2013
Promo-wise this is one album that I have been patiently waiting for. No, let's make that impatiently waiting for. One teaser e-mail after another had been dropped into my email and, having heard only tiny tidbits of AC Angry's road warrior-like classic rock/heavy metal previous to getting the digital download, I kept wondering just when exactly I'd get a chance to hear the whole package? Teaser e-mail's suck eggs big time so I had just about given up when I was finally able to download this album yesterday mid-morning. This is one album that was well-worth the wait! I have a soft spot for rock n' roll/heavy metal anyway, but the four guys in AC Angry sure know how to keep you glued to your stereo as you wait for the next track to drop! And this is one album that should be experienced on a stereo (or even better as an LP on a record player!) as their sound is tightly wrapped-up in the spirit of the 80's! Before we get to that point though let's do a quick-run down on the who, what and when of this German band. AC Angry's roots can be traced back in time to a band known as Taletellers Soulsellers. This local band was already well-known as they were always playing out and they had also won their fair share of battle of the bands' competitions. In 2005 or so that band would drop the Soulsellers part of their name and evolve into the shortened Taletellers. Vocalist/guitarist Alan Costa would be the sole survivor of that shake-up and he ended up drafting guitarist Stefan Kuhn, bassist Pascal Louis and former band manager turned drummer Holger Zenner for the newly named Taletellers. After releasing an EP ("The Missles Of Mercy") and two full-length albums ("Detonator" and "Radicalizer") the band decided it was time for a change and thus AC Angry was born! Along the way there have been shake-ups of course with only Costa and Kuhn remaining from the Taletellers' days. With bassist Dennis Kirsch and drummer Sascha filling out AC Angry's line-up we now turn our attention back to "Black Denim", the band's full-length debut album. Produced by Phil Hillen (Powerwolf, Parachutes, The Vision Bleak, Vendetta, etc) at SU2 StudioWaack, "Black Denim" shows a band that has forged their sound in the bottomless pits of hellfire rock and roll. Heck, the band even has a track called "Hellrock Anthem"! Drawing from bands both really old (Motörhead, AC/DC, Railway, Zodiac Mindwarp And The Love Reaction, Turbonegro, Mad Max, Accept and D.A.D.) and older, but still sort-of/kind-of new (Danko Jones, The Hellacopters and Gluecifer), AC Angry comes out swinging with a punk-like attitude while still retaining a barroom style of humble, cold beer and hot women, rock n' metal! With song-titles like "Booze Horse", "It‘s Good To Be Bad", "You Got The Thirst-I Got The Booze" and "Rock 'n' Roller Roller Rolla!" (which, incidentally, borders on near speed metal!) you just know that when it comes to the guys in AC Angry their hearts are in the right place even as they rock out hard! Part of the time their heavy rock while other times they tear through hard rock, heavy metal and even power metal. But, it's all one and the same and it all sounds distinctly like AC Angry! Even with the list of influences mentioned above, theirs is a sound that's much more originally in real life then on paper. "Black Denim" is perfectly suited for rock and rollers and the same group of punks and metalheads that universally embraced Motörhead when they first hit the scene. Due for release at the end of October this is one album you shouldn't pass over!
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