After reviewing the promising teaser EP ‘Don’t Want To Run’ expectations for Angel’s debut album ‘A Woman’s Diary part I’ were quite high. There are a lot of ingredients in the music of Angel I particularly like: classical orchestrations, female vocals, and nice atmospheres and melodies. Nevertheless, the mix of these ingredients somehow falls short. One of the selling points stated in the booklet of the album is the so called ‘excellent blend of refined melody and passion’. I agree on the refined melodies, but the passionate vocals prove more than once to be the album Achilles heel. You won’t hear me say that there is anything wrong with the quality of Helena Michaelsen’s vocals, but in combination with the superficial and at times simply annoying choruses (the title track and “Little Princess” there are even some la, la, la’s here) the passion almost seems misplaced.

One of the better tracks on the album is without doubt “Butterfly”, a more rhythmic song with substantial better choruses. In a more positive perspective, the sound of the album is in one word excellent. Due to the fine production, all instruments are contributing to the creation of atmospheric fairytales on the album. If Angel are going to write the expected part II, I would advise them to give the choruses more attention, probably raising the album’s rating by one or two points.