Canadian melodic metal band lead by guitar shredder Dennis Cameron.

This email came to me shortly after first publishing this site:
Hi, I'm Dennis Cameron from Angelica. I stumbled across your reviews of the 4 albums that I did. Just thought that I'd let you know that my site is online www.denniscameron.com Check it out.

Angelica Angelica-Angelica (Intense) 1989

1. "There's Only One Hero" (4:05)
2. "Are You Satisfied" (3:30)
3. "I Believe" (3:45)
4. "Danger Zone" (3:42)
5. "Shine On Me" (3:05)
6. "Only A Man" (3:40)
7. "One Step At A Time" (3:31)
8. "Will I Ever Learn" (3:20)
9. "Take Me" (3:32)
10. "Ahh!" [instrumental] (3:00)
11. "S.O.S." (3:50)
12. "Face to Face" (3:23)

Rob Rock & Dennis Cameron

I stumbled across this band by accident when thumbing through some used cds in 1989. I checked out the disc before purchasing it and was blown away by the guitar playing of Dennis Cameron and the melodic vocal stylings of Rob Rock, who also sang for Impellitteri and Joshua. I was already familiar with producer Ken Tamplin, who also sings on one song ("Face to Face"). In any case, Angelica are smooth melodic heavy metal and their debut is still my favorite of the four albums they released. Hard as heck to find now, although KMG Records released a cheesy reissue with "Rock, Stock, & Barrel". The re-issue is missing two songs from this album though, making it completely useless.

Some interesting notes about this album. The album was recorded in Costa Mesa California. The cover photo and notes lists the band as Andy Lyon, Scott Ernest, Bob Pallen and Dennis Cameron. Of course, Andy did not actually sing on this disc. Apparently when Ken Tamplin was recording the vocals he put Andy through such an ordeal in the studio that he quit and this was the reason Rob Rock was brought in to finish the sessions. The one track Rob did not sing on, Ken only recorded as a demo because with a new vocalist, the arrangements had to be changed slightly. Apparently Dennis Cameron liked Ken's vocals so much on this track that they just decided to keep it.

Walin' In Faith Angelica-Walkin' In Faith (Intense) 1990

1. "Walkin' in Faith" (4:41)
2. "Hold On" (4:28)
3. "All I Can Do" (4:49)
4. "Soul Search" (4:22)
5. "Time and Time Again" (4:13)
6. "Sing and Shout" (4:26)
7. "Set Me Free" (4:33)
8. "Not Too Late" (5:19)
9. "Bring Into Being" (4:41)
10. "Harvest" [instrumental] (3:11)

"Walkin in Faith" is very similar in style to Angelica's debut, although I would say the debut is slightly heavier. Guitar shredder Dennis Cameron's chops are still outstanding. The biggest difference between this album and the debut is that the signature vocals of Rob Rock are absent. Instead Jerome Mazza, who is a competent vocalist with a high pitched smooth voice, takes over vocal duties. The title track is simply one of the best songs the band has ever written. What would an Angelica disc be without the lone shred instrumental? "Walkin' in Faith" contains the spectacular "Harvest" in which Dennis totally annihilates on his Jackson guitar.

I waited forever to upgrade my cassette copy to a cd copy and wouldn't ya know, the stupid thing went out of print. Argh! I decided to post on a trade page (melodicrock.com) and was lucky enough to find a good trade for it. As far as I know, this particular disc has never been repressed and is probably the hardest to find of the four Angelica discs.

Rock, STock & Barrel Angelica-Rock, Stock & Barrel (Intense) 1991

1. "The Fire Inside" (4:23)
2. "Someone to Believe in Me" (4:46)
3. "Cover Me" (4:54)
4. "Home Sweet Heaven" (4:55)
5. "A Little Love" (3:57)
6. "Sail Away" (4:11)
7. "Keep Pushing On" (4:46)
8. "Bumble Boob Groove" [instrumental] (1:52)
9. "Rhyme & Reason" (3:52)
10. "Without Words" (4:26)
11. "Oh Canada" [instrumental] (1:46)

Angelica disc number three features Angelica vocalist number three, Drew Baca. "Rock, Stock & Barrel" veers away from the commercial metal of the past to more of a Mr. Big hard rock sound. Great guitar-work throughout once again. Dennis is one of the most underrated guitarists around. This disc also produced a video and a single for "Cover Me." The song itself is a stellar with a great hook. This song features guitarist Dennis Cameron taking on vocal duties for the first time for the opening acoustic measures. There is a story behind this. Apparently the band's record company wanted to shoot the video before the song was even finished.

This is what Dennis had to say about the single and the video,
"After several weeks into the (Rock, Stock & Barrel) sessions I got a call from Frontline asking what tunes I'd like to consider for a video. So I sent them what we had recorded so far on the two tunes that I thought were good potential singles, "Someone To Believe In Me" and "Cover Me". At the time I was counting on my first selection to be picked as the winner but the chiefs at the record company liked "Cover me" .......so.......there you go. The only problem I had with the decision was that the song wasn't even finish yet and I was told that the video crew would be flying out to Florida (where the band was recording) from L.A. in 3 days. The vocal intro that I sang at the beginning was a ghost track that Drew was supposed to sing but ended up staying in the song because we were pressed for time to finish the song before the shoot started. It just so happened that Charico Studios was adjacent to a video production facility which made it very convenient for us to shoot the video while we were still recording. So we utilized the sound stage at the video place for most of the shoot along with some location shots on the beach and some old historical house in the area. I really enjoyed the whole experience of the video shoot (my first). The whole deal finished on a Sunday evening and I was back to work on Monday....no time to sit back and cherish the experience.

I took also the following from Dennis' personal web site. It describes the inspiration behind the song "Sail Away"
"I got a call from Andy Robbins from Holy Soldier. One of their guitar players had left and we talked about the possibilities of me playing in the band. I ended up not doing the gig due to "Green Card" issues as well as the fact that I was still under contract to Frontline for a couple more albums. This whole experience (over a couple of weeks) was the inspiration for the tune "Sail Away" on the RSB album."

And this on the instrumental "Oh Canada":
"This record featured an instrumental of me playing the Canadian national anthem......which in retrospect I had hoped that some Canadian hockey team would have picked up on to play at the begining of their games .......but it never happened. "

Time Is All It Takes Angelica-Time Is All It Takes (Intense) 1992

1. "Gotta Get Ready" (3:55)
2. "Running Wild" (4:40)
3. "Second Chances" (5:04)
4. "I Can Hardly Wait to See" (4:19)
5. "Open Your Mind" (3:48)
6. "Don't Stop" (4:05)
7. "Time Is All It Takes" (3:38)
8. "Carry Me" (3:57)

Drew Baca is on board once more for the vocals. This one is a little bit funkier than anything Angelica has done thus far, especially the first two tracks. "Second Chances" is a boring ballad, "I Can Hardly Wait to See" is an acoustic song, "Open Your Mind" is the best track on the album, "Don't Stop" starts off as an acoustic number but kicks it in a minute into the song, "Time is All It Takes" is another decent metal romp, and album closer "Carry Me" is another boring ballad with lead vocals by Dennis Cameron. Not Angelica's best but there are a few decent songs contained herein.

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