Death Angel - Act III
It happened to seemingly every ’80s thrash band: the growth virus. Britches got too big for one genre, tried on others for size. Bands slowed down. Ballads and “funk bass” got popular. It was a strange time.
Death Angel were no exception. But if their experiments with alloys didn’t always work, at least they were interesting. Those peaked on Act III
For some reason, the record came out on Geffen. Death Angel were labelmates with Guns ‘n’ Roses, Aerosmith, and Nirvana. I’m not aware of any other thrash record on Geffen, and no wonder. When it landed on Geffen’s desk, he probably said, “What the fuck do I do with this?”
Sure, the record had some thrash. “Seemingly Endless Time” started with one of metal’s all-time classic riffs. (It also sneaks in some great doom riffs.) “Stop” had a catchy gang vocal chorus. But there were sappy acoustic ballads (“Veil of Deception”, “A Room with a View”) and technical takes on funk metal (“Discontinued”, “Stagnant”). No songs were obvious singles, so thankfully Geffen funded a video for “Seemingly Endless Time”. (See below.)
The record had some things going for it. The clean production highlighted crackling performances. These Pinoys could really play. Mark Osegueda had grown into a singer on the level of Joey Belladonna. And the songs were memorable — even the awful ones.
Act III was my introduction to Death Angel. For that reason, I’m fond of it, warts and all. I still know much of the record by heart. But, yeah, the earlier stuff is better — namely, The Ultra-Violence. Now that’s a thrash record.
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