Thrash metal has seen a huge revival of late. It might have all started with Exodus’s stunning comeback Tempo of the Damned but from that point onward it seems to have snowballed into the second coming. There are new bands popping up almost every day that retread the glory days of the 80s and plenty of reformations and comebacks. The Bay Area’s Death Angel made the comeback in 2004 with The Art of Dying which was decent enough as far as being a nostalgia trip but nothing more than that. 

This year sees the band release its fifth studio album called The Killing Season and I’m quite happy to report that the band has written an album that will stand up to Frolic In The Park and Act III. The album opens with the one-two punch of Lord of Hate and Sonic Beatdown. Terrific grooves, full on thrash like its 1988 all over again and Mark Osegueda’s vocals have never sounded this good. The band sounds great too. Relative newcomer and replacement for Gus Pepa, Ted Aguilar sounds like he now belongs in the band and along with original guitarist Rob Cavestany plays some kickass thrash riffs.

The Noose shows off an infectious rock n roll swagger while When Worlds Collide (sounds a lot like Bush era Anthrax) , Carnival Justice and Buried Alive all show off a healthy thrash aesthetic. God Vs. God has Osegueda’s best vocal performance ever and is another kickass song combining a sense of Pro-Pain’s bruising grooves and an almost Killing Joke sense of dynamics while always sounding like Death Angel.  

The songs on this album all flow with an energy and sense of purpose that’s highly enjoyable. Coming across mostly like vintage Death Angel with a slight sense of the NYHC cross-over sound and some surprisingly traditional heavy metal parts, The Killing Season is very enjoyable and more importantly sounds relevant in 2008. This is not a band that’s simply re-hashing past sounds but seems to be constantly moving forward within the thrash metal framework.

Label - Nuclear Blast
Year of release - 2007