ANGEL MARTYR – Black Book: Chapter One

Italian power trio Angel Martyr delivers a faithful, satisfying slab of NWOBHM-ish sound with their first full-length album Black Book: Chapter One, complete with soaring, high-register vocals, dexterous riffery, and rapid, double-bass fueled rhythm. Angel Martyr has great reverence for the heroes of Heavy Metal and that reverence comes through on every song. There are touches of Angel Witch, Saxon, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Helloween, and a host of others on Black Book; bassist Dario Rosten even channels Lemmy on “Victims”.

Despite a clear attempt to keep the faith, the album isn’t without missteps. Album opener “Obsequies” has a spoken word exchange that sounds like a deleted outtake from King Diamond’s Them. “Obsequies” leads into “They…Are Among Us”, a good song not improved by another spoken word overdub. The press-gang vocal chorus on “Eric The Conqueror” initially sounds goofy and out of place. Tiziano Sbaragl’s voice is occasionally strident, but he also unleashes a couple impressive screams so the few lapses are easy to forgive.

Whatever the flaws, much respect is due the band for taking some creative risks with their otherwise well-trodden material. Sometimes the risks pay off in a big way, like opening and closing the driving war anthem and drummer Francesco Tadde’s showpiece “On The Divine Battlefield” with bagpipes. The songs are long but never dull. Strong, sharp beginnings and instrumental breaks with alternating (but mostly fast) tempos that manage to sound inventive yet familiar make Black Book an enjoyable experience that only improves with repeated listening.

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