1158. Death Angel / The Ultra-Violence. 1987. 4.5/5

What were you doing when you were 19 years of age? Better yet, what were you doing when you were 14 years of age? Or even 10 years of age? Why do I ask? Well, those ages are significant when it comes to the historical timeline of Death Angel. Because when they first formed and began to play together back in 1982 and 1983, the band members were all around the ages of 14 and 15. Except for their drummer of course, because at the time Andy Galeon was 10 years of age.
Is that ridiculous? Well of course it is. But then they put out their first demo tape, titled “Heavy Metal Insanity”, and that brought them more attention. The band, led by lead guitarist Rob Cavestany, rhythm guitar Gus Pepa and bass guitar Dennis Pepa, and Galeon on drums, were soon joined by band roadie Mark Osegueda on vocals, and gigged around for the next two years, writing new songs and supporting such bands as Megadeth, Exodus and Voivod. In 1985 they band recorded and released their demo
Kill As One”, produced by Metallica’s guitarist Kirk Hammett. As a result of the tape trading scene that existed in those days, Death Angel found themselves turning up to gigs, and having the crowds sing their songs along with them, despite the fact they had yet to secure a recording contract. The success of this demo led the band to gaining that contract with Enigma Records, and allowed the band to record and release their debut album, “The Ultra-Violence". And the remarkable thing about that was that, after four years of working for this moment, all of the band members were still under the age of 20 on the day of its release, with Andy Galeon still only 14 years of age. So imagine yourself at that age, not only playing so many high level gigs over so many years, but also writing songs like this.

If you are coming into this album without any reservations, or if you are coming into it having heard some of their more recent releases, then what you discover is going to blow your mind. Because this is a true version of a thrash metal album, from the days when thrash was at its peak in its development, and this is a band that meshed and melded with the greats of the genre at their own inception. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus. And yet these guys were just kids, who by the time this came out had had a wealth of experience that most older musicians could only dream of. So when you listen to the songs, you can pick up those influences of the bands that Death Angel had performed with over that time, and while they are there, they do not dominate. They thrash hard and fast, but have developed their sound, their version of the music that had been dominating the Bay Area over that time, and then they had forcibly pressed it onto vinyl for the world to hear. But there is a progression to this thrash metal, with all of the tracks barring the final one pushing beyond four and five minutes, filled with fast aggressive guitaring and hard hitting drumming.
Dennis Pepa actually leads the vocal assault on the opening track “Thrashers”, while the guitar sound is very Megadeth from their first album in style. “Evil Priest” follows and is another excellent song, fast and furious, and ties in nicely to “Voracious Souls”. Lyrically the band is walking the tightrope, singing about a priest inhabited by an evil spirit and then a cannibalistic tribe. The devil and evil have a central piece in the lyrics on the album, but if you are a thrashing teenager it isn’t likely to bother you too much.
“Kill As One” is just a superb song, combining everything that is brilliant about thrash metal into its five minutes. Great vocals, superb guitaring, and drumming that makes you tired just listening to the energy being expelled in driving the track to its conclusion. “Mistress of Pain”, which the band actually dedicated to one of their old teachers when they played at their high school prior to this album being released, actually has vocals from Mark that remind me heavily of Joey Belladonna on the early Anthrax albums. This is followed by “Final Death” on which I think Mark’s vocals sound the best, a sign of things to come over the course of the next couple of albums. And the album concludes with the short and sharp instrumental “I.P.F.S”.
It is possible that the crowning glory of this album is the title track, “The Ultra-Violence", a ten-and-a-half-minute instrumental that showcases the absolute talent of this band and its members. There have been plenty of great instrumental track from all sorts of bands down the years, but this is the equal of those. Everything about it is spectacular. The guitaring and riffing is magnificent, the bass guitar line throughout is wonderful, and the showcasing of Galeon’s drumming is brilliant, proving what a talent he was at that age. I love this song, it is a beauty, and more than worth the ten and a half minutes of your time.

