“Fallen” is the debut album from the band Archon Angel which was formed by vocalist Zak Stevens and guitarist Aldo Lonobile. Stevens is best known as the frontman for Savatage and Circle II Circle whilst Lonobile is best known as a founding member of the band Secret Sphere. The album was released on 14th February by Frontiers Music. The track “Fallen” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show in December, followed by “Rise” on 24th January and “The Serpent” on 21st February.
Stevens and Lonobile met whilst both were involved on the “Return to Eden” album with Timo Tolkki’s Avalon. They approached Frontiers with their idea for a new project and Archon Angel was formed. They are joined on the album by bass player Yves Campion, drummer Marco Lazzarini and keyboard player Antonio Agate. The writing team included Alessandro Del Vecchio (who is involved as a musician, writer or producer on numerous projects) and Simone Mularoni (from DGM and Sweet Oblivion).
Zak Stevens rose to fame when he took on the role of lead vocalist for Savatage in 1992. He remained with the band until 2000, releasing four studio albums. There was a brief Savatage reunion in 2015, involving both Stevens and original lead vocalist Jon Oliva, but the focus of many of the band members seems to be on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. There is a definite Savatage vibe to the tracks on the Archon Angel album however! Since 2003, Steven has also released seven studio albums as the vocalist with Circle II Circle.
Aldo Lonobile formed Secret Sphere in 1997 and has released nine studio albums and a live album with the band. He and bass player Andy Buratto are the only surviving members of the original line-up. The vocalist on the last three studio albums and the live album is Michele Luppi (who is also the keyboard player for Whitesnake). Lonobile was also part of Edge of Forever for their latest album, “Native Soul” last year (recommendation – http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/back-stage/music-reviews/3708-ni-rocks-recommends-qnative-soulq-by-edge-of-forever.html) and is part of a band called Death SS (named after singer Steve Sylvester).
Check out the Archon Angel Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ArchonAngelBand/
About “NI Rocks Recommends”
This is purely a personal recommendation and some information about the artist and the album; not a traditional ‘review’. Most of the recommendations posted are for albums that have been sent to us digitally by the record label or promoter. Quite often I’ve also bought the album on CD or vinyl as well and sometimes I just feel the need to post a recommendation for an album that I’ve bought myself. Essentially these are albums that I like and which I’ve played some tracks from on the Shows on Rock Radio NI!