ANGEL DUST are a German band that took an eight year hiatus in the nineties, and when they came back refocused off their thrash and speed metal roots to become a power metal band. Their work on "Into The Dark Past" shows how this progression could happen, Although it first came out in '86, it has qualities of thrash and power that keeps one foot firmly in both genres, and that is a pretty awesome thing indeed.

"From The Dark Past" is a short but haunting piano and organ track like something out of a horror movie background. On the other hand, track like "I'll Come Back" and "Gambler" leap right past that and into the speed metal, with vocal distortion that makes it sound distant but projected, giving it a supernatural vibe. All throughout the album are moments where the vocalist gives a high pitched scream that just gets your hair standing up. Not to single out any one sing for particularly good guitar work, but I found myself needing to replay "Atomic Roar" just to listen to the solo one more time, which sounded like a harder, faster version of something METALLICA or VAN HALEN would write.

One thing I always appreciate on an album is when the band isn't afraid to leave the vocals out for a bit and just let their playing do the talking and ANGEL DUST do exactly that. Some of their work on the demos included in the album like "Watchout" has a much more infectious rhythm, almost begging me to rock my head to the beat and strum my air guitar.

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