Schwarzer Engel
Imperium I: Im Reich Der Götter

The black angel named Dave Jason is back with his divine preaching; this is the fourth time he releases an album. The cover looks kind of like you expect from an artist using a moniker like Schwarzer Engel. Vocals in German, gothic metal are what you can expect from this album. An album that was released a while back but I didn’t see a single positive review when browsing the web for information, does that mean that it is a bad album? Well, maybe or maybe it is just that the reviews were few and the worst rating I noticed was from the temple who cannot be considered a serious actor as they usually overrate everything so I assume that they probably underrate if something is bad in their eyes. Being a voice of reason amongst web critics I better voice whatever opinion I have formed.

Musically it is gothic metal with vocals in German, the voice is going from typical gothic to a bit growly, decent voice I have to say. Musically it falls on stereotypes of the genre, and not too much variation and an early problem I see is the lack of dynamics of this album, at 48 minutes it is bound to feel long. The production is okay; the sound is more or less what you can expect from a modern album in the darker gothic looms of the musical world. I think that this guy has posters of The Vision Bleak all over his place as it sounds very inspired by those guys but Dave hasn’t really pinned down the sheer quality of that band. I think this is an album that musically doesn’t stray from the typical gothic metal and that won’t be replayed by many who play the album.

Not saying that it is awful or terrible because it isn’t. In terms of most criteria it is a decent album and I think that it will very much appeal to fans of Schwarzer Engel or those who like the genre. I just think that this album is lacking in many regards and that it will not stand out in the grand scheme of things, for that you need a fresher sounds, to do something unique and you need to have a soul that is apparent for those who listen – Schwarzer Engel doesn’t really have anything of that. I think the previous album was better; this one is a bit tame, a bit boring and not really interesting to me at all.

I think that the album starts in a good way, the first song is pretty good but then it starts to run on idle and the further down the road of this album you get, the duller it becomes. I think the main problem with it is that it is one man doing everything, in a band you usually have a discussion and more people contribute with constructive ideas. Bad ideas usually get turned down but when you don’t have anyone telling you that you have to rework some of your ideas a little bit, it usually ends up with the flaws remaining like in this album. I recommend that you look elsewhere for you next musical purchase because this will only appeal to those without any critical sense who just needs everything gothic that they can find.

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