Rage of Angels is the brainchild of original Ten keyboard player Ged Rylands, who played on their first three studio albums and the double live CD ‘Never Say Goodbye’. After leaving Ten, Ged went on to play with Contagious and guitar wizard Danny Danzi, before leaving the music business for ten years to concentrate on his family. He then returned to play on various albums before joining Tyketto, but during his absence he continued writing and the result can be found on this album. He provides guitars and keyboards, and the basic band is completed by Martin Kronlund (guitars), Pera Johanssen (drums) and Michael Carlsson (bass), but he has really pulled the stops out when it comes to lead singers and additional guitarists. The singers are Matti Alfonzetti (Impera, Red White and Blues, Jagged Edge), Harry Hess (Harem Scarem ), Robert Hart (Bad Company), Danny Vaughn (Tyketto), Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear) and David Reed Watson while the additional guitarists are Neil Fraser (Ten), Ralph Santolla (Deicide,Obituary, Iced Earth), Martin Kronlund (Lover Under Cover, Reece Kronlund), Vinny Burns (Ten, Asia, Ultravox), Xander Demos and Tommy Denander.
So, it is obvious that Ten fans are going to want to get hold of this, but actually any fan of melodic hard rock is going to be extremely interested. Although the changing singers means that does have something of a project feel, it doesn’t impact the album too badly and the result is something that fits tight in with any collection. While most attention is probably going to be paid to the singers, there are some seriously shredding solos on here which are totally different to what you would normally expect to hear from a band that comes across as a heavy duty Foreigner.
As is usual with Escape Music, this is a real gem.
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