Desolation Angels - King album review

Return of UK-born, now LA-based expats

Cover art for Desolation Angels - King album

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Having first arrived, Vikinglike, on the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in the early 80s inspired by Bad Company, Desolation Angels made a respectable debut (selftitled) in 1986, but never really went anywhere except LA and disbanded in 1994. Now, touring a modest rock circuit, they’re back with a new album that is so capably, squarely within the metal tradition that it is uniquely conventional. Was ever a more normal metal album made than this one?

Within the bubble in which they reside there is no evidence of exposure to the outside world. The sentiments and treatments of Doomsday and Your Blackened Heart speak of a world of motorcycle medievalism in which the word ‘behold’ is still used, while Hellfire is their take on the complexity of modern romance as they keep the flag of a non-existent nation flying

David Stubbs

David Stubbs is a music, film, TV and football journalist. He has written for The Guardian, NME, The Wire and Uncut, and has written books on Jimi Hendrix, Eminem, Electronic Music and the footballer Charlie Nicholas.