Who says you can't go home again? American Angel has returned after a 15 year absence and sounds great.

For anyone not familiar with the band, American Angel hit big at the end of the 80's with their first release and the song How Can I Miss You got major airplay on MTV. Unfortunately for the band, their record label (Grudge) tanked and folded in 1990. Like many of the metal bands of the late 80's, the Seattle grunge wave effectively killed any chance of American Angel getting re-signed or being able to sell their self-produced CD.

Singer Rocco Fury reconstituted American Angel with an all new lineup in 2005 and the band's new CD Vanity was released earlier this month. Musically, the band's sound is a closest to the 80's glam rock sound but it has the swagger of bands like LA Guns or mid-80's Aerosmith with none of the bubblegum pop or 'sensitive' balladry that plagued some of the bands from this era. While the music is solid, singer Rocco Fury's voice is what makes this disc great. Fury's voice can range from a throaty growl to a Sebastian Bach sounding falsetto. My favorite track on this disc are rock and stomp tracks: "Vanity", "In Perfection" and "Don't Wait Up" but there really isn't a bad track on this disc. Even on the slower tracks on this disc ("Warm Inside" and "Another Day"), Fury strong voice doesn't let these tracks sink into realm of the "power ballads" that seemed to be the death nail for many of the 80's glam rock bands.

The band is supposed to be doing a full tour this year to support this release which should be something to watch for.

When I was looking up some background on the band, I ran across RockEyez interview with Fury from Dec. '05 and it really covers everything that I ever wanted to know about American Angel. (link)

Hats off to Chavis Records for a strong set of releases and keeping the metal scene alive.

Links:
American Angel's Main Website (link)
American Angel's MySpace page (link)
Chavis Records (link)