Angel King
World of Pain

Swedish sleaze band Angel King releases their debut album which they call World of Pain, an album featuring an Angel on the cover. As much as everyone enjoys a concerned armed angel on a cover artwork, it still indicates something of a “been there, done that” scenario, something we all have seen and heard before. So the question will be wether or not this band is one that bores its audience with music already done or if they have found a fresh way to approach this kind of music. The latter would be rather uncommon considering how often sleaze, or glam bands as they are also referred to as, make music of a certain stereotype. So what about these guys being released on the Yesterrock label for contemporary music, cleverly labeled Meantime Music. With the first impressions from the looks and stuff not really looking bright it is all down to what’s on this disc and to know that I have played this album ten times except for the last two tracks which is played only nine times.

And from these plays I have been able to deduce that it is glam or sleaze rock played according to the rule book established in the late eighties, the catchy choruses, the raw edge, the melodicness, it is all present as it was in the eighties bands who sound more or less the same if I am honest. You can say that there is not much in terms of new ideas or takes on the genre that shines through while listening to the ten tracks of this album. There are riffs that we already know, the production is probably copy-pasted from an eighties record, any one of those records released then. The vocalist is also quite typical in his voice being a bit rougher than the singer of for instance AOR. I would guesstimate that nobody hearing this album will be surprised about what they will hear, it is music according to the rulebook completely and I think it is fair to say that not a thing new or different comes from this band during the 40 minutes of this album.

So with nothing unique or no brilliant own touches this band really would need to be amazing to be recommended, something they aren’t. Angel King feels devoid of own ideas completely and their music sound like they are ripping off other bands with everything they do and while their music might be okay to listen to I see no point whatsoever to actually want to own this album. If there is one pointless sleaze album being released this month, this is it. Sure, fans of the genre will probably really enjoy this, after all it sounds well and it has stolen relentlessly from all the music these fans do enjoy since before so why shouldn’t they like this? the only reason I see is because stealing is wrong, but in a way this is a good way to avoid piracy while still being able to take in the same type of music, unfortunately if you want to have this kind of music for free you have to do as Angel King does it, record you own versions of music of old.

If there is something I don’t like it is music (regardless of genre) without any own thought behind it, music that is predictable and lacking identity and this is such music. I honestly don’t understand the point of this album, just one album combining elements that everyone have heard before in other music, why would anyone get such an album over something already released? After all this offers absolutely nothing that you haven’t already heard, you may even have several albums sounding more or less like this already in you record collection and you do not need another one.

No King status for these Angel Kings, I would rather say that they belong somewhere amongst the ideas that should never have happened, like Volvo or outsourcing of manufacturing to China or Greece’s economy. Not that it is too bad to listen to, just feels pointless and of such things we already have way too much. I wish I could label this a promising debut but it is not a cover band so I cannot even do that as they show no trace of any unique or own idea on this album so judging by what I hear it is not promising for the future so the only positive I can say is that if you like déjà vu, this is your album. Unimpressive is the word of the day when looking at World of Pain.