Digital Angel - On The Side Of The Angels
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Galleries:
- Castle Party 2015 - 2015-07-23 (Festivals)
- Castle Party 2013 - 2013-07-17 (Festivals)
- Polcon 2011 - 2011-08-26 (Conventions)
CDs catalogue:
Digital Angel was created in 2006 by Steffan (co-founder of synthpop band d ’Archangel, in Digital Angel vocalist, composer and songwriter), Al Var (keyboards, programming) and Jaca (guitar). Their debut album ‘On The Side Of The Angels’ appeared in 2010 under the label Alchera Visions. The group shared the stage with famous XIII. Stoleti and Fading Colours as well as with polish promising bands H.EXE and monoLight. Their song ‘Again’ was included in the compilation ‘Shadow Places 2’ and ‘Zita" was chosen to be the soundtrack of the video promoting Gothomania. Furthermore, we will have the opportunity to see them performing live during this year’s Castle Party Festival. Let’s take a closer look at the debut album of the band, which has already achieved so much and will probably achieve even more on the DI scene.
I admit that I became interested in this album, because the cover and band’s promotional pictures are a little reminiscent of the marvelous pictures of Depeche Mode promoting the album ‘Songs of the Universe’ taken by Anton Corbijn – renowned rock stars’ photographer and director of numerous DM videos (and other bands’, too). The shots are minimalistic, cold and ‘cosmic’. In spite of the fact that Digital Angel’s music can be described as electro pulsing with synthpop energy, the similarity to DM is restricted mainly to the visual aspect.
‘On The Side Of The Angels’ starts extraordinarily. Out of the abyss of silence emerges a whispering voice reciting the poem by William Butler Yeats. After only few verses follows the energetic beat of the first song, perversely entitled ‘Not The First’. The bouncy and catchy song demonstrates the whole spectrum of Digital Angel’s characteristics: gothic rock enriched by extended guitar parts and combined with electro. Moreover, the vocals are a combination of Void from Deathcamp Project and Porl King from Rosetta Stone – in other words, the quintessence of gothic vocals. This song could easily become a dance floor hit. In the subsequent ‘Winter’ and ‘Europe Dies’ we hear simultaneously synthpop, almost disco beat and violin, which blends well. In ‘Europe Dies’ the sound is enhanced by the progressive guitar, which will reappear throughout the whole album. ‘Is There Tomorrow’ resembles the previous songs, thus it gets a little boring, but fortunately ‘When It Rains" appears – first of my two favorites. The melancholic composition is interwoven with the sound of pouring rain and boosted by the contrasting infectious refrain. An interesting, slow electro interlude at 2:33 prevents us from getting bored with this song. ‘Zita’ sounds a bit like Apoptygma Berzerk. The following ‘Alive Inside’ with romantic lyrics (‘dance with me tonight’) and guitar solo in Skawiński’s style made me think of pulp radio songs performed by Kombi or a band of this sort. ‘We Could Be One’ is rougher, resembles Love Like Blood, but not entirely, because synthpop beat and electro tunes from the background still reach our ears. Finally my second favorite emerges – ‘The Sky Won’t Fall’. A calm and nostalgic composition enhanced with meandering, progressive guitar, keyboards, synth sounds and a catchy refrain – a perfect hit mix. In this song, the influences of Depeche Mode are obvious. The album started with a blast - dynamic ‘Not The First’, but ends with a beautiful ballad ‘Again’, to be precise, with the over 3-minute long progressive guitar solo, which stands the comparison with Pink Floyd.
I recommend you to play this album at full blast to appreciate all the electro sounds hidden behind apparently simple melodies. I wouldn’t specify this album as purely gothic rock or synthpop, it lies somewhere in between these two poles. ‘On The Side Of The Angels’ is a polished off, marketable product, which would cater to the tastes of listeners from the DI community, as well as from the outside, for example, fans of indie. On the other hand the ‘darker’ fans may accuse the album of monotony and lack of sharpness or rebellious energy. Listen to ‘On The Side Of The Angels’ and judge for yourself!
Tracklist:
01. Not The First
02. Winter
03. Europe Dies
04. Is There Tomorrow
05. When It Rains
06. Zita
07. Alive Inside
08. Nothing Lasts Forever
09. We Could Be One
10. The Sky Won’t Fall
11. Listen Up
12. Again
Other articles:
I admit that I became interested in this album, because the cover and band’s promotional pictures are a little reminiscent of the marvelous pictures of Depeche Mode promoting the album ‘Songs of the Universe’ taken by Anton Corbijn – renowned rock stars’ photographer and director of numerous DM videos (and other bands’, too). The shots are minimalistic, cold and ‘cosmic’. In spite of the fact that Digital Angel’s music can be described as electro pulsing with synthpop energy, the similarity to DM is restricted mainly to the visual aspect.
‘On The Side Of The Angels’ starts extraordinarily. Out of the abyss of silence emerges a whispering voice reciting the poem by William Butler Yeats. After only few verses follows the energetic beat of the first song, perversely entitled ‘Not The First’. The bouncy and catchy song demonstrates the whole spectrum of Digital Angel’s characteristics: gothic rock enriched by extended guitar parts and combined with electro. Moreover, the vocals are a combination of Void from Deathcamp Project and Porl King from Rosetta Stone – in other words, the quintessence of gothic vocals. This song could easily become a dance floor hit. In the subsequent ‘Winter’ and ‘Europe Dies’ we hear simultaneously synthpop, almost disco beat and violin, which blends well. In ‘Europe Dies’ the sound is enhanced by the progressive guitar, which will reappear throughout the whole album. ‘Is There Tomorrow’ resembles the previous songs, thus it gets a little boring, but fortunately ‘When It Rains" appears – first of my two favorites. The melancholic composition is interwoven with the sound of pouring rain and boosted by the contrasting infectious refrain. An interesting, slow electro interlude at 2:33 prevents us from getting bored with this song. ‘Zita’ sounds a bit like Apoptygma Berzerk. The following ‘Alive Inside’ with romantic lyrics (‘dance with me tonight’) and guitar solo in Skawiński’s style made me think of pulp radio songs performed by Kombi or a band of this sort. ‘We Could Be One’ is rougher, resembles Love Like Blood, but not entirely, because synthpop beat and electro tunes from the background still reach our ears. Finally my second favorite emerges – ‘The Sky Won’t Fall’. A calm and nostalgic composition enhanced with meandering, progressive guitar, keyboards, synth sounds and a catchy refrain – a perfect hit mix. In this song, the influences of Depeche Mode are obvious. The album started with a blast - dynamic ‘Not The First’, but ends with a beautiful ballad ‘Again’, to be precise, with the over 3-minute long progressive guitar solo, which stands the comparison with Pink Floyd.
I recommend you to play this album at full blast to appreciate all the electro sounds hidden behind apparently simple melodies. I wouldn’t specify this album as purely gothic rock or synthpop, it lies somewhere in between these two poles. ‘On The Side Of The Angels’ is a polished off, marketable product, which would cater to the tastes of listeners from the DI community, as well as from the outside, for example, fans of indie. On the other hand the ‘darker’ fans may accuse the album of monotony and lack of sharpness or rebellious energy. Listen to ‘On The Side Of The Angels’ and judge for yourself!
Tracklist:
01. Not The First
02. Winter
03. Europe Dies
04. Is There Tomorrow
05. When It Rains
06. Zita
07. Alive Inside
08. Nothing Lasts Forever
09. We Could Be One
10. The Sky Won’t Fall
11. Listen Up
12. Again
Other articles:
- Castle Party 2015 - 2015-07-26 (Live reports)
