Angeldick - Angeldick
by James

It is very rare anymore that I hear a band that is truly willing to push the boundaries of heavy music. Most bands nowadays do little more than put their own twist on something that we have heard a million times. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is refreshing to hear something that is unlike anything else currently on the market (that I have heard, anyway).

What makes Angeldick so interesting is their complete and utter disregard for the "rules of metal". There are few verse-chorus-verse formulas and bland song structures found here and there is no set musical style to speak of. There are hints of influences from almost every genre of music you can think of on here, from punk to death metal to jazz. You get the impression that the guys in Angeldick attack every song from a completely different angle, but they still manage to maintain an overall consistent feel and attitude about the music. There are songs that are balls-out heavy like Scary Poster, the opening track and the song that immediately hooked me on this CD, and then there are flat out bizarre tracks like Now Hiring: Church Robbers - a fun little ditty about a guy who does his PA shopping on Sunday mornings. Then, just when you think you have them figured out, they hit you with the insanity-tainted piano-only track, Mrs. Shirley, before closing out the album with Goldfish.

The thing I like most about this band is the fact that they are 100% devoted to entertaining their audience. Everything about them seems to be aimed at creating an enjoyable, interesting experience for the listener, and themselves, I think. Angeldick's lyrics are blasphemous and downright twisted, at times, but it is all very tongue-in-cheek. You almost feel guilty for laughing at some of the outrageous verses and song titles of these songs, such as Your Tampon, My Soul, which contains the rather disturbing words, "You make great snuff films/I'll always be your fan." On the flip side, there is stuff on this CD that you can't help but laugh to yourself over. As an example, I will close this out with one of the strangest lines I have ever seen put to song from the track HPV - "Your sex makes scary noises/I'd say your sex reeks mighty clean."