Like a majority of the albums that I have reviewed over the last few episodes, Death Angel was a band I came into on a later album, and didn’t discover this until after that. That album was “Act III”, still an amazing album and one that then forced me to check out the two previous releases. Whereas the sophomore release initially disappointed me, this album did not. When I first put it on, it was like going back to when I first discovered Metallica and Megadeth, and the excitement and sheer joy I got when I first heard those bands albums. And for me that is what is so terrific about “The Ultra-Violence". The fact that the band grew up and played in that era of such influential bands from that area, the songs and sounds on this album are naturally also tied to it. And though I may not have picked it up in 1987 – far out, another lost opportunity for those heady days of the final year of school – it still reminds me of that time just from the style of the music on the album.
And, in many ways, this album stands alone in the Death Angel catalogue. By “Act III” there was a certain maturity that came in the music, not being the rough and frenzied output from the debut. The of course it was 14 years before the next album, and as brilliant as it is, it is a different age of metal by then. So “The Ultra-Violence" stands as a testament to the age, both the era of thrash metal and that individual age of those in the band at the time. And because of this, it remains a wonderfully special album that is impossible to ignore whenever it hits the stereo.

940. Death Angel / The Evil Divide. 2016. 4/5

The first thing that I have to ask is - where the hell did this version of Death Angel come from? Because it is beginning to become something quite out of the ordinary with their usual foray into music. Certainly there has been a movement in this direction in recent times. But it still takes a little getting used to in places when you are looking for the style you have known and loved for so long. The vocals leave you in no doubt as to the rage that is fired from within, but we are in a new world for this band as far as I'm concerned. In places, Mark's vocals could be imitating Tom Araya's from Slayer, such is the strength and ferocity of the screaming. And there's no serious drama with that occurring, except for the fact that on those songs, it sounds like a Slayer album rather than a Death Angel album, except a Slayer album would probably still closer to raging thrash speed than a lot of this album is.

"The Moth" kicks things off in the Slayer range, which for all intents and purposes gives the listener a real earful from the start. "Cause For Alarm" follows this, and is pretty much a less frantic version of the band that has come before this. I like the song and the way it is performed, but it's a little like putting a thrash metal vinyl album that is supposed to be played at 45rpm on 33rpm. It's just stripped back in some areas, which does take some getting used to.
Then we have "Lost", which is a mighty step taken by the band. Because this isn't a thrash metal song. In fact, I'm not sure how you would classify it at all. The pace of the song is stripped right back, with a relevant riff running through the song accompanied by the double kick (albeit slowed down tempo) drum. Is this a thrash metal ballad? Has there ever been such a thing?! No, probably not, but it is a brave step by the band I feel to do such a song.
"Father of Lies" is the basis track of the album. It's good to sing along to, the guitars are great, the drums hum along, Osegueda's vocals are great. This is a heavy metal song in all respects. "Hell to Pay" may well be the first real version of thrash on this album. It starts off on fire, speeding through the intro and taking off once Mark's vocals kick in as well. Great stuff. However, "It Can't Be This" is another song that doesn't have the tempo of a good old fashioned thrash track. I'm not denying that it is a heavy track, but it sure isn't a thrash track. And perhaps in the modern age, this is where Death Angel has morphed into. With songs like this and "Lost" the band has traded speed for a heavy back track rather than insane speed of riff or drums. And with songs like "The Moth", and then the track that follows "It Can't Be This", the guest riff-assisted "Hatred United / United Hate" with Sepultura's Andreas Kisser, we have god-damned heavy riffing, and the screaming vocal set from Osegueda that really must hurt his throat. It's loud, it's angry, and my goodness it must sound awesome live, but it's not what I would consider thrash anymore.
"Breakaway" in place has the sound of a Symphony X song, which is somewhat surprisingly, but this tracks along nicely without any brakes on the music. This is followed by "The Electric Cell" which employs perhaps the fastest double kick of the album to punch it along. "Let the Pieces Fall" is a great song to complete the album, and a pretty good example of the mid-tempo thrash style that Death Angel employ all the way through this release. It sounds great, with a catchy guitar riff and double kick, but there's no real speed to speak of. It's thrash metal for old timers, both playing it and listening to it no doubt.

