ANGEL'IN HEAVY SYRUP

"First Love" is a great example of that guitar work over the bass and drums, what a beautiful sound here. Soft vocals join in before 2 minutes and they will come and go. Some wordless melodies later. Excellent start. "Space Conquest" opens with an experimental guitar solo that sounds amazing lighting it up over the soundscape guitar and drums. So good! An energetic instrumental that does change in tempo and sound with it going dark after 3 minutes. "A Series Of Water Mind-Rubens And The Cathedral" again has those amazing sounding guitar sounds and I actually am reminded of IRON MAIDEN's lighter stuff here and I like the wordless vocal melodies creating another layer later on.

"Adios In Those Days" is catchy with some fast paced picked guitar standing out along with the vocals. My least favourite of the six tracks but it's still a good one. Best part is the guitar after 4 minutes when the vocals step aside. "Voyage" is my favourite. How good does this sound? Just this beautiful, trippy, repetitive sound that I can't get enough of. Guitar over top is picked and it echoes. Vocals arrive but not until after 4 1/2 minutes, but this is about the guitar man. "Fate" is the 11 minute closer and it hits the ground running with some serious bass and drums with guitars over top. Vocals after 3 1/2 minutes and they will come and go. Love that fast and fluid guitar solo to end it.

4.5 stars if it was all instrumental but regardless I am a huge fan of this band's sound.

In the beginning of the first bullet "S.G.E." we can hear another brilliant quietness of the Angels but do not be deceived ... they strike noise guitar madness to the audience. This improvisation is pretty violent but comfortable and addictive. The following "I'm Sure To Meet You" reminds me of the similar vein to Flower Travellin' Band or Japanese psychedelic rock pioneers. It's a pity Mineko's voices sound slightly cheap and cheesy to me, and their instrumental technique or ability for composition should not have completed perfectly, but their energetic intention to play fantasy can be heard via the track easily. Regardless of their slenderness, their noise and sound launched via a speaker system are deep and rugged. "Why Don't You Take A Sightseeing Bus With Me?" is pretty pretty song, flooded with attractiveness of the three young girls, based upon dissected, distorted guitar sounds. Very impressive is such a combination mentioned.

Dreamy fragile psychedelia with various melodic / sound elements can be found via "Underground Railroad" the three queens would go forward. "My Dream" is the most pop / catchy / acceptable stuff in this album we can mention, and not only pop melodies but also hard, noisy sound structure we can hear all around. The last track "Crazy Blues" sounds more of psychedelic tragic blues than others. Assume this track might express their real lives ... the former part is crazy pressing along with improvisation of convolution, and the latter after a few second silence tells the audience that their inner minds should have got synchronized as though lots of stars would have been taken into a black hole. This epilogue can be thought as one of their masterpieces.

In conclusion, their soundscape and play technique was immature and "green" in this debut album but why cannot we grab their greedy, intensive production out?

6 (or 7) tracks very different one from each other. What the other reviewers wrote befor eme is exhaustive, so apart of saying that one of the tracks is the soundtrack of an anime (my daughter told me so), I don't have much to add. It's an excellent album and made me curious to find their previous discs. I suggest it to fans of psychedelia and space rock.

Japanese psych prog is not an area I am accustomed to but this is a dynamic release from the foxy Japanese girls known as Angel'in Heavy Syrup. The first thing about this band that hits me between the eyes is the twin guitar work of Mine Nakao and Fusao Toda. These ladies can really play, and it is a ferociously original spacey atmosphere that they generate. A fusion of tripping freakout chaos and quiet meditative ambience. This is backed by accomplished bass from Mineko Itakura and a constant rhythmic section with Tomoko Takakura's percussion, who also excels on flute.

The tracks are very odd and extremely diverse beginning with 'First Love' featuring the vocals of Minekoma and a vibrant fuzzed guitar sound. The drumming is fast and frantic at times building tension that is then released with melancholy harmonious passages of gentle guitar work. There is a trance like psychedelic noise that grips the ear as this motorvates along. A great start. This track features on the 2002 compilation, "The Best of Angel'in Heavy Syrup", as does the last track, 'Fate'.

'A Series Of Water Mind ~ Rubens And The Cathedral' is a strong composition with huge splashes of phased guitars and frenetic basslines. There are very melodic lead riffs that are angular and encased in odd time sig patterns. The angelic harmonious vocalisations are pretty, ethereal and ghostly with haunting elegance. It builds to a darker tone at 2:40 with ascending and descending 'ahs' and 'ohs'. This is one of my favourites on the album and it really grows on you.

