Before I decided to review this CD I had no knowledge whatsoever of who these guys were, what they sounded like, or whether they had any chance whatsoever of breaking to in my elite music collection. After 45 minutes listening and a little bit of research I obtained answers to all of the above.

`Angel Blake’ are only a few years old, formed by ex- Crown guitarist Marko Tervonen, who named the band after a Danzig ballad. Listening to them, any influence from `The Crown’ is pretty much impossible to detect: gone are the blast beats, thrash composition, and death metal vocals; and in their place a slower, more emphatic rhythm section set alongside Tobias Jansson’s powerful emotive vocals. In my opinion the banishment of `The Crown’s’ style was a good move on Tervonen’s part, not just because I personally found them pretty average compared to most of the thrash outfits out there, but also because they didn’t have a big enough fanbase for yet another similarly sounding thrash side-project to feed off. The aim of ‘Angel Blake’ and The Descended album seems to be to try and break through to the mainstream of melodic metal: an inhospitable and tempestuous road, but very profitable if you ever get to arrive...

The first single, ‘Defenseless’, grasps desperately for that anthemic chorus which will propel them to a fist-pumping memorability in the minds of fans. With this as their aim, they certainly have the ideal vocalist: Tobias Jansson puts in a more than commendable performance on the microphone, blending elements which vital to the success of the In Flames and Paradise Lost frontmen in his forceful croonings. The opening five tracks, whilst not blindingly original, are pretty satisfying to listen to, with ‘Anywhere But Here’ and ‘Again’ standing out.

Whilst `The Descended’ has things going for it vocally, it does not have the stand-alone musicianship necessary to transform it from a good album to a great album. The riffing here safely houses Jansson’s vocal performance, but fails to provide the discordant jagged edges which would make for a really interesting listen. ‘The Descended’ is powerful, anthemic, and consistent, but isn’t quite dangerous enough to oust anything from my music collection any time soon.