Conjuring a dark and moody variety of psychedelia leavened with garage rock and shoegaze-styled
indie rock, the Black Angels became one of the leading psych-revival acts of the 21st century and helped revive Texas' reputation as a center for lysergic sounds.
Embracing vintage sounds like the Velvet Underground and the 13th Floor Elevators along with more
contemporary acts such as Spiritualized and Spacemen 3, their music is powerfully atmospheric and evocative, generating a suitably buzzy sound that avoids the cliches of the genre, charting a course that first found full flower on 2008's Directions to See a Ghost and continued to explore the otherworldly on 2010's darkly compelling Phosphene Dream, 2017's emphatic Death Song, and 2022's dynamic Wilderness of Mirrors.
The Black Angels were formed in Austin, Texas in the spring of 2004; the initial lineup featured Alex
Maas on vocals, Christian Bland on guitar, Jennifer Raines on keyboards, Nathan Ryan on bass, and Stephanie Bailey on drums. Taking their name from "The Black Angel's Death Song" a from the Velvet Underground's classic debut album, the band made their recording debut with a self-released CD-R EP, 2005's Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?; three of its four songs would appear on a variant edition, The Sniper at the Gates of Dawn, that appeared the same year.
Light in the Attic Records issued a more professionally packaged, self-titled four-song EP by the end of
the year, and in 2006 they set out on a tour of North America, including an appearance at that year's South by Southwest Music Conference. The band's relationship with Light in the Attic Records continued for their first full-length album, 2006's Passover, and they returned there to make their second album, 2008's Directions to See a Ghost.
The second album saw them expanded to a sextet with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Kyle Hunt.
Their third album, released in September 2010's Phosphene Dream (their first release for Blue Horizon Records), becoming something of a breakthrough for the group when it hit the Top 50 of the Billboard chart immediately following its release.
By this time, the group was back to a five-piece following the departure of Jennifer Raines. In 2012,
following Nate Ryan's departure from the group, Rishi Dhir of Elephant Stone became an auxiliary bandmember, filling in on guitar and occasionally bolstering their live sound with sitar. Released in 2013, Indigo Meadow was produced and mixed by Grammy-nominated fellow Texan John Congleton, and that release was soon followed by a companion EP, April 2014's Clear Lake Forest.
2017 saw the release of Death Song, which ranked with the Black Angels' heaviest work to date, and
unveiled a new lineup, with longtime members Stephanie Bailey, Christian Bland, Kyle Hunt, and Alex Maas joined by Jake Garcia (guitar, bass, and vocals). The group also nodded to the importance of the Levitation fest with the 2021 vinyl-only release Live at Levitation, which was compiled from performances at the 2010, 2011, and 2012 editions of the event and was pressed in six suitably trippy color variants.
After a five-year break from the studio, the Black Angels made their return with 2022's Wilderness of
Mirrors, which reinforced their trippy, hard-edged sound while adding a wealth of keyboard accents. The release was followed by a tour of North America, and a run of dates in Europe and the U.K. followed in 2023.
1. THE BLACK ANGELS - PASSOVER 2006
Passover is the debut album from psychedelic rock band The Black Angels, released in 2006. Is a
reactionary record, trading in Vietnam imagery and tired Doors tropes in places as easily as it does stoopid-awesome stoner rock in others, but it seems a reaction of the very best kind -- that is, free of agenda, full of ideas, and fun.
The Black Angels – Passover
Label: Light In The Attic – LITA 018
Format: CD, Album, Digipak
Country: US
Released: Apr 11, 2006
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Alternative
TRACKS
01. Young Men Dead 5:32
02. The First Vietnamese War 3:30
03. The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven 4:16
04. The Prodigal Sun 4:23
05. Black Grease 4:32
06. Manipulation 5:49
07. Empire 5:35
08. Better Off Alone 3:03
09. Bloodhounds On My Trail 3:58
10.1. Call To Arms 10:33
10.2. (silence) 3:40
10.3. Untitled 3:53
LINE - UP
Bass, Guitar – Nate Ryan
Drone [Drone Machine] – Jennifer Raines
Drums, Percussion – Stephanie Bailey
Guitar, Bass, Vocals – Christian Bland
Vocals, Bass – Alex Maas
NOTES
Track 10 contains a hidden track (track 10.2). Track 10.1 lasts for 10:33 before a period of silence. Track 10.2 runs from 14:13 to 18:06.