Despite any negativity you may get from reading the above, this is a terrific album again from a band that has made the most of its second chance in the metal world. There may no longer be the soaring vocals that we heard and loved on those early albums a lifetime ago, but that is not to suggest that they don't sound great here in their latest incantation. It may not have the speed that you would associate with the band in earlier days. Don't go into this thinking you will find a thrash album such as what was released at the height of the genre's powers back in the 1980's. But come looking for a great heavy metal album, because this quintet still knows how to play, and how to put an album together. The more you listen to this, the better it gets.

Rating:  "You'll never flee, they have trained you well".   4/5

856. Death Angel / The Bay Calls For Blood - Live in San Francisco. 2015. 3.5/5

I saw Death Angel for the first time (and quite possibly for the only time) last year on their tour of Australia in promotion of their album The Dream Calls for Blood. It was a brilliant concert, allowing me to see them perform songs that I had been waiting most of my adult life to see. Every part of it was sensational, and you could barely have asked for a better setlist. So when I discovered that the band was releasing a new live album I was excited for what it would produce.

So lets face it. No matter what was placed on this album, you know it would sound good. And it does. The band is in brilliant form here, and they have been honestly captured on this album. Sensational songs such as "Left For Dead" which opens the album in style, "The Dream Callas For Blood", and "Detonate". Every track here is superb and at its peak performance.
There is a downside, that has nothing to do with the quality of the recording or the performance of the band. While I support the decision of the band or record company or whoever is in charge of the decision to choose the songs that go on such an album, surely it could have been prudent to have added a few songs that weren't from just the previous two albums? I mean, if I only wanted to listen to The Dream Calls for Blood then I would have put that album on! Seven of the ten songs here are from that album, and like I've said they sound great, but what about some of those greats? Is it just me? Or has a trick been missed here? No "Seemingly Endless Time"? No "Thrown to the Wolves"? No "A Room With a View"? No "Road Mutants"? And that's just a starter. The album is great, but it feels like short shrift to have a Death Angel live album without those songs being a part of it.

The fans will love this album for the material that is here. It is a terrific performance. However, as ranted above, to make a top notch live album you have to have the best of your recent material, mixed with the best of your other material. The job here is half done.

Rating:  You buried the hope but you can't kill the man.  4/5

703. Death Angel / The Dream Calls For Blood. 2013. 4/5

The return of the mighty Death Angel for the next album in their second coming has been a wait in itself, but it is not a disappointment.

Death Angel is steeped in the finest traditions of thrash metal, and they once again prove that thrash is not dead, nor has it been compromised by those bands that holds its values closest to their hearts in the modern age. The magnificent rhythm section held together by bassist Damien Sisson and the sensational brilliance of Will Carroll just careers along here, keeping the tempo tight whether it be at a normal pace, or suddenly speeding up to gigantic proportions. As the 'new section' of the band, they probably had a bit of living up to in the eyes and ears of the fans who have followed this band from the beginning, but they have cast aside any doubts as to their ability to help continue the Death Angel legacy.
Mark Osegueda's vocals are again front and centre of this release, and he continues to walk that fine line between pure vocalist and note perfect semi-screamer, still somewhere between early Hetfield and early Araya. How he can continue to sing for the entire song, like he does in "Caster of Shame" for instance, is just amazing. His vocals here are still as stunning as they have ever been, passionately coming at you with that brilliant thrash power he is renown for. It makes it almost impossible to sing along to - just because who has that kind of vocal range? - but it is just brilliant all the same.
The vocals would probably be the highlight of the album, if it wasn't for the awesome display put on once again by the duelling magnificence of guitarists Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar. Their guitaring is pinpoint perfect, whether it be acoustically or rhythmically underscore riffs, or simply shredding in duet through the middle of a song, or their amazing solo technique. This is the essence of thrash metal, and these two are the stars of this album, their guitaring stealing the show on all counts. Amazing stuff.
"Detonate" is an excellent example of the strengths of this band as a whole. The harmonic guitar intro moves into the thumping drum beat, and the building of the vocals decibels, while the meandering speed of the song also builds to its crescendo as the guitar solos crush until the dramatic conclusion. Brilliant stuff.
My favourites on the album include "Left For Dead", "The Dream Calls For Blood", "Execution / Don't Save Me", "Caster of Shame" and "Empty", as well as the great version of Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell", which not only teaches us where a piece of this band's inspiration is, but also that there was only one Ronnie James Dio.

