Struggle Within: Angel's Face

Angel's Face is a perfect example of a young band wearing their influences on their sleeve. Here, the Texas four piece known as Struggle Within let the world know how much they have studied and grooved to the music of Pantera, Damageplan, and Godsmack. As unoriginal as this is, you can't help but not get sucked into the thick 'n' raunchy riffs and catchy melodies of tunes like "Heart of Stone" and "This Time Right Now". It's as if the band became the next extension of Damage Plan with a song like "Primitive Minds", complete with guitar riffs straight out of the Dimebag school of shred-o-rama. Just when you thought that this was all they had up their sleeve, they hit you with a pleasant acoustic ballad like "Beyond" that could have easily come from the Creed, Extreme, or Coldplay discographies. While it's not representative of the rest of the album, there could be serious radio potential with this song. Not so successful is the Papa Roach/Rage Against the Machine styled rap/funk-core of "When It All Goes Down" and "Self Destroy", but then they surprise you again with some pretty technical, almost prog-metal influenced craziness on "Tread Upon". This is one of those CD's that keeps you guessing at every corner. Not all of it works, and some of the material is pretty derivative of their heroes, but it's all well done and accessible. Struggle Within should definitely find and audience with Angel's Face, and no doubt continue to find their identity as time goes on.

Track Listing

1. Primitive Minds
2. This Time Right Now
3. Heart of Stone
4. God of War
5. Beyond
6. When It All Goes Down
7. Nevaeh
8. Tread Upon
9. Angel's Face
10. Self Destroy

Added: March 1st 2008
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Arctic Music Group
Hits: 2233
Language: english

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