A debut project from Ash Nerve and Ada Rook, they play into trudging metal and pop rock with a sky-high yearning for love. ‘ULTRA PARADISE’ with its wholesome romanticism paired with riveting, catchy blends of pop-rock impact and heavy metal punchiness is a blessing that you’ll hear this year.
A simple look at how angels accurately look like they may spread fear instead of alluring guidance to haunt down those who believe in them, but if you do have the chance to pray upon their presence, you may get a blessing unlike no other. A band naming themselves ‘Angel Electronics’ is a collaboration formed from above, now floating down to sing their songs. Comprised of Ada Rook of Black Dresses and fellow collaborator and producer Ash Nerve, they meet forces once again for this band where just from the name and the art cover alone speak of the members looking up and reaching for something that they’ve not touched upon beforehand.
And what they have touched upon is a land of the angelic and the brutish, ‘ULTRA PARADISE’ sets things apart for its blend of the yearning and the cavernous; a refreshing change of pace for the members of the band. Ada Rook’s familiar noise and industrial splendors from her past projects are now nestled into a ring of yearning light. While Ash Nerve has put in the work as a producer and collaborator in the past, this is his debut major release so far considering that he's the lead vocalist and songwriter of this project in tandem with Ada’s major contributions to the project. Ultimately, the two musicians plow through a heavenly heart-eyed bliss that’s no short of crushing rock and metal passages.
Like a pair of wings, they’re able to whisk up and blend pop rock and metal that will break the grounds apart - retaining that heartfelt, wholesome love within. ‘WALL OF SUMMER’ with its shredding guitar passages and frenetic drum rhythms is potent, Ash Nerve’s expressive weariness works in tandem with Ada Rook’s as she flips through her pillowy singing and crumbling howls. “Protect me from the fall / I am nothing at all” they sing with resonance as Ada’s howl breaks through on the line “But I want to survive”, intensifying that need to see one’s partner in that city of daydreams. The pop rock twirls of ‘ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS’ with the bright guitars and bass passages weave around the wiry synths and stable drum rhythms. Ash’s lead vocals amidst Ada’s gentle back-ups sparkle through the night sky, reflecting upon their wrongs and keeping on chasing the love of their lives. ‘ANGEL’ works through keeping things together amidst the conflicts that will shatter the love in the song, all brought along with stomping blast beats, craven guitar lines, and Ash Nerve holding the melodies together as Ada Rook heaves then crashes everything apart on the breakdown.
That sense of hopeful core really seeps through, like a heart pumping through with glee. So much so that that gleeful love can challenge the Gods and the darkness that will pull things apart. The wondrous adoration in 'SECRET TEACHING OF ALL AGES' goes into cosmic and mythological descriptors. “I can’t explain it / You’re the greatest story ever told / But you keep it like a secret code” they sing along with tender sweetness as the guitars come in and go; basslines follow along the rhythms smoothly; bright and bleeping synth work adding enough color. 'PARTY GIRL' is one pure, fluffy tune all about adorable back-and-forth moments of wholesome love. Different from all the rest of the songs, it dips itself into softer acoustics and synths just before the noisier guitars and tempo breakdown swivel through at the end; Ada Rook’s soft pillowy vocals that pick up more firm presence at the end allows the small lovely moments to feel even bigger. The dour tiredness of 'HiDE iN SEW' picks up pathos for the yearning romance of the album, both members singing through the feeling of giving up and asking someone to give them the confidence to live. Elevating that pathos are the soaring guitar progressions; pulsating blast beat rhythms; howling chorus melodies; sweeping guitar solos. 'RAINBOW' is crushing as it also ripples through guitar shredding, punchy drum rhythms, and melodies that get sticky as it progresses. It’s a closer where everything is falling apart but that sense of hope continues to make its way through the darkness, sparking as it flickers throughout the song even with the crushing breakdowns and penetrating howling from Ada Rook.
A project from this band impressively delivers what it’s trying to do, but there are a few hiccups that pull them back from getting closer to that paradise. One of which is the mixing, not that it does pull away from the outstanding quality of the record, but it can be a little distracting in some spots, especially when the first couple of tracks have vocal and instrumental mixing that ends up as quite shy compared to the songs after that where the mixing do get considerably pushed forward. There are also a couple of songs on the back half like ‘EVIL BEHIND YOU’ and ‘RETURN TO THE SKY’ where the melodies don’t stand out as much as the others. ‘EVIL BEHIND YOU’ with its grinding guitar rhythms along with the vocal melodies doesn’t spark out the way it should, especially with the brutal death metal riffing at the end. And ‘RETURN TO THE SKY’ with the prominent blasts of synth melodies alongside the scuffled melodies results in a stiff hodgepodge of sounds that don’t gel well together.
Yet again, the brisk yet frenetic flight that this album goes into reaches new sort of heavenly feelings that warms the spirit and tugs the deepest roots of the heart. Ash Nerve and Ada Rook’s display of melodic leaps and compositional rush is outstanding, and the way they intersect wholesome displays of romantics and cavernous waves of pop punk and metal passages is a combo that is unlikely anything else this year. It might be frightening to peek into the eyes of the angel, but Angel Electronics make sure that what you’ll find is something to behold. It’s a tale of yearning amidst the forces of heaven and hell, and it’s a tale that you will find yourself returning back into and find that tale to resonate once more.
Favorite Tracks: WALL OF SUMMER, ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES, ANGEL, PARTY GIRL, HiDE iN SEW, RAINBOW