Metallica and Megadeth, and even Slayer, stopped being thrash metal bands a long time ago, and morphed into the heavyweights of heavy metal that they are. But thrash hasn't died, and along with the new bands coming through, it is still the giants such as Death Angel and Testament and Exodus who lead the charge for this sometimes forgotten legacy of metal. The Dream Calls For Blood is another installment of that legacy, and keeps that thrash candle burning brightly.

413. Death Angel / Frolic Through The Park. 1988. 3/5

Death Angel, pretty much all minors when they recorded and released their first album “The Ultra-Violence", as is recorded for posterity on an episode in Season 3 of this podcast, had enjoyed an enormous and swift rise to the top of the thrash metal tree in regards to fame and popularity. The band had gone on tours supporting bands such as Exodus and Voivod and the exposure brought them greater and more widespread attention than they had ever had before.
The band returned to the studio in March 1988 to record their follow up sophomore album. What has been interesting in retrospect is the band’s thoughts on what they produced, and its part of the band’s legacy. Most of the members of the band, but especially Mark Osegueda and Rob Cavestany have been highly critical of the album, with their problems generally stemming from the sound and production. In the band's documentary A Thrashumentuary, Cavestany referred to Frolic Through the Park as both their "bastard album" and an "odd album". This perhaps explains somewhat why the band has rarely performed the majority of the album's songs live since their initial disbandment in 1991. There is no doubt that it had to have been a rushed 12 months that preceded the writing and recording of the album, especially for a new band on the rise. But these were the days when an album a year was expected by record companies, so the fact that it has been suggested that the album was not properly produced in the studio isn’t that irregular. What also came from these sessions was a tinkering with the sound of the songs from the first album. Whereas that album can be classified as thrash metal from start to finish, that is not generally the case here on “Frolic Through the Park”, where the songs do have a distinct difference throughout, and with other influences coming into their style, there are a couple of surprises to be found.

Released barely a year after their debut, “Frolic Through the Park” is an album that polarises Death Angel fans. To be fair most fans still enjoy it even if the band themselves are less than excited. I’m not sure that the band believes this to be a bad album, but it does have a feeling of being rushed. And yet, despite this, it also shows a great deal of development and maturity in the songs, incorporating elements of funk that would flow through to their next album as well.
“3rd Floor” opens with an interesting sound bite, but then the band arrives with all guitars blazing, and we kick off in great style. So far, so good. From the very beginning, despite the band’s future protestations, the better production is evident from the start compared to their debut album, and with it a few more risks in the music also being taken. “Road Mutants” is powered by a satisfying bass rumble from Denis Pepa and “Why You Do This” continues that theme, though it does feel like it is heading in several directions at once.
Guitarists Rob Cavestany and Gus Pepa cited U2’s The Edge as a major influence when recording this album and you can definitely hear shades of his playing. It’s an interesting decision really for a couple of thrash metal guitarists to suggest this influence on what they were writing and playing for the album, and changing it up, even if ever so slightly, so soon into their recording career is a brave move. ‘Bored’ amps up the funk, a song that was released as a single and had the video that got heavy rotation on MTV’s “Headbangers Ball” at the time, but it seems a strange one to have put out. For me, it is one of the less interesting songs on the album. "Devil’s Metal” is a CD only bonus track that is slotted onto what was the first side of the album on vinyl, but it does finds the doing what they do best and sets them back on course.
"Confused” is a whole different brand of metal altogether, almost devolving into death metal rather than thrash, with a brooding piece of music that is a full on genre swap (not a gender swap). Even today it is a difficult song to tie in as a Death Angel song. It soaks up seven and a half minutes while barely getting into second gear before the back end of the song. “Guilty of Innocence" returns us somewhat to a more normal standard of transmission, while “Open Up” in places sounds like 1970’s Black Sabbath, but in other still utilises that guitar sound the band was looking for on this album. “Shores of Sin” has definite elements of the next album, a progressive feel that I like even though it was unusual for the band at the time.
The cover of Kiss’s classic “Cold Gin” just feels like filler material. It’s not a bad cover, but it again is a changing up of the style of music on the album. It plays like a B-side which it would have been perfect for, not a main track on the album. It is more or less a carbon copy of the original, with the band failing to put any of their own mark on the song, which would have made it a much better option. The futility of this is proven by the next track “Mind Rape” where the energy and heaviness returns to overshadow what came before it. At least this closes the album is a better style than would have been the case.

