After The Widow, a first album marked by the codes of the Goth scene of the eighties, Black Angel are back with Kiss of Death. Released on the 31st of July 2020, this new album is available on vinyl and CD.
It’s impossible not to remember some bands from the eighties like Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, The Cult, or Field of the Nephilim when you listen to Kiss of Death and even Matt Vowles, founder of Black Angel says: “People say that Black Angel captures the sound and feeling from 1985.” So it’s not a surprise to notice that influences as Matt Vowles has grown up listening to those bands.
Like an open door to the best of the Goth scene of that period, Kiss of Death is more than a copy of what have already been done. The album brings some fresh air to the codes of the genre. To start, the sound is extraordinary. Guitars and synths are played with some reverb that gives a lot of space to the instruments. The drums are simple but, without any doubt, of great effectiveness. Charm, sensuality (and the lyricism of the female voices) walk together in the vocal parts. Talking about music genres, Black Angel’s Goth rock has a touch of psychobilly and punk that provide beautiful subtlety to the general palette of the album. In the case of “Alchemy”, a song that appears after a couple of more traditional tracks, we find an energetic bass line over a group of chords inspired by blues. “Put Your Lips On Me” starts with an inevitable bass/drum duo with a rhythm that swings between punk and rockabilly. In “Want For Me”, the feminine voice highlights in an almost unnoticeable way the main voice, and then expresses herself utterly in the epic chorus.
With ten tracks full of different sonorities, Kiss of Death has all the qualities to talk about the different faces of love, as the song “Animal” clearly proves while describes masterfully the passion. Black Angel have managed to get the better of their influences and their creativity to make an album of a magnificent intensity.
