Kev Rowland
In Seattle in 1984, high school friends Ted Pilot (vocals) and Ed Archer (guitar) teamed up with lead guitarist James Byrd, completing the line-up with Ken Mary (later Alice Cooper, House of Lords) and bassist John Macko. Their debut album was self-released and self-funded, was picked by Roadrunner in Europe, before the band was signed by Epic Records for a seven album $21 million deal. A second album followed in 1989, but due to a new musical phenomenon also coming out of Seattle, the band soon called it a day. Fast forward to 2010 and they were asked to headline the Keep It True festival in Lauda-Koenigshofen, Germany. Gathering many of the core members and adding Heir Apparent vocalist Peter Orullian, (Ted Pilot is now an endodontist practicing in Seattle and was not able to sing for the reunion). The band was also writing new material which finally reached Nuclear Blast who signed them up for the band’s third album, nearly thirty years on from the last one.
The line-up these days is guitarist and lead vocalist Kendall Bechtel (who appeared on the second album), bassist John Macko and drummer and backing vocalist Ken Mary, which is certainly going to be interesting going forward as these guys sound like a standard twin-guitar five-man line-up instead of a trio. I haven’t heard the earlier albums, so can’t say how this compares, but what I can say is what we have here is classic power metal heavily influenced by Dio-period Sabbath. Bechtel is a fine guitarist, but where he shines is definitely in the vocal department as here is a guy who can really sing. He has all the power and timbre one could wish for in this style of music, which is heavy, fast, and one can imagine them suddenly switching into “Mob Rules” at any moment.
There is the obligatory power ballad of course, but these guys shine best when they are in full flight. There are strong hooks, great performances, and overall this is quite a comeback album. It will be fascinating to see where they go from here, but whatever happens Fifth Angel are very much back.