Engel

Engel emerged in 2007 when a group of musicians in Gothenburg, Sweden, assembled this melodic Swedish industrial/death metal outfit. Its roster includes vocalist Mangan Klavborn, guitarists Niclas Engelin of Passenger and Marcus Sunesson, formerly of the Crown, bassist Mikael Håkansson, and drummer Daniel Moilanen, whose résumé also lists the Project Hate and Runemagick; every participant arrived from other established Swedish metal bands. Metal Hammer readers placed the act among the magazine’s Top 5 unsigned artists in 2006, the identical year it captured the best demo prize from Germany’s Rock Hard. Steamhammer Records put out the debut album Absolute Design in 2007, a project that paired Engelin once more with his Passenger bandmate Anders Fridén, who served as producer. The record achieved a hard industrial sound alongside a commercial melodic edge, a mix that could have proved difficult, yet striking guitar riffs and memorable choruses earned Engel favorable notice. That same year the band joined Atreyu and Still Remains, two fellow melodic metal acts, for a European tour.