70's Progressive Pop/Rock Hard Rock Power Pop band Angel is back with a new album, Risen, and it's actually really good - if you like that kind of stuff (and Angel fans certainly do).

Like their 70's material, this album covers a lot of ground, stylistically, hitting all of the Rock sub-genres listed above.

The only original members in the band are 2 of the 3 key original members - Lead Vocalist Frank Dimino and (semi) legendary guitarist Punky Meadows. Both keyboard player Gregg Guiffria and drummer Barry Brandt were content to sit this one out, as they are retired from the music business and apparently want to stay that way. But their absence really isn't noticeable, as the current band members do a great job of playing in that style.

Good stuff.

I've never listened to them but remember seeing them open for Aerosmith way back in 1976.

Back in my early teenager years, I had a 45 of Angel's "That Magic Touch" that I wore the grooves off of:



I may have to check out this new album, just for nostalgia's sake.

Angel is one of those bands that I read a bit about in the 80s, which made it seem like they were popular (sort of a B-list KISS) but I never heard a single song of theirs or saw one of their albums.

If it wasn't for Gregg Guiffria's work in the 80s (Guiffria, House of Lords) I would swear they were a fictional band from a movie or something.

Oh, they were quite real. They came close to hitting it big (as did Starz), but just couldn't quite find the right formula to click with larger audiences.

But this is one of the all time great Rock tracks. A little Hard Rock, a little Progressive Rock, a little melodic commercial Rock - you put it all together and you get a total classic...


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Some new tracks...

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And this one is probably my favorite - 80's style Heavy Metal verse, and an early 80's Journey style chorus. Great song...

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Bought one of their albums in the seventies. Listened to it a couple of times then I think I traded to a friend for a Bob Marley album.

Back in the 80s I was reading an article like the top 100 metal bands or albums of all time in something like Hit Parader, and that's the first -- and probably only -- time I came across Angel in that era. It was kind of weird to see a band I had never heard of before appear in a list like that, so it's kind of a strange experience.

This was, of course, back before you could look up any band on google or youtube, so that band only existed for me in that one single article. There were a few bands that fell into that hole for me, where I might read about one of their albums or catch a reference to them, so I knew they existed and were at least sort of popular, but I had never heard one of their songs or seen one of their albums. Saxon and UFO are two that I can think of right now.

I hope you have since checked out UFO. Their 70s stuff, up to and including the live Strangers in the Night, are top notch.

I have a couple of their early records. Helluva Band and White Hot if I recall. I believe they were on the Casablanca label (along with KISS and a few others from the time). Haven't listened to them in years - may need to give them a spin again and check out the new album.

Don't overlook the Tonka era albums (early 80's) - they're damned good, too!

Was a huge Angel fan back in the day and still listen to their core 5 studio albums. That being said, while two original members (Frank and Punky) are back for more, the new album hasn't drawn me in like the others. Perhaps that will change over time as music sometimes evolves in my listening. It's still a really great thing that they gave the fans one more for the road to enjoy.