I initially came into Death Angel on their third album “Act III”, so it wasn’t until after I had digested that album that I went back and discovered their first two albums. And it would be fair to say that while I loved “The Ultra-Violence", there was a fair amount of disappointment that went into my thoughts on “Frolic Through the Park”. And I don’t know the full reason why that is. Perhaps I expected too much of it, on the back of the brilliance of “Act II” and the sheer unadulterated thrash joy of “The Ultra-Violence". Perhaps I am unable to reconcile the fact that this is a next stepping stone in the band’s development, and that I am missing something here that others find obvious to them. Whatever the reason is, for me the flow of the album is all wrong, that the songs don’t interconnect as well as they do on those other two albums, and indeed on albums going forward in the next century on the band’s rebirth. It was never something that I could nail down to an absolute reason, it was just the way I felt. The fact that, in retrospect, the band aren’t particularly joyous about the album, or that of the people I have discussed this band with over the years, THEIR opinion of the album has been mixed, does give me thought that perhaps I am just sitting in the majority when it comes to “Frolic Through the Park”.
Having spent the past couple of weeks listening to the album once again, and read over my initial review of this album on my blog from almost 20 years ago, nothing much has changed in my mind. I don’t hate this album, but I don’t have the same animated joy that I have when listening to their debut album, or third follow up album to this, or the albums on their comeback in the 2000’s. Like Black Sabbath’s “Seventh Star”, this is an album by a band that seems to be out of alignment with their other releases, and garners a wide ranging opinion with a gap the size of the Grand Canyon separating them.

299. Death Angel / The Art Of Dying. 2004. 4.5/5

When Death Angel decided to disband following their seminal Act III, all I could wonder was WHY?!?! I couldn’t believe that a band that had released three such terrific albums were now lost to us all.
Flash forward to 2004, and I am informed by a fanatical friend that the band has returned, and they have a new album out – The Art Of Dying. He brings it over and we put it on – very, very loud.
What I couldn’t believe is that they had returned louder, heavier and even more encapsulating than they had been back in the late eighties. Vocally, Mark Osegueda is just superb, brining a harder and more mature edge to his singing. The guitaring of Rob Cavestany and new recruit Ted Aguilar is also just awesome, and all the time pumped along by the rhythm section.

To listen to Act III and The Art Of Dying back to back is amazing. Two great albums, separated by 14 years, differing from each other and yet so similar.

This album is a triumphant return for a band that I thought we had seen the last of. With any luck, the best is still yet to come.

Favourites for me here include “Thrown To The Wolves”, “5 Steps Of Freedom”, “Thicker Than Blood” and “Prophecy”.

Rating: One of the best finds of the mid-2000’s for me. 4.5 / 5.

