Death Angel - Killing Season: Review

Death Angel need no introduction, well, not to the Thrash fan atleast. Their 1987 album, The Ultra Violence is a bonafide classic of Thrash Metal. After The Ultra Violence though, they haven't been able to impress me very much, except for Act III which was a good album. Their last offering, The Art of Dying was very! disappointing. So what have these old school metallers done with the latest offering. Ummm...ok..to be honest, and quite over the top actually..I would say that with this album Death Angel have achieved the perfect balance between old school and new school. While Slayer, Exodus, Testament, Overkill are still putting out great material, the music always divides the users into two distinct can't look eye to eye groups. This album is brutal, it's got a modern sensibility, it has melody, it has groove, it has everything for everybody. Not since Kreator's Enemy of God in 2005 have I heard an album which mixes the old and the new with such dexterity.

Coming on to the music; with the acoustic intro of opener Lord of Hate Death Angel grab your attention, and before you can spell W O W, they bombard you with a barrage of riffs! The truth is; this album does not have a single filler. Every song in here is simply brilliant, and not just when Death Angel are going sonic with their monstrous riffs, but also in the breakdowns and the slow melodious pieces and interludes. The second track, Sonic Breakdown is a monster thrasher again and following it is personal favourite and possibly the album's best song, Dethroned. Acoutic parts, soaring solos, immaculate riffing; this song goes from slow to fast to slow again to hyperspeed again, and has one of the most catchy choruses I've heard in a long long time. Carnival Justice and Buried Alive provide some more vintage old school madness and groove. Then comes Soulless, another song which reminds you how good Metal used to sound in the eighties and early nineties; it has a very rock n' roll feel to it too(trust me, it's good!!). Noose follows with some more Thrash n' Roll madness, as does When Worlds Collide, which could have very well been on Anthrax's Spreading the Disease(again!!, I mean this in a good way). Then comes God Vs. God, which serves as the perfect example of how you can win over a Korn fanatic, but still Thrash!! I mean, this is absolutely mindblowing!! What the hell were these guys on while recording this? Oh! and check out the weirdly orgasmatic solo on this one....aah!, brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Steal the Crown brings things back to the old school Thrash n Roll way again; the bluesy main riff on this one is amazing! Closing the album is Resurrection Machine, which is my second most fav song in here.

So, do yourself a favour and get this album ASAP! It's catchy, it's melodious, it's got the riffs, it's got the solos...oh! and did I mention it's heavy as hell. Anyway, I've just wasted many precious minutes away from it and boring you guys....lemme go back and listen to it some more :)

Rating: 9.5/10