On Earth as It Is in Heaven

By the time On Earth as It Is in Heaven was released, the Kiss comparisons were finally beginning to peter out, but so was Angel's career. It was the last for bass player Mickey Jones, who was replaced by Felix Robinson for the even weaker White Hot album, which came out a year later, but such a minor change was quite unnoticeable when paralleled with the band's declining record sales. Despite all of the bad press, On Earth still contains a couple of sufficient glam-meets-heavy metal tunes, found in the eye-rolling sexual pomposity of "Big Boy (Let's Do It Again)" and on predictable riff movers like "On the Rocks" and "Telephone Exchange." While the entire album may be a little much to sit through, a few of the tracks manage to sport a complaisant, all-in-good-fun hard rock feel, as do one or two of the tunes from each of Angel's first three releases. Still, a compilation or anthology of handpicked material is more convenient, especially for metal fans who want to check out Gregg Giuffria's early keyboard playing before his '80s hair band days in Giuffria. ~ Mike DeGagne