Well, I read the review that everyone has been talking about, and the reviewer is full of shit.
While Of Human Bondage will not replace Bleed as my favorite Angel Dust album, there are definitely some killer songs there. Ritchie kicks major, major ass on guitar. There seems to be a lot more keyboard embellishments on this album, but the songs are still heavy as hell and will be absolutely killer when played live.
Speaking of playing live, Angel Dust, please come back to Tampa, Florida and let me get you guys into a venue with a real stage and back line!
I also run the Angel Dust egroup on Yahoo. I think Of Human Bondage is an AWESOME album. You gotta remember, Ritchie is not Bernd. He will not play like him, he doesn't write like him, etc. so it will sound different. Ritchie is an absolutely KICK ASS guitarist and writes heavier stuff than Bernd. Bernd of course is ALSO a kick-ass guitarist, but they are different people. Bands should evolve and Angel Dust is no stranger to that. I mean, if you compare To Dust with Bleed, there's a HUGE difference. But that doesn't mean that Bleed is worse than To Dust. It's just different. People seem to either hate or love this Of Human Bondage. I really like it. I do agree that the keyboards got a bit buried in the mix this time (and that's one of the reasons I like AD so much), but overall it sounds great. Give me Forever or Unite or Inhuman any day! They rule live (ESPECIALLY when we were at ProgPower) and I think they made a lot of new fans during their stays in the US. Can't wait to have them back!
