The species has a dark color coat with stiff textured fur.

The tail length of L. angolensis is on average 75mm, 6mm longer than L. sikapusi.

[2] L. angolensis can be distinguished from L. sikapusi by its more slender and shorter rostrum, its somewhat narrower braincase, and its more slender and somewhat shorter upper and lower dental arches.

L. angolensis is somewhat smaller than L. sikapusi and L. ansorgei in all craniometrical measures except for its smallest interorbital breadth, its greatest breadth of choanae, and its depth of upper incisor, in which it equals the size of L. sikapusi and L. ansorgei.

The species was originally described as Lophuromys sikapusi until 2000, when Walter Verheyen, Theo Diercxk, and Jan Hulselmans released a study describing it as a distinct species, Lophuromys angolensis.