Angel Dust - Bleed (1999)^{Release ID: 8859}

I went through the first three Angel Dust albums before heading onto Bleed.  I wanted to see their evolution as a band to get a better idea of how this album relates to the other Angel Dust works.  Their debut, Into the Dark Past, wasn't the most well-written album, but their ability to thrash was phenomenal.  Next came To Dust You Will Decay, which was purely speed metal, and as a result, the thrash heaviness suffered.  I found myself "missing" the thrash.  Border of Reality was a quirky power metal album with a lot of twists and turns, and because it steered into power metal, the heaviness as back and the songwriting was improved due to the prog influences.

Bleed is considered their best album by many, likely because Angel Dust found a style to stick with and decided to make the most of it.  I'll be honest, that title track has a perfect piano solo to open up any power metal album.  I don't think Stratovarius ever achieved that kind of beauty, and molding that same solo perfectly with the heavy metal riff of the title track does an excellent job of carrying both vibes over.  Truly epic.  "Black Rain" has a heavier direction but with the same occasional symphonic hints, and the dark lyrical imagery brings out a level of mythology that's almost dream-inducing.  We find the band going back to their thrash roots a little on "Never," keeping the mystifying vibe alive with with their classical effects and darker tone.

The next two songs are two parts entitled "Follow Me."  The first part is easily a ballad, and a pretty good one, but nothing special.  It didn't utilize Angel Dust's newfound sense of beauty to its fullest extent.  The second part feels a little cultish in its careful usage of rhythm and symphonic effects, so keeping in line with the mood of the previous songs helped, even though I still wasn't amazed.  At this point I was begging for something heavier to make up for the lapse in quality from the first three tracks, and I got just that with "Addicted to Serenity."  It brought some of the old Angel Dust spirit back and brought out some good melodies along the way.  As I expected, "Surrender" would be darker and more melodic, but I didn't expect something so lowbrow that it would be almost doomy before getting right into the heaviness with slow bursts of loudness.  The seems to gradually get louder and heavier, building up to an epic and amazing ending, one that makes it obvious to me that this was the best song on the album.

"Sanity" is a constant switch between a power ballad and slow epic bombast which does what "Follow Me Pt. I" couldn't do, offer something a little different, and fans of heaviness should be satisfied that Angel Dust applied it to slower tempos, something they've struggled with in the past.  The guitarists even recall the quirkiness of the previous album, Border of Reality.  The album ends with "Liquid Angel," and as I half-expected, it starts off as a quiet piano piece.  Maybe it sets the right mood for an ending to this album, but stylistically, the vocalist's sense of melody has to carry the song when the instruments won't.  When the instruments take over, however, lots of creativity emerges, making this a proper ending to the album.

For the most part, I was satisfied.  Angel Dust must've been experimenting with this album in certain ways, and the experimentation payed off to be their best album at the time.  However, it IS a bit disappointing that the album isn't a little heavier.  I won't deny Angel Dust's right to expanding their horizons, but heaviness isn't just another aspect of their music for them, it's a part of their identity.  Still, I think it's a power metal album worth checking out, and I can't see too many fans being disappointed unless they need heaviness like a drug.