Balaam and the Angel
Live Free or Die

That they were label mates with Iggy Pop is already a good hint, but having toured with The Mission and Kiss tells you everything.

This brief introduction to the Scottish band Balaam and the Angel, active from 1983 to 1989 in the first round, defines the boundaries of the musical exploration field of the three Morris brothers, born in the aftermath of punk and living through adolescence when goth and glam set the coordinates of rock. Briefly, after an initial EP and tour with The Cult (a nice blend of The Mission and Kiss), Virgin noticed them, releasing The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1986. Success was guaranteed because in Albion, the sounds of post-punk and gothic rock were waking even the dead, and the Morris brothers made music of that kind. So much so that they are still fairly well-known in the goth world.

But that wasn't their only path.

Or at least, not just that. Perhaps being close to bands that make heavier sounds influences them significantly; probably Ian Atsbury with his charisma makes an impact on the Morris brothers. And so, in 1998, Balaam and the Angel took on a second guitarist and hit the freeway: away from the dark universe (but not too much), going the wrong way, ready for a head-on collision with the most popular musical genre on the planet. And so Balaam and the Angel meet hard rock by releasing this entertaining Live Free or Die, an album that granted Morris & Co. decent global success, also because the flashy and bombastic "I'll show you something special" ended up becoming part of the soundtrack of a movie that entertained me greatly as a child: Planes, Trains and Automobiles with a vintage Steve Martin and John Candy in great shape and this hard rock from Sunset Strip at noon making a fine display of itself.

Yes, the track that opens this release is truly a gem of distinctly Californian style, it almost feels like a jab in the face of the recent past. Above all, it is a very successful, striking, immediate, intense, bold single. It would almost make one think that the guys have completely changed genre. But that's not so. In the rest of the album, the sound remains that of a hard rock band but the themes often return to being dark and tormented, but also playful and very pop, emphasizing the gothic and, indeed, popular roots of a band that - take me with a grain of salt and with the due proportions I will try to outline immediately after this interruption - could be compared, to give the idea, to a band of today that has taken the reverse path, from glam to goth: the The 69 Eyes but beware!!! Really, beware. There are no contact points in the singing and there are very few in the sound. Above all, Balaam and the Angel played in a much more honest way than the Finns I just mentioned.

The fact remains that this is a powerful, anthemic, and unique album that certainly deserves a chance from those who may be interested in the genres in question.