Death Angel
The Ultra-Violence

THE REVIEW

Among the various reviews of Thrash bands on DeBaser, I noticed a gap that I believe needs to be filled; I'm talking about Death Angel!!! I came to know them in 2004 at the Summer Day in Hell. I had recently gotten their CD "The Ultra-Violence," purchased precisely because I knew I would see them at that metal festival in Rome, where I was mostly going for Fear Factory! Well, they surprised me a lot and even proved to be more impactful than the nonetheless great Fear Factory, who had to settle for the "second best performance of the day." They surprised a bit of everyone at that festival, not only for their devastating performance capable of humiliating the following bands, including the overhyped and overrated Children of Bodom and the not-in-top-form and now self-parodying Helloween, but also for their humility and attitude far from some "rockstar" behaviors typical of some musicians.

Even before the concert started, Death Angel greeted us, who were still outside the gates, and recorded us with their video camera. Then, after their concert, they came into the crowd and kindly signed autographs! Just like us, young guys with a healthy and genuine passion for music! These bands absolutely deserve to be rewarded and supported! The concert setlist was mostly based on tracks from the album unanimously considered their best work or at least the freshest and most spontaneous: the debut "The Ultra-Violence." This work also came out in the golden year of Thrash metal, 1986, and for this reason, it had less resonance and success because that year masterpieces by Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer were released simultaneously!

Yet, listening to the album in question, I honestly do not consider it inferior to the monstrous "Reign in Blood" or "Master of Puppets." Then, if we consider that this album was recorded in just two days and that the drummer was only 14 years old, it seems miraculous. The band members are five cousins of Filipino origin, which is quite unusual in a musical context dominated mostly by Anglo-Saxon whites (at least at the time), and like all major American Thrash bands, they also originate from the Bay area. Death Angel are among the most imaginative and certainly among the most technically gifted bands (just think that in the following albums they will also use funk contaminations, later picked up in musical projects parallel to this).

Right from the opening track, where the title itself is a statement of intent, they demonstrate their great technical skill; I'm talking about "Trasher," violent, with numerous tempo changes, which also appears in the following tracks and is surprising because none of the band members at the time were over 20 years old! The following "Evil Priest" and "Voracious Souls" stand out for beautiful and unusual vocal parts and consistently devastating guitar work. With the ideas contained in just these three songs, many bands build entire albums, and I've said it all! The fourth track "Kill as one" deserves attention, especially for the really strange, almost paranoid vocal parts that greet us at the start of the song, culminating in an ending made of sharp and exceedingly violent solos! I assure you that this song heard live is truly devastating; in that concert, this piece caused many of us to break not a few parts of the body! The album continues in great fashion with never banal, technically excellent pieces endowed with an uncommon impact and power. However, I cannot conclude the review without mentioning the piece that gives the album its title: the incredible title track, a ten-minute long instrumental that has nothing to envy in comparison to the excellent "Orion" or "To Live is to Die" from Metallica's repertoire! I actually consider this track one of the most beautiful instrumentals in metal, even containing a citation of the main theme from Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells."

In short, I recommend this album! I give it the highest rating because I consider it one of the masterpieces of Thrash metal, so the score is based on the genre of which this album is a testament!