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Bacteria13
Hatross Overlord
Joined: 30 Jan 2003
Posts: 2465
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 Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2004 6:16 pm Post subject: DEATH ANGEL – THE ART OF DYING |
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DEATH ANGEL – THE ART OF DYING (NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS)
I wanted this be good, I really did. Friends who heard it before I did told me that this album was, for want of a word, crap, that it didn’t hold a candle to DA’s previous three classic albums, ‘The Ultra-Violence’, ‘Third Floor’ and ‘Act III’ respectively. I didn’t believe them. I didn’t want to believe them. Once I got my hands on the CD I knew that they had to be wrong. This was Death Angel, after all. I rushed home, slipped the disc into the stereo and pressed PLAY.
‘Thrown to the Wolves’ kicks the album off in true DA thrash fashion, the distinct vocals of Mark Osegueda screaming his lungs out before some tasty solo work by Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany ram home the fact that DA are back, and back with a bang. So far so good, me thinks. This certainly sounds like the Death Angel I adored back in the late 80’s, especially when the rhythm section of second track ‘5 Steps of Freedom’ boils over, leading to thumping thrash that pounds along, fiery leads all over the place. Third track, ‘Thicker than Blood’ is more of the same, thrash 80’s style in 2004. Oh yeah; to coin a phrase of a certain farmer, that’ll do, pig.
However, as the album progresses, I found that there’s something … missing. I can’t put my finger on it. Is it the over-polished production? The latter half of the record? Bugger me silly, but I found that I wasn’t enjoying this come-back album from one of San Francisco’s all-time great thrash bands and for the life of me I didn’t know why. I’ve played it and played it and played it some more, and while all the qualities of the DA we know and love is here, for this reviewer at least, it just doesn’t feel right.
This is an excellent album for new thrash fans wishing to see what all the fuss is about – this and Exodus’ ‘Tempo of the Damned’ are great stepping stones for those escaping the corporate tentacles of nu-metal. But for old school fans who were there in the 80’s, ‘The Art of Dying’ tries too hard to please.
Maybe next time?
Bacteria13. |
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