DEATH ANGEL — Act III (review)

Album · 1990 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-02-29
UMUR

"Act III" is as the title suggests the third full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Death Angel. The album was released through Geffen Records in April 1990. It´s the successor to "Frolic Through the Park" from 1988 and it would be the last studio album in Death Angel´s original run, as they disbanded after their 1991 near fatal tour bus accident, where drummer Andy Galeon was badly injured. He would spend the better part of a year recovering from his injuries during which lead vocalist Mark Osegueda departed. The remaining members (including Andy Galeon) would subseqently form The Organization and release two albums under that monicker. When that band folded in 1995 some years went by before the members were heard of again (some members had a project called Swarm, who released a couple of EPs). That happened in 2001 when Death Angel reunited to play at a benefit concert, which was set up to help pay the medical bills for the cancer treatment of Testament´s Chuck Billy.

In 1990 all that of course hadn´t happened yet, and Death Angel were still on a rising popularity curve, riding the high peak of thrash metal in 1989/1990. Having an album being released through a major label (who probably spend quite a bit of money hiring producer Max Norman) and being able to promote the album with two singles and accompanying promotional videos, for the tracks "Seemingly Endless Time" and "A Room with a View", which received quite a bit of airplay in those days, Death Angel had plenty of opportunities to recruit new fans.

In their original run Death Angel were an adventurous bunch though, and they weren´t satisfied "just" playing thrash metal. They were still very young when writing and recording the material for "Act III" and they were far from being finished trying out new things and experimenting with their sound. Therefore "Act III" is quite the eclectic thrash/heavy metal album featuring both hard edged thrashy tracks, more melodic tinged thrash/heavy metal tracks, and a couple of tracks which fall under other catagorises of heavy rock/metal (funk, blues, and power ballad acoustic moments). "Discontinued" for example features funky bass and drumming and "A Room with a View" is a mainstream oriented power ballad.

The focus of the music and the main attraction too are the great musicianship. While the album is a bit of an uneven listening experience and I´m not always convinced that the band´s experiments aren´t more interesting than great, the high level musical performances always make "Act III" a worthy listen. The rhythm section are tight and the playing varied, the guitar riffs and solos are intriguing, and lead vocalist Osegueda has a strong voice and a commanding delivery. The album also features an organic, powerful, and overall very well sounding production (which isn´t surprising when Norman is involved) and upon conclusion "Act III" is a good quality release and one of the more adventurous thrash/heavy metal albums from the San Francisco scene (moving into alternative metal territories at times). A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.