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Class 6(66)
Death Angel: The ultra-violence
10/12/10 || InquisitorGeneralis
Introduction
I have always been a fan of “Act III”, Death Angel’s progressive thrashterpiece released in 1990. However, nothing else has really motivated me to check out the band’s other materials. However, recently I covered their newest effort “Relentless Retribution” and it was not bad. Not great mind you, but there was enough good shit on there to make me backtrack into their catalogue in search of thrashy goodness. First, I checked out Death Angel’s other albums from the 2000’s “The Art of Dying” and “Killing Season”. Again, these were not bad and had a few shining moments. Finally, I got the band’s 1987 debut “The Ultra-Violence” and heard something before “Act III”.
Fucking Paydirt bitches. This is an excellent, and certainly underappreciated, thrash record. Underappreciated most of all by me since I have always thought “Act III” was the be-all, end-all of their early material. This is not the case. “The Ultra-Violence” is a monster thrash effort with lots of creative and technical aspects tossed in to give it an almost Coroner or Sadus feel. Meh, I cannot give away all of its secrets in the intro! Read on dominators…
Songwriting
8. A great, intelligent, sexy man with a huge cock (just ask your mom chump) one said that the songs on “The Ultra-Penis” has a Coroner or Sadus feel to them. I agree with that well-hung scribe. “Thrashers” (1 point deducted for originality) is a blistering opener that only slows down the pace briefly near the end. However, this album is not a speedy one-trick pony. “Mistress of pain” features multiple time and tempo shifts and a mosh-friendly breakdown that is up there with the ones found on “Angel of death” and “Caught in a mosh”. The 10-minute long instrumental title track is pretty damn awesome too. “Voracious souls” shows the band can slow down the pace a bit but still retain the intensity of the faster material.
Production
8. “The Ultra-penis” has a raw, gritty sound that matches the feel of the tunes well. This was done by a bunch of teenagers! I like this Death Angel sound much more than the modern, overdone production on the band’s more recent releases. The kicks could use a bit more juice, but other than that I have no major criticisms.
Guitars
9. The guitar playing on here is solid all the way through; hands down the albums strongest aspect. Cavestany and Pepa (hehe) were a solid combo pu-pu platter of fast riffing and whammy-bar masturbation. There are too many highlight moments to point out. “Thrashers” is a blistering shred fest, and the breakdown riff on “Mistress of pain” is a fucking beast. The instrumental “The ultra-violence” is pretty much a ten-minute guitar clinic.
Vocals
7. Marky Mark Osgueda’s vocals are nothing too different from what most thrash front men were doing at the time. His shrieks get pretty high up there from time to time, and there is definitely some studio trickery going at some points. I like my vocals a bit heavier than this, but they certainly fit the music just fine.
Bass
7. When your Pepa burns, you need to see a doctor. Dude does a decent job on here delivering your standard, rumbling thrash bass lines.
Drums
8. The Spanish Galeon pumps out some solid drum work on here. There are plenty of tempo shifts and fills (as expected) but nothing too overly fancy or wankelicious. The double bass is present but not overwhelming and things manage to avoid getting stale or boring. It is a shame this dude is no longer with the band (he was just recently replaced) because his playing is one of the nicer, but more subtler, aspects of “The Ultra-violence’s” classic status.
Lyrics
6. Thrashing, moshing, head banging…they are all covered here. While not stupid or moronic, let’s just say that none of the fellas from Death Angel will be challenging Winston Churchill in the speechwriting department any time soon.
Logo
8. While not dripping blood or containing anything sacrilegious, I have always thought the Death Angel logo was pretty cool. Big letters, little letters, odd-angles; not cvlt or evil but different and that scores points in my book.
Cover
9. This cover really stands out from other shit done around this time. Honestly, it looks more like a modern death metal band’s cover.
Booklet
N/A. Don’t have it.
Overall and Ending Rant
It has definitely taken me a while to come around to appreciating early Death Angel. Fuck, they were all in their teens when they wrote and recorded this shit! “The Ultra-Violence” is not a genre defining record like “Reign in Blood” or “Kill ‘Em All”, but it certainly stands out from a lot of what was being done during the ass end of the 80’s. Consider this to be the middle ground between straight-up thrash like Kreator, Sodom, and Anthrax and the more avant-garde shit that was going on in the worlds of Coroner, Annihilator, and Celtic Frost. New school thrash bands like Violator, Revocation, and Hexen definitely have a lot to thank Death Angel for. If you have never heard these guys before, this is definitely the place to start.
- Information
- Released: 1987
- Label: Restless Records
- Website: www.deathangel.us
- Band
- Mark Osegueda: vocals
- Rob Cavestany: guitar
- Gus Pepa: guitar
- Dennis Pepa: bass
- Andy Galeon: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Thrashers
- 02. Evil Priest
- 03. Voracious Souls
- 04. Kill as One
- 05. The Ultra-Violence
- 06. Mistress of Pain
- 07. Final Death
- 08. I.P.F.S.
