Kingcrimsonprog
Death Angel are one of the great underrated Thrash Metal bands out their, coming from the Bay Area of San Francisco like so many other great Thrash bands and starting late in the so called “second wave,” of the mid to late Eighties the band are as talented and interesting as their contemperies like Forbidden and Vio-lence.
The band started out as a trio of related Filipino teenagers and gained notoriety when Kirk Hammet of Metallica produced their demo. In 1988, by the time their second full-length studio album Frolic Through The Park was released they had evolved into a technically impressive and interesting Thrash Band with a unique flavor and a lot of creative ideas.
On Frolic Through The Park, Death Angel widened their songwriting scope and wrote complex tracks that frequently shifted tempos, occasionally time signatures and were full of lead bass sections, jazzy drumming parts and other non-standard elements beside their hard and heavy Thrash material.
Standout tracks include ‘Why Do You Do This?’ which blends prog, hardcore punk and thrash into one complex tune, as well as the almost comical ‘Bored,’ which adds touches of funk in with the metal and also the seven-and-a-half minute track ‘Confused.’
Overall, Frolic Through The Park is Death Angel at their most experimental and complex, while still keeping the raw energy of their youth. It retains much of the straight up Thrash of their debut and expands on it but isn’t yet as refined and perfect as the album that would follow, Act III.
If you are a fan of the band, this is of course pretty essential listening all over from beginning to end. If you like Thrash Metal and aren’t afraid of a band who will push the boundaries and write outside of the box, then give Death Angel a try.