Reviewed by Jonathan Langley

Ukrainian, you say? I am in no way surprised. With names like Nikolay Kiriljuk (guitars) and Slava Malinin (keyboards, drums, programming) and rousing choruses on tracks like "TV Antichrist" that evoke Cossack battle songs, there's a limited number of places Angel 7 could come from. And they pull it off without sounding cheesy. This falls broadly into the realm of (un)black metal, gothy edges applied to high speed riffing and intensive double-kick-pedal blast-beats and the occasional thrashy flourish. Vocally, apart from the Ukrainian language choruses where you can almost smell the fur hats, it lies somewhere between Danny Filth and Nik Fiend (of Alien Sex Fiend), sounding creepy and crabby rather than scary or demonic. Much of this is pretty old school, more than a touch of Man O War amongst the (un)black stylings. But where your classic lycra-sporting metallers would have lead guitars performing tyre-screeches to punctuate riffs, Angel 7 use the keyboard quite a bit. Keys are quite strongly present, mostly with pleasing effects, though occasionally one feels the need to ask Mr Malinin to update the modules he's using to something a little fresher. Overall, this is an excellent listen, if a little off-beat for the average fan.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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