Reviews



ElectricBasement.com

Stone Angel, like many melodic rock bands of the modern era are more than making up for the alternative/grunge quicks and rock music slumped down into post '92. I say this because the bands tend to go for sugar sweet hooks that pre-date Bon Jovi and are actually born from Styx, Boston and perhaps Night Ranger. Stone Angel is similar to all the above bands in one way or another.

Like Styx, the choruses are exact and clean. And extremely cheerful. Take "Imagine Us" for example. Here we have grinding guitars and mammoth groove and then the chorus hits us right between the suburban eyes. "Argument (As I Am)" has great flow, somewhere between "Layla" and Boston, with a chorus seemingly sung by DC Cooper, though not. Lead singer Koz is quite amazing indeed. His vocals are wrapped in a formal command like that of a Broadway player. But, fortunately, those sugary sweet choruses are prepared with versus of formidable soul and righteousness. The music too, is much more rockin' than the choruses may deserve. Okay, so chalk op some riffage to the Night Ranger theory. "Feeling the Way I Do" is VERY Boston. It could even be called "More Than A Feeling (The Way I Do)". But seriously, it is only the fact that the band uses acoustics and a cool riff the way Boston did in its anglo-fro hey day. The song is a mature, peak moment on the album. In second place is the closing Badlands riffer "The Pill." Sort of out of place, but too good to pass up.

3.5/5 Bolts

- Brian Coles

Thunderline Magazine
This is some great melodic hard rock with a big 80's sound. Vocalist Koz has a strong and clear mid-range vocal approach. The band utilizes strong melodic choruses that will keep you singing along throughout. The songs are filled with big hooks and harmonies, stuff I haven't heard in a while! The closest comparisons musically would be bands like Extreme, Van Halen, and Bulletboys. The lyrics cover a wide range of topics but center mostly on problems in society and love. If you want some good hard rock and a nice ballad Stone Angel is the band to look to. --ND

Strutter AOR
STONE ANGEL is a hot new AOR/Melodic Rockband out of the USA that has released a wonderful debut CD. I would rather not describe this band as a pure AOR Band, because there are no keyboards on the album. Still, also the AOR fans will enjoy the Melodic Rock of STONE ANGEL, because the album contains many great melodic rocksongs with lots of amazing harmony vocals.

This very well produced debut CD contains 12 songs. Lead vocalist Koz has a high-pitched voice and gives the sound of STONE ANGEL a light progressive touch, a bit like TRIUMPH. The Melodic (Hard) Rock of STONE ANGEL is from very high level and I can easily recommend it to anyone that likes pure Melodic (Hard) Rock with huge harmony vocals.

Opener "Imagine us" is a nice melodic hard rocksong. The song is also featured as a video for the PC on this CD. The videoclip looked pretty good and very professional. Next track "Hey you" is featured in two versions (acoustic and electric). This song is a very catchy uptempo melodic rocker that has a lot of resemblance with TRIUMPH. "Argument (As I am)" follows and is more STYX influenced midtempo melodic rock.

The titletrack "Turning point" follows and is actually the first weaker song. "Turning point" is a bit average 90s based slowtempo rock. But the

following track "O' my love" is much better, this is a great semi melodic rockballad. "Carry on" follows and is an unplugged STYX/TOMMY SHAW kinda song.

Then we get to hear the best track on this CD. The song is called "In your eyes" and this is classic 80s typed AOR/Melodic Rock which sounds perfect and is just so 80s! This uptempo AOR rocker has it all with its killer melodic hooklines and harmonies. Without any doubts, "In your eyes" is the best song on the whole CD. The CD continues with "I know you", which is featured in a live version. This song is another great 80s typed AOR rocker.

Next up is "Feeling the way I do", an acoustic AOR ballad with some good harmonies a la NELSON. Next track "On hold" is a nice uptempo melodic rocker. After an acoustic version of the earlier mentioned "Hey you", the CD closes with "The pill". This final track is one of the weakest moments on the CD, because "The pill" is a weak groovy Partyrocker like the old WARRANT stuff. But this final track and maybe one or two more are the only weak songs on this rather interesting CD.

STONE ANGEL has released a very good Melodic Rockalbum that is hugely recommended to those of you that like bands such as TRIUMPH. European labels such as FRONTIERS RECORDS or Z RECORDS should sign this band as soon as possible, because STONE ANGEL has talent and their melodic rock is from a very high quality.


Detritus
This is a pretty ambitious debut, both because of the multimedia stuff (more on that later) and because the style is commercial hard rock/pop metal/whatever, which hasn't yet made the comeback so many of us are hoping for. Long hair, hummable melodies, passionate vocals, and *tons* of harmonies are the order of the day with Stone Angel. A couple tracks (the uplifting "Imagine Us," the heaviest song "The Pill") seem to have a funny mix, with the guitars being too low, but otherwise the sonics on this release are spot-on. Koz's lead vocals really run the gamut here--they're mostly a mix of Robert Mason (Lynch

Mob) and Rik Emmett (Triumph), but there's some emoting a la Queensryche's Geoff Tate ("O' My Love" is the 1980s love ballad the 'ryche never wrote!) and even some Neil Diamond (!) sass in the light- hearted "On Hold." The tightness of the three-part harmonies, featuring Koz with bassist Dave "Twigg" Twarog and co-guitarist Pete Bauer, are all over the place, and the inclusion of a live track ("I Know You," recorded at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT) proves the guys can pull them off sans studio trickery. The best songs: the commercial "Hey You" recalls Styx and Triumph, "Argument (As I Am)" sports a down 'n' dirty acoustic groove and some amazingly fluid lead guitar, the title track has an overall old Extreme vibe (check it out for a really
pretty three-part harmonization of the word "bullshit"), and the hyper catchy "In Your Eyes" is a great, gasp!, love song. The multimedia part of this CD features a cool video for "Imagine Us," personal and band bios, lyrics, and a gallery of live photos. But even with all this good stuff definitely in their favor, there's just a weird, intangible "bar band" quality about Stone Angel that I couldn't shake. I wish I could articulate it better... I'm sure with a smidge of fine- tuning, album #2 will be an utter stormer. - Tim