Death Angel – Humanicide

CD / Download / Streaming / Vinyl:
Death Angel
Price:
£11.99 (CD)

Reviewed by:
Rating:
4
On 31 May 2019
Last modified:31 May 2019

Summary:

Release date: 31/05/19
Length: 48mins 30secs.
A classic Death Angel album.

Humanicide’ is incredibly only Death Angel’s ninth full-length studio album spanning a thirty six year career since their initial demo ‘Heavy Metal Insanity’  in 1983. Agreed, they did have a fourteen year hiatus between 1990 & 2004.

I’ve not listened to them for years. In fact, not since my late teens when ‘Frolic Through The Park’  was doing the rounds. The first thing that hit me was how much recording and sound quality has improved over the years. The mixing is perfect as the title track introduces it’s intro. This is a classic Death Angel opener. Speed, double bass drums, speaker panning guitars on the stops. This is a prime example of 80’s thrash shaken and mixed and banged up to date in 2019. Lovely.

‘Divine Defector’  shares similarities with Holy Terror in it’s riffage usage. This is a true assault of anger and speed, and again, keeping that 80’s thrash link. But I suppose that will be the case for all tracks here. After all, they were / are an 80’s band. So far, so bloomin good. ‘Aggressor’s‘  opening reminds me of Testament back in the day. Boy this is nostalgia road!!! There’s a nice stop/start rhythm here linked with some classic chorus chanting. ‘I Call For Blood’  boasts a Motley Crue style gallop, whilst ‘Immortal Behated’  slows the pace down as it becomes the anthem of the album, clocking in at just over six minutes. The track’s final minute and a half ends with some lovely piano work. But it doesn’t work for me. It sounds too out of place behind the track. I don’t think it helps either still being able to hear some of the track faintly underneath the piano.

‘Alive And Screaming’  takes us back to the good stuff and leads us nicely into ‘The Pack’. My favourite song on the album. Boasting classic Metallica chugging, this track rips right through you. ‘Ghost of me’,  ‘Revelation Song’,  and ‘Of Rats And Men ‘  close what I think is a very good Death Angel album. There’s not one bad song here at all, and it’s great that the 80’s link and indeed Death Angel’s identity from that era is still intact. Well worth a listen.

Track Listing:

Humanicide Cover

1 – Humanicide

2 – Divine Defector

3 – Aggressor

4 – I Came For Blood

5 – Immortal Behated

6 – Alive And Screaming

7 – The Pack

8 – Ghost Of Me

9 – Revelation Song

10 – Of Rats And Men

 

Line-up:

Mark Osegueda – Vocals   /   Rob Cavestany – Guitars   /   Ted Aguilar – Guitars

Damien Sisson – Bass   /   Will Carroll – Drums

Death Angel

Links:

Official Website   Facebook   Twitter   Nuclear Blast Records

 

Release date: 31/05/19 Length: 48mins 30secs. A classic Death Angel album.

About Sty

A patriotic Welshman, and one quarter of Manchester hardcore/punk band Eye Licker.