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Death Angel: Relentless retribution

19/10/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

Points immediately lost for one of the most derivative album names I have heard in a long time. “Relentless Retribution” sounds as original as…

Dominating Domination!
Punishing Power!
Titanic thrashing!
Exciting Execution!

Death Angel broke the mold with Act III. An original, creative, refreshing slab of progressive thrash that stood out amongst the sea of classic thrash records that was bubbling deep way back in 1990. Well guess what mateys, the thrashy seas are crowded again twenty years later. Can Death Angel break out from the pack again?

Sadly, no. This treads the same waters that bands like The Haunted, Exodus, and Warbringer have since the early 2000’s: mid-paced heavy thrash with a clean production. There is nothing groundbreaking or original here. However, “Relentless Retribution” is a decent record even with a silly title and a tried and true formula for 21st century thrash. I appreciate that several key members of the band have been around a while. Good continuity is hard to find in a long running metal act. It is clear that this is a tight, skilled band. The problem is that on “Relentless Retribution” Death Angel have accepted a more mediocre sound when they should have been shooting for something more creative and varied. They certainly have the ability.

“Truce” is fast number and sounds like “Tempo of the Damned” Exodus which is a pretty fucken good thing. Much like Gary Holt’s tribe, Death Angel also put serious effort into longer tracks. This is moderately successful on “In the arms of righteous anger” and “Death of the meek”. The guitar playing of Aguilar and Cavestany is what powers these, and all the other, songs on “Relentless Retribution”. Without their solid riffs, dual harmonies, and impressive soloing this record would be not worth many listens. The drumming is proficient but not extraordinary. Will Carroll tosses in a few interesting fills here and there. The drum sound though is pretty good, as is the rest of the production. My only complaint is the vocal approach of senior Osegueda. I love his performance on “Act III” but nowadays I think he is trying to hard to sound like Bruce Dickinson. Bruce can pull off singing like a metal Rigoletto. Mark, not so much. Obviously, the dude has vox chops but he just needs to pull things back a little.

The problem here, besides the too-close-to-power vocals, is that everything is just a bit too comfortable. Death Angel has enough skill and talent to push boundaries, not play inside of them. “Relentless Retripenis” is a not a total crapfest. If this was a brand new band not heard off before I would probably give this a higher score. But, this is an established act that has put out some killer progressive thrash tunes like “Seemingly endless time”, “Disturbing the peace”, and “Stagnant”. I expected more from Death Angel on this. I am certainly not throwing this away though. Over time I will probably come to like “Relentless Retribution” more but with bands like Vektor, Hexen, and Black Breath putting out more creative, interesting thrash right now this is just not something I am going to beat the shit out of my dick over.

6,5

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Website: www.deathangel.com
Band
Mark Osegueda: vocals
Ted Aguilar: guitar
Rob Cavestany: guitar
Damien Sisson: bass
Will Carroll: drums

Tracklist
01. Relentless Revolution
02. Claws In So Deep
03. Truce
04. Into The Arms Of Righteous Anger
05. River Of Rapture
06. Absence Of Light
07. This Hate
08. Death Of The Meek
09. Opponents At Sides
10. I Chose The Sky
11. Volcanic
12. Where They Lay

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