Interesting comments on Angels. I don't think there's much, if any, experimenting going on in that song; there's nothing on it that makes me raise an eyebrow or go 'wow that's different/new' like, say, half of Rabbit Don't Come Easy. In fact after a dozen or more spins it's the only song I find myself skipping. It's mostly because of the weak chorus melody and how it completely loses energy going into the chorus by dropping the speed entirely. Compare and contrast with songs like Out For The Glory, or Robot King, or Down In The Dumps. Andi is firing on all cylinders every time he's heard on this record, it continues to baffle me how he manages to sound like such a wailing demon this far into his career. The amount of high notes he's knocking out makes me wonder what the recording process for him was like. Robot King gets better every time I hear it. That's a contender for the all-time greatest Helloween songs list as far as I'm concerned.
The production on this doesn't bother me. It's crisp and clear and has a lot of punch. Granted it's not the best sounding metal record ever, but for Helloween, it's sure as shit better than the vast majority of their other albums. It reminds me of Gambling With The Devil. Lots of treble and lots of effects but without sacrificing any punch in the low end.