37. Death Angel / Act III. 1990. 4.5/5

Just how important is it for a band to be able to roll with the changes that confront them through their existence. Not only changes to their band regarding personnel but also in the maturing or differentiating of the music that the band produces, or even likes. And then, how do you react to the changes outside of you, of the likes and dislikes of the music listening public, and what it is that THEY are looking for? None of it comes easy, and none of it is a perfect science.
Death Angel had released their sophomore album, “Frolic Through the Park”, in 1988. It in itself had provided a change of sorts from the music they had produced on their debut album, an album that mirrored what they had been playing in those Bay Area clubs in their formative years. In more recent years since, the band itself has been critical of the “Frolic Through the Park” album, calling it their bastard album, and playing almost none of the songs from it in their live sets since their reformation back in 2001. On the back of that album, Death Angel had toured around the world (or at least parts of it) for the first time, supporting bands such as Motörhead, Testament, Flotsam and Jetsam, Overkill and others, and were particularly popular in Japan where they sold out two Japanese tours on their own.
In 1989, Geffen Records bought out Death Angel’s contract with Enigma Records, a deal that not only showed great confidence in the band’s marketability but offered the band access to better and more experienced people in the studio. The offset to this was the potential for the band’s sound to be watered down a tad in the chase for commercial success for their new employer, especially in an age where the tide was turning from thrash to hair metal, and then the soon to arrive grunge phenomenon. Death Angel had already shown a penchant for rearranging their sound and incorporating other styles in their music between their first and second albums, so the possibility of more change into their third album was always a possibility.
Producer Max Norman, renown for working with such high-profile acts as Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Savatage and Fates Warning among others, was brought in to oversee the production of the new album, one that again extended the reach of the band into places darker and deeper than they had been before, with their third album appropriately named “Act III”.

Straight out of the gates, the opening track “Seemingly Endless Time” succeeds in its task of making this an album you want to listen to from the very moment it begins. The waves of the ocean breaking on shore leads straight into the crushing opening riff and drum salvo, the break with Rob Cavestany’s guitar awesome lead lick into the opening proper and Mark Osegueda’s vocals hitting the tarmac, on song from the very beginning. The melodic guitars throughout the song lose nothing of their original thrash roots about them, indeed creating a perfect combination to pull together this track as one of the band’s all time greats. That opening salvo from Osegueda of “Drifting on an endless sea, on our way to nowhere, oblivious to our destiny, slowly drifting on and on and on...” is just perfect in power and emotion. “Stop” then crashes into the same formula set in motion by the rhythm riff from Brothers GUs and Dennis Pepa along with drummer Andy Galeon. The song sticks to its momentum throughout its five minutes in length, and then highlighted by the guitar solo break through to the end of the song which brings it home in style. It’s another ripping song.
“Veil of Deception” changes the pace of the opening two tracks of the album, mixing it up with the acoustically based track that is conceptually unique. It sounds like a song being played unplugged but not having been written for electric guitars in the first place. For most of it 2.5 minutes in length you expect it to break back into the power guitars and drums at any moment... only to find that isn’t the case. This gives it a unique sound for a thrash-based metal band and yet it doesn’t allow any energy to seep away from the album in doing so. Then comes the aggression of “The Organisation” to crash back in and get this party started once again. Motoring along at that uprising tempo, peppered with guitar licks and solos and great singalong vocals like “Organised to control, the power compels your soul, organised to control, fall to your knees and crawl” this is another terrific song. “Discontinued” follows on from this, and has a lot of similarities about it to another band that I recently reviewed on this podcast, that being Scatterbrain. Like a lot of Scatterbrain’s material, there is quite a fusion of funk into this song, musically and by proxy vocally. The main riff is perfectly complemented by the drumming of Galeon and the funk bass from Dennis Pepa. It may be an unusual step for this thrash band, but it is done particularly well and is really enjoyable as a result.
Along the way, there are two other songs that would need to be classed out of the solar system that is the heavy thrash genre, and they are the two acoustic based ballad-like songs. The first of these was “Veil of Deception”, which certainly had no ballad like components to its structure, unlike the next song. “A Room with a View” is the second of these featuring both Mark and Rob on lead vocals, Rob slightly fragile vocal renditions melding perfectly with Mark’s slightly more powerful and assured singing. It sits in a strange place in the track list of the album, and stands as a point of difference that many thrash bands were beginning to believe they needed to showcase to be attractive to as many fans as possible. “Stagnant” follows this, and is recognisable for its multiple time changes throughout the song, harping on a riff chord before suddenly changing gears and direction in the same instant and moving on, and then doing it again. Both of these songs highlight differences in the band’s output on this album than what had come before it.
“Ex-TC” climbs back into the Death Angel driving seat and builds back to the band’s early strengths of great fast picking thrash riffs combined with the band backing vocals to help out in the chorus, before Rob again unleashes on the solo section of the song to lift it to an even greater height. This moves with style into the next track “Disturbing the Peace”, a song that incorporates time changes again that “Stagnant” started. It’s not an unusual concept but it is one that Death Angel were new to, and when first coming into the album it is something that times to reconcile, going from flowing riffs to a stop start guitar method that then changes up the tempo. It is disconcerting to begin with, but becomes more routine the more you listen to the album. And get ready for a little more of the same when you reach the album closer “Falling Asleep”, though this one is far more traditional Death Angel, especially when the tempo picks up and remains in its ideal faster pace. It is the longest song on the album, and is full of great riffing from Gus Pepa and soling from Cavestany, while Mark’s vocals are just fantastic here to finish off the album.
There is a surprisingly large amount of disillusionment for this album out there on the public album review sites like Encyclopedia Metallum and Rate Your Music. And that ranges from the fact that these people seem to want more thrash from the band such as their debut album, or simply a heavier sound like they produced on their albums following their reformation in 2001. Change can bring that about, and that is something that “Act III” does provide.

