(Heavy Metal) Angeles Del Infierno - Pacto Con El Diablo - 1984, APE (image+.cue), lossless

This album is kind of generic when compared to other traditional metal acts, nothing compared to other Spaniards of the same days as the almighty Barón Rojo. But is certainly a great rocking piece: nothing innovative, some Judas Priest rip offs here and there, standard musicianship, quite cheesy, but pure traditional heavy metal to sing aloud and headbang a little bit. Very powerful album, as in your face as it gets.

The album cover is horrible, there's this chick with her tits -or is it a weird bra- filled with stains, and she's horrible. Their logo in those days was horrible as well.

The album starts with one of the best Ángeles songs ever, Maldito sea tu nombre -Damned be thy name-. Great track, starts with a very heavy riff and goes on with traditional standards. Singing is good, so is drumming. Besides the opening riff -played again somewhere else twice-, guitars are very generic. Lyrics kind of pretend to deal with satanism.

Rocker is the second track of the album. Mid-tempo kind of aggresive/happy tune. Cheesy lyrics... "sexo, drogas y rock n' roll, es el lema de mi generación" (sex, drugs and rock n' roll, is my generation's saying). Overall, very enjoyable and specially cool when played live. Musicianship is average, as in the whole album -and the whole career of the band, actually-.

Unidos por el rock -united by rock- is the first low point of the album. This band is all about energetic heavy metal -kind of reminds me of Raven's "athleticism"-, but this song is just plain boring.

Esclavos de la noche -Slaves of the night- brings back the energetic element. It sounds like Judas Priest's Hot Rocking in some ways, only that Gallardo's voice actually sound better than Rob's (!).

With Sombras en la oscuridad -Shadows in darkness- the band slows down again, but still they put out a classic tune, that was to be a live favorite. This is a technically simple song but is certainly filled with this dark emotion that would have easily fitted any dark NWOBHM act such as Witchfynde or even Angel Witch.

El principio del fin -The beginning of the end- is kind of a jumpy song, but very good, one of my favorite songs on the record. The chorus is awesome -the lyrics are about ecology, but they are written in a way that they don't seem to-. This song is a little slower than regular mid-tempo songs, but still it is very energetic.

Condenados a vivir -Condemned to live- is a dull song. It's funny cause they use this verbal forms that we don't use in Latinamerica, but besides that, which is irrelevant, the song is boring and simplistic.

Sangre -Blood- is the worst song on the album. Slow, cheesy, boring.

No juegues con fuego -Don't play with fire- returns to mid-tempo. The song circles around this crunchy chord being played strongly through verse, which is kind of cool, but it always gives you this sensation of "I've heard this too many times". The chorus is lame. In general terms, this song resembles Priest's Green Manalishi in many ways.

Es un pacto con el Diablo -Is a pact with the Devil- closes the album, and it is, although very energetic, the most generic song on the album. Nothing remarkable. This one is the cheesiest of the album.

Overall, this is a cool album. Certainly not a "must have", but a very good piece of a regular traditional metal band. As I said, at the beginning, don't expect anything unique here, don't expect any kind of innovative things. It's just one more heavy metal record.

Juan Gallardo Vocals (lead)
Robert Álvarez Guitars
Manu García Guitars
Santi Rubio Bass
Iñaki Munita Drums