Reviews from the Press

manchestermusic.co.uk - 8 November (on the single 'Ring Road / Steppenwolf')
After a great appearance on the Blue Cat Compilation (Out Of The Blue), Desolation Angels release Ring Road. That Desolation Angels have begun to craft such wonderfully beautiful songs is no surprise. Their spikey charge still exists, but the clarity and purity of this crystallises modern folk sensibilities and a leftfield ambition, that has been their relentless and impassioned trademark. This is really quite a fulfilling track and when matched to the ethereal, gothic landscapes of Steppenwolf (taken from the album Asylum), it really shows two quite compelling sides to the band. Dead Women is like an acoustic tapestry, woven with twisting vocal hooklines and low key, orchestrated flourishes (cue Peter & The Wolf flutes). Business as usual though for Desolation Angels - another impressive single their best as well in my book.

Organ - Feb 19th (Asylum/Rabbit Huts single)

Now look, don't take this wrong but I almost want to tell you not to listen to this single. You see, as fine as it is, you really really need to just wait for the album. You really need to hear Asylum first time around properly in all its glory in its proper place as second track following the radiant glowing beauty of Stari Chelovek on the band's debut album. Asylum is good, but to really understand the rush it provides, you need the delicate side first. The edgy delicate side that is here on second track Rabbit Huts.

We're talking warm soul bearing alt-rock of such a unique refined rewarding nature, we're talking vocals to almost die for, we're talking edginess - think Cranberries, or Polly Harvey but think nothing like that really, maybe think early Joy Division or some of those fine alt-country treasures you find on reliable labels like Glitterhouse...

Third track Hunchback sounds like a 21st century folk song in the most positive sense, dark chords and darker tales that are almost Van Der Graaf flavoured (and if you know anything about Organ you know that is the highest compliment, Van Der Graaf Generator are the greatest band ever). We have here something very special - look, get the single, jump past track one and play Rabbit Huts first, the album version of Asylum is fourth on here so wait for that one - as excellent as Asylum is, it is not the first thing to experience from this very fine Manchester band, Asylum is bringing on the goosebumps now once the other tracks have primed us - whoooooooooooosh, special single from a special band.

Morning Star - March 6th

Manchester's Desolation Angels recall the glorious melancholy of Swans and the anti-pop of Throwing Muses, but their own sound spans many genres - rock and folk, acoustic and electric.

Asylum is their debut album, following three years of touring and several limited releases. It's a stormy, brooding recording. Even piano and acoustic refrains evoke rolling storm clouds. Changes in velocity reel the listener into mellifluous torrents of keyboard and guitar - intricate, coruscating riffs that carve out images of the modern city skyline, conjuring all its magic and terror.

Quieter songs such as Ringroad and Write my Name are like the pulsing embers of the incendiary Asylum and Day Begins, glowing with a sinister and beautiful urban folk. Rabbit Huts, with its bucolic accordion, is like a Roma lament transposed to the oppressive city.

Mandy Daynes and Steph Walker's vocals can be soft and tentative at one moment, then fierce and angry at another, but are always fervent and honest, with lyrics grounded in reality.

Asylum continually explores the themes of its title, the paradox of the city as both sanctuary and an alienating imprisonment. Like Gwendoline Riley in literature, Desolation Angels write an original and authentic, dark and ecstatic, narrative of a city full of broken dreams.

The band have an ambitious manifesto to revolutionise the music scene and rid it of bored apathy and, with Asylum, they have made a promising and exciting start.

Designer Punk
Desolation Angels have only one purpose, "To alter the face of musical history". In a culture that lives in the shadow of a scene from 10 years ago, it's easy to overlook the raw talent that is slowly beginning to shine beneath the post-industrial city of Manchester. With this debut album and a debut release for Blue Cat records, they may well achieve their goal.

Desolation Angels are a hard band to pin onto any sort of genre. Opening album track 'Stari Chelovek' and also 'Ringroad' could have come off Azure Ray's 'Hold On Love' album. Forthcoming single 'Asylum' is a stripped down version of Oceansize's 'Amputee'. The epic 'Timeclock' finishes with spoken monologue reminiscent of Meanwhile, Back in Communist Russia.. Circa 'Indian Ink'.

Mandy Daynes' vocals, are a cross between PJ Harvey and Azure Ray's Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink. Her voice particularly standing out on 'Crows' through the lines "You set your eyes on the mark over there/You make your mark by the clothes that you wear". Her voice perfectly matches the music and lyrics. It sends shivers down your spine and makes those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up, it's the sort of voice you could fall in love with.

This is quite simply my choice for the album of the year so far. Whilst the production in lacking in certain places, it doesn't really matter, as it really only is in a few minor places. Desolation Angels have produced an album to be truly proud of and it has placed them head and shoulders above any other band knocking around the Manchester music scene at this time.

10/10

Paul Whilam

Skidmark Multimedia
Asylum is a CD which sounds as I was hoping it would - a "coming of age", logical progression of the band's self-released 2001 debut "Rocks in her Pocket", (later re-released on the Prolekult label in 2002). Asylum is a seamless transition from EP to album with no loss of that distinctively tender, yet oh-so-melancholy Angels sound. The album can be described as a gallery of audio artwork; akin to a photographic collection of black and white industrial wasteland imagery, the music and lyrics of Asylum are truly stark, disturbing, yet serenely beautiful.

Alive.co.uk (on the single 'Asylum / Rabbit Huts')
3 tracks of devastating gravity and intent, Desolation Angels return to fulfil the promises they made on last years 'Rocks In Her Pocket' EP. Opening track 'Asylum' whips up a frenzied storm of guitar and emotion. Desolation Angels pack more atmosphere into their songs than the whole of today's top 40 combined. Second track 'Rabbit Huts' takes things down to a quieter level but still has that haunted quality. The final track 'Hunchback' is a re-recorded version of a song from last year's 'Rocks In Her Pocket' EP. It's been given a heavier, clearer edge than the earlier version and comes through now with even more power. A force to be reckoned with.

manchestermusic.co.uk - 17th May (on the single 'Asylum / Rabbit Huts')
Desolation Angels' messy blend of Celtic folk and punk rock doesn't always make sense at first. It tends to start off like a firework (at least after a really quiet intro) and then blasts uncontrollably into the misty mountains. Asylum sounds like that at first. But the rolling drums and off kilter guitar smashes all sit comfortably underneath the female vocal lines. It's like The Corrs on acid, wearing Doc Martens and kicking the hell out of Joni Mitchell through a Marshall stack. 'Rabbit Huts' is a direct opposite of this and sounds like French onions being picked on a summers afternoon, to a moody soundtrack of disappointed love. 'Hunchback' however is Desolation Angels at their fractured, heavy best. Crumbling notes only just make it out of the guitar, but the purely organic, almost monotone anthem is a wondrous thing. Simple yet subconsciously compelling. Another deliberately confusing but highly original collection.

MMMM