Recorded and mixed at Cacophony Recording Studio, except tracks 5 and 6 at Wire Recording and Shh! Recording.
Flac Size: 370 MB
2. THE BLACK ANGELS - PHOSPHENE DREAM 2010
When a band opens its album with a song called "Bad Vibrations," hits the midway point with another called "River of Blood," and titles its grand finale "The Sniper," it's safe to assume that the group is not much worried about seeming wholesome and friendly. And even if the Black Angels had given the songs on their third full-length album, Phosphene Dream, titles relating to bunnies, flowers, and ice
cream, this music would still cast a long shadow of bad karma; the Black Angels appear to be stoned on the same stuff Thee Oh Sees have been taking for years, but with fewer hallucinations and a good bit more crummy attitude. While most bands following the path of the gloomy and the stoned sound a bit sloppy, on Phosphene Dream the Black Angels feel tighter and more precise than they ever have before, and the unified attack on these tunes helps the medicine go down without robbing the music of its sinister power.
The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream
Label: Blue Horizon – BHV-16780-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Sep 14, 2010
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock
TRACKS
01. Bad Vibrations 4:27
02. Haunting At 1300 McKinley 2:24
03. Yellow Elevator #2 4:57
04. Sunday Afternoon 2:44
05. River Of Blood 3:58
06. Entrance Song 3:39
07. Phosphene Dream 3:42
08. True Believers 4:33
09. Telephone 1:59
10. The Sniper 3:54
LINE - UP
Bass, Organ [Rheem Mark VII], Guitar, Drum [Floor Tom] – Kyle Hunt
Drums, Percussion – Stephanie Bailey
Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Organ [Air], Autoharp [Electric] – Nate Ryan
Guitar, Vocals, Organ, Bass, Harmonium – Christian Bland
Lead Vocals, Bass, Organ [Vox], Guitar, Percussion – Alex Maas
Written By – Colin Ryan (tracks: 3)
Written-By – The Black Angels
Flac Size: 257 MB
3. THE BLACK ANGELS - INDIGO MEADOW 2013
This is a pleasant, unexpected change for the Austinites. Part of the inspiration for change is probably due to the paring down of the band into a four-piece. Song changes are easier when there are less cooks in the kitchen, and Bland, Maas, and Hunt take more chances in their songwriting, alternating who plays bass, guitar, or organ, and even spreading out their duties to include odd instruments like flutes,
bass Moog, harmonium, Manetron, and a tibetan singing bowl. These bright touches give the album more of a thickly produced '60s feel than prior albums. Producer John Congleton adds just the right amount of engineering tricks like reverse tape delay to make songs like "I Hear Colors" and "Twisted Light" true to the Nuggets era. Meanwhile, as always, Stephanie Bailey holds down the show with her rock-steady but exciting style of drumming. The Angels are masters at sounding simultaneously cool as a block of ice and hot as hellfire, but the cunning pop melodies are the real key to this album's success.
