Bleed, the U.S. debut from Germany's
Angel Dust, is an interesting blend of metal subgenres that unfortunately doesn't add up to the sum of its parts. Elements of Bay Area thrash, NWOBHM, and power metal can be heard in the faster and the more melodic sections, respectively, while a sprinkling of old-school Teutonic hard rock (
Accept,
Scorpions) is detectable in the grainy guitar riffs. As often happens when so many colors are mixed together, the resulting shade of grey is hopelessly indistinguishable. This is the problem with
Bleed's metallic sound; there's simply no pitch, no hue bold enough to define a polished recording. Vocalist Dirk Thurisch has a powerful and unique voice but, like his bandmates, the singer fails to come up with interesting melodies. When practicing a form so dependant on melodic structures to propel the music, this lack of invention is a killer. After a strong title track opens
Bleed,
Angel Dust fails to deliver another memorable song until the grinding gallop of the record's ninth and most original track, "Liquid Angel," which offers too little too late. From the near-thrash of its Europe-only releases to the more developed power metal of later discs,
Angel Dust has outdone
Bleed on many occasions. ~ Vincent Jeffries