When Death Angel are anywhere nearby, it’s a “you know the drill” situation. And when they’re playing Ljubljana, on a Friday no less, showing up is mandatory. For at least the last decade, Death Angel have been synonymous with how thrash metal should sound in the 21st century. In their case that’s been clear as day ever since 2008, when the killer album Relentless Retribution kicked off their collaboration with producer Jason Suecof, which is still going today, now on its fourth record in a row, Humanicide, released just over a month ago. “Why fix something that ain’t broken,” right?
You’d be hard pressed to find a better opener than Eruption this time around. The band has been the standard-bearer of Slovenian thrash metal for a good while now, and their third studio album, Cloaks of Oblivion, released two years ago, only confirmed it. This time the lads and lasses weren’t given a ton of stage time, so they tore through their set like the Enterprise at warp speed. Most of the attention, naturally, went to the current album, whose killer buzzsaw Drones once again won everyone over, while Eruption also dipped back into their previous two releases with Democracy and (if memory serves) Selfcaged. Thanks to the band’s energetic, ever-reliable and convincing performance, the space below the stage filled up fast, and a shout-out goes to the young metal crowd down front, who kicked up plenty of moshing over the course of the night and generally gave hope that the scene will survive!
Belgium’s Evil Invaders were a fitting follow-up, making sure the speed side of thrash metal got properly “heard.” Despite their youth (some of the members aren’t even 30 yet), the Belgians are firmly rooted in the old-school sound of bands like Exciter, Razor and Raven. So that means speed, speed and more speed. Still, the guys are neither boring nor one-dimensional about it, since they rattled off a handful of varied riffs, and above all they boast one of the most energetic stage shows you’re likely to see. That’s mostly down to vocalist and guitarist Joe, who, with his versatile and dynamic vocals, fills the stage the whole time. Despite a few technical hiccups, Evil Invaders’ set sparked several mosh pits, the space below the stage was already filling up nicely, and the guys paid the crowd’s great support back with a killer rendition of the speed wreckers Pulses of Pleasure, Mental Penitentiary and Raising Hell. A great show that got an already jam-packed Orto primed for the night’s peak and proved that Belgium doesn’t only export good chocolate.
Death Angel greeted an Orto packed to the last corner, with the temperature already hitting boiling point, with Thrown to the Wolves and threw us mercilessly into a pack of rabid wolves, tearing flesh and bones apart and breaking them with Riffs (capital R!), relentless vocals and one of the best rhythm duos in thrash. Since their reactivation, Death Angel have been enjoying a real renaissance, which is obvious even to the deaf and blind. You’d have to try really hard to find a better live show, because Death Angel give absolutely everything on stage every single time. This time was no different. The performance was once again top-notch and flawless. The guitar riffage between the Cavestany/Aguilar duo whipped around like a shark among the waves, while the seismic floor-shaking was handled by the extraordinary Damien Sisson and drummer Will Carroll, who truly earns the nickname “The Beast,” because there’s something genuinely bestial in his drumming. Mark Osegueda once again blew everyone away vocally. He turned 50 (!) this past February, and it doesn’t show on his vocal cords one bit, if anything the opposite. Death Angel took the crowd through most of their albums, and interestingly gave the fresh Humanicide attention only toward the end with three songs in a row, then said goodbye with the twin punch of The Ultra-Violence/Kill As One. The only downside? The terrible heat in the hall, which made it welcome to escape for a minute or two even into the summer evening mugginess outside. What Tempo of the Damned meant for thrash metal in 2004, Death Angel are to the genre today. Unstoppable, hungry, fresh and angry!
