Rob Dougan - Furious Angels

Posted on Mon 12 January 2004 by alex in general

Mmm, I no music critic but I thought I'd give it a go. You may want to listen to the album first (or ignore me :-) so the review is behind the link.The first thing I realised when I started listening to the tracks was I've been missing out on the vocals. While the title track is remembered for being some background music in the Matrix the actual lyrics turn it into a powerfully dark song. Dougan's gravelly voice it quite distinctive so you not talking about ethereal dance music here. In fact parts reminded me more of VNV Nation. Although he is obviously a
orchestra fan as evidenced by most of his tracks I don't feel he has over done its use (of course I'm a classical music fan as well so maybe I'm biased). The songs obviously mean something to him if the angry passion he sings "Left Me for Dead" is heartfelt. In fact the sleeve notes list his various inspirations for most of the tracks which I found refreshing - this is no 2 love songs and a power ballad
album. Angsty types should enjoy the track "Speed me to Death", unless he's a big Gaiman fan :-)

People that where expecting more of the power dance from the Matrix may be disappointed although the bonus instrumental disc and videos may make up for it. There is also an alternate version of Clubbed to Death as the last track on the main CD which offers a fresh perspective.

For me it was worth the ?7.99 I paid for it href=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009V3OB/ref=sr_aps_music_1_1/202-1719281-2392616>here