There must have been something in the water in the early 80s, especially around the San Francisco area when there was a crop of young musicians pumping out a brand new style of Metal, it was faster than anything that had been heard before, it was as technical as any style of music and it was about to take over the world with bands like Slayer and Metallica, and this music was given the name Thrash.
One of the bands doing their thing around this time were a bunch of very young kids of Filipino descent called Death Angel who were carving their own existence in a very busy and bustling Thrash scene, and I mean kids, original drummer Andy Galeon was only 14 at the time of their first release, and 31 years later and 9 Studio albums they’ve graced us with a genuine contender for Thrash album of the year with “The Dream Calls For Blood”.
This album has a very dark feel compared to previous releases and they’ve stripped down and gone back to bare basics with a heavy riffing and angrier in your face style that works a treat.
Vocalist Mark Osegueda has a great range and his vocals on this album a top-notch, a gruff pure Thrash sound, only moving to the higher pitch where needed, and musically they’ve lost absolutely nothing after all these years if anything pulling off a tight as a nun’s clacker album that can tear your eardrums to shreds
The definite highlight for me was the opening track Left For Dead, which is a Bay Area classic, with speed, aggression, and your face wall of noise which takes me back to the old days of Thrash and makes me want to grab my skateboard and hit the hills, and another highlight is title track The Dream Calls For Blood, another aggressive song with mean guitar work that will have all mosh pits and sweating fighting for a spot at the front of the stage.
There isn’t a really weak track on this release showing that one of Metals shining lights have plenty left in the tank, in fact, they’ve just stopped at the Service Station and filled the tank to the brim with unleaded thrash and have a hell of a lot more miles left in them and I’m bloody glad about that!
In a recent interview Death Angel guitarist Rob Cavestany said the following:
“We’re not getting any younger. We need to make every song, every album, count even more than it ever did. So in my mind, I wanted this album to be just beyond anything, man.
I wanted it to reflect a band further, deeper in their career, not the young men that they used to be, but making the most intense and killer music that they ever made.
And that’s where I really feel we’re at right now. I hope all the sacrifices of the brutal personal stuff that’s going on in our lives right now add up to something because every ounce of being of myself is in this. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much of an intensely emotional situation while recording tracks of an album. We’re just trying to put life on fucking tape there, and I’m quite sure you’re going to be able to feel it in the album.”
Oh, we feel it, Rob, we feel it!! This is a must-get for all the Thrash monsters out there as Death Angel are back and better than ever.
Death Angel: Facebook
Release Year: 2013
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Hayden G.M.
