made it and the riffs and guitar work throughout, which are never flashy, have that ‘feel’ that brings a few smiles.
Some songs like ‘Roses are Red’, the ballad, and ‘Hell’s Waiting’ a groovier Dokken-esque laid back ditty even mix it up a bit and actually work really well. Think the greats of the day like Priest, Ratt, Keel, Ozzy and Accept and you’ll realise that the band draws not only from that established Metal sound but also newer bands that are starting to evolve mid-80’s.
Throw in a few more takes on the sound like the strummed ‘Bad Voodoo’ and the Glammier ‘Everything I Do’ and you get a cool mix of styles with the same distinctive guitar and vocals to meld it all together. At to that the prevalent 80’s Metal of tracks like ‘Dirty Little Secret’; ‘Gonna Getcha’ and the punky rasp of ‘Primadonna’ and you have a rather interesting album that really transports you back.
