American Angel reformed a couple of years ago and return with their first new album in 15 years, now having just one original member in the wonderfully named vocalist Rocco Fury.

‘While I’m Away’ is a spoken word monologue (lifted from the Tom Hanks film ’The Green Mile’) that leads into the first song proper, the fast paced ‘Pantomind’ and the band are straight back into that 80’s Hard Rock sound that we all remember only too well. The title track is next up and is more of the same, right down to the irritating 80’s fade out that I often wish had died with that decade. Just when I was beginning to think this was going to be a simple Rock-by-numbers release along comes the bluesy, laid back vibe of ‘On The Hunt; with a more gritty delivery from Fury and some tidy solo’s courtesy of either Dennis Zehrer or Mike Bisulca.

You just know that there is going to be an acoustic-led bar room ballad and it comes along in the shape of the heartfelt ‘Warm Inside’ and by now the album is really starting to pick up. Fury has a decent voice and this one has some huge backing vocals that give it a real boost. ‘Don’t Wait Up’ is a below par rocker that can easily be skipped over on a CD boasting 14 songs. More worthy of your time are the groove-filled contemporary rocker ‘Breathe’ (some nice use of the Sambora talk-box effect on this one, I bet he wishes he had trademarked it) and the powerful ‘In Perfection’ that has the strongest chorus on the album. The obligatory second ballad is served up with the sweeping ‘Another Day’, with a soulful vocal and some wonderful harmonies (and another damn fade out).

You could really criticise this album for being too formulaic and predictable but it has a definite ‘feel good’ factor and this is simply a band playing to their strengths. I certainly found it an enjoyable listen and it will definitely be on my play list again before too long; recommended to all our melodic rock readers with fond memories of the 80’s.