Reviewed by Andy Barnes

Here's a band who've been around since the early 80s, who, despite a string of fine, melodic rock albums, have never quite gained Premier League status on the American CCM scene. The band features the many talents of the Huff family - not Dann and David (ex-White Heart and, confusingly, Giant) but Lance, Rayborn and David, plus new bassman Dennon Dearman. 'Angels Unaware' is much rockier than their recent efforts with a real flavour of their early Priority releases (their '83 release 'Riders In The Sky' is an absolute AOR classic, if you can find it). It really couldn't get any better than the opening quartet of songs. "Can't Stop The Music" kicks in with a dirty, Eddie DeGarmo style riff and features a chorus line that'll be sung by many thousands on the US festival circuit this summer. "Light The Fire" and "Somebody Tell Me" sound very much like Dann Huff's Giant, with David Huff spitting fire from his fretboard, whilst "Writing On The Wall" is a huge slab of AOR genius that would not sound out of place on any White Heart album. I'm not too convinced with the slushy "No One But You" but the album's other ballad "Inside My Heart" works perfectly as do the soothing acoustic tones of "I Was Made For You" before the rapid fire "The Beat Goes On" takes us on a magical journey back into the early '80s, complete with swirling Hammond organ solo! A great album that fans of White Heart, Petra and Nouveaux should enjoy immensely.

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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