DUBLIN DEATH PATROL — DDP 4 Life (review)

DUBLIN DEATH PATROL — DDP 4 Life album cover

Album · 2007 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-02-07
siLLy puPPy

DUBLIN DEATH PATROL began as an idea all the way back in 1980 by a few kids from Dublin, California (an East Bay suburb of San Francisco) and started as a garage thrash band called Rampage that happened to feature an early appearance of Testament singer Chuck Billy. Fast forward a bit to 2006 and the band becomes reality by finding Billy team up with Exodus singer Steve Souza, another old Rampage member turned bassist for Laaz Rockit, Willy Lange, Souza’s brother John Souza (bass) and Biloly’s brother Eddie (bass). DUBLIN DEATH PATROL was officially born.

The original band Rampage covered Led Zeppelin, KISS, Aerosmith and Dead Kennedys songs but once reunited as DUBLIN DEATH PATROL the band adopted the thrash metal style that made the two singers thrash metal legends. As DUBLIN DEATH PATROL, this supergroup released two albums starting with this debut DDP 4 LIFE which was released in 2007 on the Godfodder label. The album has a rather large lineup with two vocalists, four guitarists, three bassists and two drummers but don’t worry. They’re not all playing together all the time! It’s more like a collective where members trade off.

The project began merely as a bunch of friends getting together play some cover songs and rekindle a few old forgotten originals but everyone thought it all sounded so that everyone decided to make it a bonafide side project. DDP 4 LIFE features 13 tracks if you include the hidden track “Central Pomo Indian Songs” and clocks in at around 46 minutes and as you would expect the music sounds like a collaborative effort between the contemporary styles of both Testament and Exodus only the thrash metal is less aggressive and calmed down a bit by a mix of traditional 80s heavy metal and even a bit of punk.

Well it goes without saying that these so-called supergroups never really deliver the potential all the hype insinuates and that is the case with DUBLIN DEATH PATROL. With so many creative minds in the mix and nothing to prove, one would think that the band could think out of the box a bit but this is a very traditional sounding thrash metal album more in the vein of the groove metal side of Exodus rather than the thrash furor of Testament. And if you’re expecting an album of the same caliber as those two bands then you’ll probably bore woefully disappointed but taken for what it is and how it came to be, DDP 4 LIFE isn’t really that bad of an album. It features the classic galloping Bay Area thrash metal style infused with all the high speed virtuosity that put the Bay Area on the map in the first place.

This album has been panned by many as being the epitome of generic thrash metal and in many senses that’s not entirely untrue but considering this was more of a fulfillment of past endeavors that never saw the light of day, it’s not that bad mostly because i was expecting it to be worse! While a mere footnote in the history of Bay Area thrash metal, the album is totally listenable with strong anthemic powerhouse thrash metal tunes that mix generous doses of groove metal, heavy metal and punk to the mix. Although there are 12 musicians on board, the album sounds cohesive and not like a collection of disparate tracks. Yeah, not the best any of these guys ever cranked out but for a side project that wasn’t the main focus, this isn’t as bad as many make it out to be and in fact i like it. The ending that features a local Pomo Indian tribe chant is a nice closing touch.