The ex 'great talent' of Metal Blade Records hits back with a brand new album, supported by a brand new label and a new vocalist. I wanted to see what these guys could in their new work and I immediately placed the CD in my CD player. Since the band comprises of well known musicians I expected some crushing, but of course not equally good to Tervonen's past.

Marko Tervonen is the well known guitarist of the great Death Metal act THE CROWN, a band that taught how Swedish melodic yet brutal Death Metal should be played. After THE CROWN split up, he formed ANGEL BLAKE gathering some nice musicians to help him with his new ideas. Signing a contract with Metal Blade they were presented as one of the best newcomers in the Metal scene. Reality proved the label wrong.

ANGEL BLAKE did not fulfill Metal Blade's 'dreams' and they left to be signed by the Finnish label Dynamic Arts Records and release their sophomore effort The Descended, followed by a single CD release (Defenseless). The band is a classic Finnish Heavy Metal band with a really dark vibe in its music. Some call them dark Heavy Metal, a term that fits their music, while others Gothic Metal. That's mostly because Tervonen tried to mix the heaviness of bands like METALLICA with the dark feeling of SENTENCED and AMORPHIS.

A band that sounds close to these guys is for me TAROT, the Heavy/Power Metal act of NIGHTWISH's mainman Marco Hietala. Yeah, that's what someone could call modern Finnish Heavy Metal, since you can't avoid playing some dark tunes if you are from Finland. The band also features a clean and heavy sound that helps the music sound heavy as fuck.

The fact is that I wasn't so amazed by what I listened in The Descended. It is a nice easy listening album that made spend my time pleasantly, but it is not the album that I would run to buy or listen to every day. It may be because the Finnish scene has become a short of a trend right now and we are surrounded by such acts. Anyway, if you are into this 'melodic heaviness' stuff you will surely be attracted by ANGEL BLAKE. Not for traditional heavy metallers.