Reviews list for Death Angel - Frolic Through the Park (1988)

Second tier San Francisco Bay Area stalwarts Death Angel are an interesting one for me personally because I’ve never quite felt that they were deserving of all the praise they’ve received over the years. I discovered them fairly early on in my thrash metal journey through their highly celebrated 1987 debut album “The Ultra-Violence” (3.5/5) which was a super-raw thrashfest that built its reputation on the band’s youthful energy. The pitchy vocals were a bit of an obstacle for me & it could have done with a little more time & maturity in my opinion but it was a promising start to the young band’s career & has gone on to be regarded as a thrash classic by many fans. When I subsequently explored 1988’s “Frolic Through The Park” sophomore album though, I found some significant obstacles that weren’t present previously & didn’t feel up to giving it the time to sink in. I basically dismissed it as being none of my business & that opinion didn’t change with a brief revisit more than a decade ago now but I have to admit that the much more positive views of many social media personalities have eventually gotten to me. Was I too harsh on “Frolic Through The Park”? Have I been too quick to rule a line through it? Let’s find out.

There have traditionally been a couple of major talking points with “Frolic Through The Park” & both are worth discussing here. The first is the poor production with the whole record sounding wishy washy, thin & even a little sickly at times. This is interesting because the band had once again co-produced the record with Davy Vain (the front man from upcoming San Francisco glam metal band Vain) but the results are vastly different. I really struggled with this element back in the day but I think I’ve managed to finally look past it on this revisit as I've found myself more open to hearing what the band is pushing from a creative point of view. The second element worth mentioning is the incorporation of an array of external influences including hardcore punk, alternative metal, funk & progressive rock into the band’s exciting thrash metal arsenal which is seriously surprising when you consider that none of the band members were older than 21 at the time (drummer & co-producer Andy Galeon was still only 16 years old for fuck’s sake). This has certainly proven to be a divisive point of discussion over the years with some people finding it refreshing & others finding it to be a creative misfire.

The album kicks off pretty well actually with the first two tracks being the thrashiest & best of the eleven on the CD & leading into a pretty enjoyable crossover thrash track in “Why You Do This”. Things crash & burn pretty quickly after that though with the remainder of the album being noticeably hit & miss. Personally I find the quality levels to drop in direct correlation to how far the band steps furthest away from their thrash roots. You could say that this is simply a matter of taste but I don’t think that’s it. Despite hinting at the sound that fellow San Francisco thrashers Mordred would take in the coming years, the funk-infused numbers like “Bored” & “Open Up” sound like a band that’s lacking any sort of direction. The more complex & progressive material lacks cohesion & seems to fight against the flow of the song-writing while the inclusion of a cover version of KISS hard rocker “Cold Gin” sounds waaayyy out of place & sees the tracklisting grinding to a temporary halt. I mean, how much does the awful progressive/heavy metal number “Confused” remind you of a poor man’s version of Scatterbrain’s 1990 radio hit “Don’t Call Me Dude”?! The four or five more traditional thrash tunes on the other hand (think Testament, Exodus & Metallica) are actually quite good with the riffs showcasing a clear pedigree & a surprisingly strong technique for such young musicians. Front man Mark Osegueda is still pretty patchy at times though & I greatly prefer it when he simply tears shreds off your ears by screaming his guts out. Some of his choruses are lacklustre at best which sees some really strong lead-up work going to waste (see “Mind Rape” for example).

Is this Death Angel’s worst record? I think it might be actually. Much like Overkill, I find Death Angel to be one of those bands whose albums I generally always like but rarely love so I try to check out each new release. While records like “The Art of Dying” & Killing Season” may not be anywhere near classic, they certainly offer a stronger level of consistency than this effort & I’m not surprised that the band have tended to disown “Frolic Through The Park” over the years.