Engel

This melodic Swedish industrial/death metal outfit was formed in 2007 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band comprises Mangan Klavborn (vocals), Niclas Engelin (guitar, also Passenger), Marcus Sunesson (guitar, ex-the Crown), Mikael Håkansson (bass) and Daniel Moilanen (drums, also the Project Hate, Runemagick), all of which came from other respected Swedish metal bands. The readers of Metal Hammer magazine voted the band one of the Top 5 unsigned acts in 2006, and they also won the ‘best demo’ contest for the German metal magazine Rock Hard the same year. The band released their debut album Absolute Design through Steamhammer Records in 2007. The record reunited Engelin and his Passenger colleague Anders Fridén, with the latter taking on the role of producer. The album successfully combined a potentially problematic combination of a hard industrial sound with a commercial melodic edge. Some inspiring guitar riffs and catchy choruses, however, managed to make Engel worthy of some praise. In 2007, they band played a European tour with fellow melodic metal bands Atreyuand Still Remains.