Issa / Sign Of Angels (2010)

Issa is a 26 years old girl from Oslo. Since she was 17 she started working her way into the music business as a ”demo” singer for different labels in studios all around Norway. At 19 she won a competition with almost 150.000 votes singing the song “Fade Away” written by Stian Aarstad, who was earlier a member of Dimmu Borgir. The song got released on a record in cooperation with tv channel Fox Kids.

Issa has also played over 400 shows with Norwegian artist such as Postgirobygget, Dde, Jahn Teigen etc.

With a little help from great musicians such as Thomas Vikström (TALK OF THE TOWN) and Sören Kronqvist (CRASH THE SYSTEM), as sonwritters, and Peter Huss on guitars, Tim Larsson on keyboards, Nobby Noberg on bass and Uli Kusch (Masterplan, Sinner) on drums, "Sign Of Angels" is out and it is ready to offer some really cool melodic hard rock tunes!
I have to say that I'm really impressed of her voice! She has a really 'warm' and strong voice and her performances are the strongest point here. The music is well played melodic hard rock with passionate vocal lines, cool guitar work, catchy and memorable choruses and an overall good production.

From the very first notes of the superb "Angels Crying", this album grabs you and makes you wonder if the rest of the tracks will be like this anthemic opener. "I'm Alive" is a super-commercial tune with, again, a strong chorus line. "Give Me a Sign" is a good solid track. "River of Love " is probably one of the best tunes from "Sign Of Angels". It has a great up-tempo beat, cool lyrics and this is an instant hit! "Closer" and "Fallen Angel" are two excellent tracks.
All in all this is an overall good release. The sure thing is that in "Sign Of Angels" you will find some really excellent tracks (the most of them) and a couple of average tunes. Maybe this one will not be the surprise of the year but for sure it's a very enjoyable album.
HeavyParadise's Rating: 7,5/10

Tracks

1. Angels Crying 4:02 2. I'm Alive 3:27 3. Give Me a Sign 3:34 4. River of Love 4:11 5. What Can I Do 4:57 6. Closer 3:18 7. Unbelievable 3:20 8. How Will I Know 4:27 9. As I Live and Breathe 4:13 10. Flying High 4:08 11. It's Not Me 3:38 12. Fallen Angel 4:11