"Angel" is a song by English trip hop group Massive Attack, featuring the vocals and songwriting from Horace Andy, and is partially based on Andy's song "You Are My Angel". It was released as the third single from their third studio album, Mezzanine (1998), on 13 July 1998.[1] "Angel" peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart.
30-second sample of "Angel", starting from the entry of the guitar crescendo. "Angel" shows the group's more guitar driven sound that was described in an AllMusic song review as "perhaps the darkest, heaviest song Massive Attack has ever recorded."[2]
Daddy G, who was the main songwriter on it (along with 3D), described the song as "[starting] something we've got to finish. It was a much bigger thing than any member of the band."[2] The song samples The Incredible Bongo Band song "Last Bongo in Belgium".
Music video
The music video for "Angel", directed by Walter A. Stern and filmed at the Metropolitan Car Park & Old Goods Yard at Paddington, London across three nights, features Daddy G in a car park. He is walking to the exit when 3D, Mushroom and Horace Andy appear behind him. They gradually get closer to him, causing him to feel intimidated. More and more people start following him, which causes him to run outside the car park until he reaches a fence and therefore cannot go any further. As he turns to face the people chasing him, they stop and face him. He then notices that they seem to be mirroring his movements, as if his body controls them. He suddenly charges towards the people that followed him, which causes them to run away.[3]
An edited version of "Angel" is used for the video reducing the length of the video to nearly a minute shorter than the album version. This edit does not appear on any other release besides the video.
Neil Davidge also appears in this video as one of the angry mob chasing Daddy G.
At the time of the single release of "Angel", the band decided (for cited reasons as not capturing the mood of the song) to not use the already shot promo video for "Angel" (which had reputably cost £20,000 to shoot) to promote the single. For this reason the video would remain unseen for over three years where it would finally was released on the Eleven Promos DVD release in 2001.[4]
The video has had over 54 million views on YouTube (as of January 2024).[3]
Critical reception
Reception for the song was positive. Amy Hanson of AllMusic describes the song thus: "While the beat here is slow, druggy, and deep, what ultimately drives Angel is the wall of guitars that are reminiscent of a very early Cure".[2]
"Angel" has been covered by mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, for their iTunes only EP, Plagiarism, and also by Brazilian metal band Sepultura on their EP Revolusongs and on the special edition of their 2003 album Roorback.[13] Sepultura's cover was featured in the second episode of the Fox series The Following. It has also been covered live by Australian psychedelic group Tame Impala and Norwegian progressive metal band Leprous, which released their version as a single in 2019.
Featured in the opening credits of Brazilian telenovela Verdades Secretas (English: Hidden Truths).