The conflict that comes in the aforementioned reviews on public sites about this album is something that I was oblivious to prior to the internet allowing such things to exist. And quite simply for me, that was because “Act III” was my introduction to the band. My future Vinyl Procurement Officer was the first one to offer me a glimpse of this album, suggesting at the time that ‘these guys are sick!!’, which I forgave him for because he was five years younger than my age of 20 at that particular time. And all it took was the first 30 seconds of the opening track “Seemingly Endless Time” to suck me in. So for me, my ‘in’ for Death Angel came with what in the future was seen as a dividing album. That is still something I don’t profess to understand. Of course, when I went back and finally got to listen to the band’s first two albums, I heard the differences in song composition that they hold, but it didn’t make me like them any more than this album, nor indeed love this album any less.
As I do, I have had this album on for the last week. At work it passes by as background noise a lot of the time, but at home on my stereo in the metal cavern, it has been as spectacular as it was when I first heard it 35 years ago. And just saying that length of time in regard to this album makes me feel a little uneasy. Surely I can’t be that old. Because when I put this on again, I was transported back to that first time I put Holzy’s borrowed CD copy on my first EVER stereo in my downstairs bedroom at Mum and Dad’s house in Kiama Downs, and heard this blast out of the speakers at me. It was like I was back there again, 20 years old and with my whole wretched wasted life still ahead of me. At least I don’t have to relive that, but I can relive this album, and I have done so many times in the past week.
So I tried to be picky, to find what people don’t like about this album. To be fair, if you are comparing it to the production and song ferociousness of the albums they have released SINCE this album, then that’s a different story, because it would be 14 years between this album and their next, “The Art of Dying”, and the metal world had changed a LOT between them. I get some blowback on “A Room with a View” because I have some reservations about it too, especially that it was obviously written to be a single and to try and draw in listeners to the album and make their new record company lots of free money. But no other song compares to it, so anyone who bought the album on the basis of that single is an idiot. And “Veil of Deception” is a great song, a heavy acoustic song without trying to be heavy. It showed the band could diversify, as did the funkiness of “Discontinued” and the tempo changes in “Stagnant”. There is no argument that this isn’t a pure thrash metal album, but come 1990, how many of those were there left from any of the great thrash metal bands?! Bands like Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax released groundbreaking and awesomely brilliant albums in 1990, but none of them could truly be categorised as a pure thrash album. They were matured and mixed with styles that had them classed as a hybrid, but not a pure bred. So too, “Act III” should be classed in the same way.
This remains my favourite Death Angel album, my original and best. And that takes nothing away from all of their albums. This just motorises my memories every time I put it on.
What DID hurt was the dissolution of the band after this album, after the near fatal bus crash that put drummer Andy Galeon in a 12 month recovery and forced the band off the road and into other phases of their life. Wonderfully for fans, they did indeed eventually come back together, and six further albums have come as a result. And hopefully, with more to come.