Debut full-length album by the Dutch Gothic Metal band.
Helena Michaelsen's debut album, with her solo band Angel, is certainly one remarkable musical diary unveiling itself to all those who dare look at it. Here's the sad story of a little girl, through the misty tunes of Angel…
Beautiful looking Helena Iren Michaelsen fills our ears with beautiful vocal lines from the snowy country of Norway. She's been the singer for Norwegian Goth Metallers Trail Of Tears' first two albums but then departed and joined After Forever guitarist Mark Jansen, ex-Cassiopeia guitarist Ad Sluijter and keyboard player Coen Janssen, Gurthang and Axamenta bassist Yves Huts (a.k.a. 'Enuresor') and drummer Iwan Hendrikx of M-90's, Silent Edge and Exivious. They all formed the venturous act Sahara Dust which would later be renamed into Epica and gain immediate commercial success. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Helena left the band a year later and…In 2003 joined God Dethroned's pairing of guitarist Henri Sattler and drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek in a new force entitled Imperia.
In 2004 Imperia released their debut album while in the meantime Helena also covered Dead Can Dance's "The Lotus Eaters" for a tribute album released by the Greek Black Lotus Records. In October 2004 Helena would see to her solo ambitions in the form of Angel which signed her a deal with Black Lotus Records. Shortly after, the promotional single "Don't Wanna Run".
The music of Angel however takes a very personal look into the deepest emotions of this beautiful lady singer. She opens her heart completely on these twelve songs, and combines this emotional trip with bombastic sounds, which makes this CD a very passionate masterpiece. The music is a mix of Pop, Gothic, Wave and Rock.
So what secrets lie within Helena's diary, waiting to be discovered by your very own ears? Melodies of sorrow, melodies of nostalgia, of love and hate, of passion and anger. The entire album is one big trip through memory lane together with a little girl that fills in the pages of her diary with her thoughts, with her feelings as the years pass by and she grows up to be…a woman. That's the feeling you'll get after listening for instance to songs like "Little Princess" or "Little Girl". Soft and innocent, these songs are just like a little kid, emotion-wise...
Helena Michaelsen's got an awesome voice but most of all she knows how to sing out her emotions!
Black Lotus Records, 2005 (BLRCD093). Made in Greece. First press.
Tracklist:
1. Fallen Angel 04:35
2. A Woman's Diary 05:08
3. Little Princess 04:31
4. Butterfly 04:18
5. Lead You Through Fire 04:02
6. Mother 04:42
7. Glow in the Dark 04:40
8. Flames of Desire 04:32
9. Darkness 02:46
10. Little Girl 05:52
11. Love of My Life 05:36
12. Funeral 02:51
Total playing time: 53:33