Released by: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: Thrash Metal
Links: http://www.deathangel.us/
Line Up:
Mark Osegueda
Rob Cavestany
Ted Aguilar
Will Carroll
Damien Sisson
Tracklist:
1. The Moth
2. Cause for Alarm
3. Lost
4. Father of Lies
5. Hell to Pay
6. It Can’t Be This
7. Hatred United , United Hate
8. Breakaway
9. The Electric Cell
10. Let the Pieces Fall
I know I’m a day late and a dollar short for meeting my deadline to review Death Angel’s new masterpiece The Evil Divide. Sam Dunn and even Kirk Hammett have already chimed in and The Evil Divide has cracked the Billboard 100 FFS!
So what can I say more than that which has already been said? LOTS!
I spoke to Ted Aguilar earlier in the year https://myglobalmind.com/2016/04/11/interview-ted-aguilar-guitars-death-angel/ as the final touches and release date were being set for the 8th studio album he advised me that The Evil Divide was the “Mother” of the “sister albums” of Relentless Retribution and The Dream Calls for Blood.
So basically, I was excited to hear this album as I have a big love for all things thrash and Death Angel is one of those bands that knows how to bring it good!
The Moth has that kind of feel to it that you know you are about to be engulfed and submerged into a circle pit of sound that draws you in like a moth to light. Everything about this song has the potential to actually have you windmilling spontaneously. I am the thorn in your side…I am the evil divide.. Fuck yeah..good lyrics.
This is for sure an album that needs to be played from start to finish. Thick amazing riffage and guitar solo mastery fill this album.
Cause for Alarm is a quick but intense song that makes me smile and be glad I was a teenager in the 1980s – because our music is still fucking awesome now!!! Intense with the right touch of guitars to ensure the message is being received.
One way to describe this album is Heavy. As the tempo slows during Lost the song is filled with thick sounds that compliment this melodic beauty within this masterpiece that is The Evil Divide.
Father of Lies and Hell to Pay remind me of why my neck hurts – because Metal Rules! The entire band brings in such a rich, strong, powerful sound – if you have any evil in your soul at all you will be compelled to move. This whole album continually song after song makes me so happy that a record company called Nuclear Blast came along. So many bands from this era became “second tier” to the “Big 4” and I still say that there is a far bigger number than 4 to come out of that Bay Area. Death Angel proves it with The Evil Divide.
The onslaught of brutality continues through It Can’t Be This, Hatred United, United Hate and Breakaway and already have visions of bodysurfers dancing in my head. Will Carroll gets a big shout out from me for his intense and relentless smashing of the skins. I am always impressed by drummers that are able to keep up to themselves even years later.
The Electric Cell – even though it’s the 9th song on the album – has no intention of “slowing things down” nearing the end of this thrashtastical journey that The Evil Divide has taken us on. As with all things – The Evil Divide had to end – however, their choice in ending on this experience with Let the Pieces Fall only makes me want more.
This is the best thrash album to come out in a very long time so take notes folks as Thrash is alive and well and coming to a concert hall near you very soon. The only way to describe The Evil Divide is to say experience it for yourself. This is the kind of music happening right now, it’s come full circle and I welcome it with open arms!
Get moving folks they are coming with Anthrax and Slayer to a venue near you soon!
Written by: Marianne Jacobsen
Ratings: Marianne 10/10
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