'Voyage' is a 7:39 exploration of fastidious guitar work and massive drum patterns. The bassline is wonderful, an incessant rhythm is maintained underneath wah wah pedal effects, very psychedelic. Cymbal crashes fracture the tranquillity, like waves of volcano lava over a lush, green meadow. The high pitched pulchritudinous angelic vocals are spine chilling; she sings with imperfect almost whispered intonation, a breathy sugar sweet sensuality oozes through and coats the dark psychscape with bright rays of light.

'Adios In Those Days' is a fast tempo spaced out work, with huge dollops of pitchy guitars and sonic staggered vibrations. Mine's Japanese vocals return as another instrument, augmenting the sound and raising it to a level of beauty. Her vocals echo in the distance with a high octave range and emotional depth. There is an effective lead break toward the end that has melodic energy and swells with string bends and picking. Great track and another highlight.

'Space Conquest' is a short burst of sound with screaming fuzzed guitars that fuse into a freakout of noise, with spacey effects and no time signature. The free form style is gripping and then it settles in to Hawkwind territory with guitar slices and cymbal crashdowns. The instrumental works as a pleasant transition point to the next excellent track. It builds to a crescendo and suddenly ends.

'Fate' wraps things up with a mini epic that clocks in at 11 minutes. The music soars along a stream of polyrhythmic jagged guitar chord structures. A rhythm guitar strums while lead psych melodies trill with remarkable organic fluency. The confidence of the music is stunning, the ladies just blast away without a care what others may or may not think, and the result is an original progressive work of art. The instrumental becomes repetitious for a time until at 3:40 the high octave vocals chime in, just in time to maintain interest. It is like Renaissance meets Hawkwind in a sense. Those space rock metrical shifts and soprano vocals make strange bedfellows. At 8:10 the guitars become aggressive and hypnotic motifs lock in with estranged singing that returns again. At 10 minutes the vocals are more angst ridden, crying out, and then the guitars take over with dominant trilling and speed picking. This is the best track on the album. I am just in awe that these ladies have produced such a sound and a consistent style that is purely their own. Taste and see for yourself; this is compelling space rock.

First I couldn't make friends with the vocals but in the meantime I'm really convinced. After all they fit - it belongs to their unique outfit. Stylistically this is quite varied. You will find some more hippie trippy oriented songs like the starting First Love or the cosmic Space Conquest where Adios in those days is a more heavily tempered one. The extended Fate units several elements represented on the album finally - possibly concipated as the ultimate essence.

It's worth it to concentrate on Mine Nakao's and Fusao Toda's guitar work. And this applies to the wonderful Voyage in a special way. This is not only an outstanding exemplar of mellow space rock. The second part also shows a twin guitar sound in the vein of jamming southern rock bands such as The Allman Brothers Band. Now this leads to one short conclusion in the end: recommended!

My first impression ... they CANNOT taste noisy like most of Alchemy, but their guitar solos should be much influenced by Jerry Garcia or Duane Allman - that is, improvised whacked-out floating guitar trippin'.

Indeed, this album exerted undoubted tragedy that fragile Angel would fold her wings. Fusao and Mine's guitar flexibility is very fantastic. Such a fuzzy, garagey, shoegazey guitar could shoot very dreamy, dramatic work. In the first track First Love their guitar could be fully exploded. And Mineko's (a bit cheesy but) powerless plaintive hoarse voices could make this tragedy deeper and undergrounder. A Series Of Water Mind ~ Rubens And The Cathedral suite follows as another tragedy ... Mineko's faint chorus can impress us faithfully. With Mine and Fusao's bubbling guitar we can go on a trip into full of canned syrup ... very sweet and very painful. Next Voyage - the first part is one of typical Space Rock songs, fully with persistent repetitive phrases and riffs and hypnotic rhythm ensemble. The latter part has such a dramatic dream as the previous tracks, based on Mineko's voices.

Air has changed drastically ... Adios In Those Days has something like ARS NOVA. Anyway, the same points are they play(ed) very dramatically, and the initial letter of each outfit's name is 'A' (just kidding). Hopping chopping guitar sounds can remind me something cool like a Japanese TV hero (no, HEROINE!) theme song. Of course, they did keep their strict style into this song. Surprisingly a warped, scattered guitar opening just like Speed Guru of Acid Mothers Temple is very impressive in Space Conquest. Very steady, self-possessed, calm ensemble is so amazing, but any foreseeing toward the end of this world? Yes, the last song Fate is ... rightly ... their wonderful guitar solo sounds sometimes weird and sometimes tragic. Mineko's voices are more and more powerful, as if candle frame would get strong and powerful before dying. We cannot help weeping whilst listening to this last stage.

Japanese sake (sad,sake, kanashii sake) is suitable for this album.