The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow
Label: Blue Horizon – BHV-16790-2
Format: CD, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: Apr 2, 2013
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Alternative
TRACKS
01. Indigo Meadow 2:49
02. Evil Things 3:44
03. Don't Play With Guns 3:43
04. Holland 4:02
05. The Day 2:37
06. Love Me Forever 3:10
07. Always Maybe 4:08
08. War On Holiday 2:35
09. Broken Soldier 3:35
10. I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia) 4:03
11. Twisted Light 3:21
12. You're Mine 3:40
13. Black Isn't Black 4:21
LINE - UP
Drums, Percussion – Stephanie Bailey
Guitar, Bass, Organ [Rheem Mark VII], Organ [Gibson G101], Organ [Vox Super Continental], Organ [Compact Duo Farfisa], Synthesizer [Moog Prodigy Bass], Performer [Manetron], Percussion – Kyle Hunt
Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Harmonium, Autoharp, Organ [Gibson G101], Electric Piano [Hohner Pianet N], Celesta [Jenco Celeste] – Christian Bland
Lead Vocals, Bass, Organ [Compact Duo Farfisa], Organ [Gibson G101], Guitar, Flute [Native], Organ [Vox Super Continental], Singing Bowls [Tibetan Singing Bowl] – Alex Maas
Flac Size: 301 MB
4. THE BLACK ANGELS - DEATH SONG 2017
How good can a bad trip sound? When you're being dosed by the Black Angels, bad karma can conjure up some very impressive sounds, and on the band's fifth full-length album, 2017's Death Song, their moody psychedelic attack is executed with an impressive level of skill and focus. From a performance
aspect, Death Song (a title the Black Angels have clearly been waiting to use since they bought their first distortion pedal) ranks with the band's very finest work. Here, the musicians sound tight and full of purpose, without losing the foggy tone that plays a serious role in their music. The clouds of guitar fuzz and waves of echo give the songs the malevolent trippiness they demand while drummer Stephanie Bailey keeps the rhythms crisp and propulsive, and her solid foundation allows the other musicians greater room to move.
The Black Angels – Death Song
Label: Partisan Records – PTKF2147-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Apr 21, 2017
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Alternative
TRACKS
01. Currency 5:17
02. I'd Kill For Her 3:38
03. Half Believing 4:20
04. Comanche Moon 4:51
05. Hunt Me Down 3:53
06. Grab As Much (As You Can) 3:52
07. Estimate 5:09
08. I Dreamt 4:22
09. Medicine 3:32
10. Death March 3:25
11. Life Song 6:30
LINE - UP
Bass, Guitar, Organ, Organ [Moog], Organ [Rheem Mark VII] – Kyle Hunt
Drums, Percussion, Organ [Philicorda] – Stephanie Bailey
Guitar, Bass, Vocals – Jake Garcia
Guitar, Mellotron, Bass, Vocals [Vox Continental] – Christian Bland
Lead Vocals, Bass, Harmonium – Alex Maas
Flac Size: 473 MB
5. THE BLACK ANGELS - WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS 2022
Wilderness of Mirrors is the sixth studio album by American psychedelic rock band the Black Angels released on September 16, 2022, through Partisan Records. Four singles were released ahead of the
album: "El Jardín", "Firefly", "Without a Trace", and "Empires Falling".
I didn't think they'd be able to top Passover and Death Song, but they knocked it out of the park with Wilderness of Mirrors. There's not a bad song on the album, which is impressive when your album has 15 songs. Highlights for me are Without a Trace, History of the Future, El Jardin, Vermillion Eyes, Icon, and the blistering Empires Falling.
The Black Angels – Wilderness Of Mirrors
Label: Partisan Records – PTKF3021-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: USA & Europe
Released: Sep 16, 2022
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock
TRACKS
01. Without A Trace 4:07
02. History Of The Future 3:45
03. Empires Falling 3:31
04. El Jardín 3:45
05. La Pared (Govt. Wall Blues) 4:12
06. Firefly 3:01
07. Make It Known 3:18
08. The River 4:56
09. Wilderness Of Mirrors 4:15
10. Here & Now 2:38
11. 100 Flowers Of Paracusia 3:48
12. A Walk On The Outside 3:05
13. Vermillion Eyes 4:10
14. Icon 3:44
15. Suffocation 5:41
LINE - UP
Drums, Percussion – Stephanie Bailey
Electric Guitar, Bass, Organ, Electric Piano [Pianet N], Mellotron, Vocals – Ramiro Verdooren
Electric Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Mellotron – Christian Bland, Jake Garcia
Vocals, Bass, Organ, Mellotron – Alex Maas
The Black Angels: Directions To See A Ghost + 2 EP HERE