Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Death Angel - Act III (1990)

Mediocre.  That's the word that comes to mind whenever I hear the band name, Death Angel.  Largely this is because of the complete lack of punch to any of Mark Osegueda's vocals.  He has always struck me as lacking any range or true power and this has always in my mind held the band back from climbing the popularity stakes in my thrash metal preferences.

Act III seems to suffer worst of all their releases, I mean as an example, quite what the band were thinking when they recorded Veil of Deception is beyond me.  Placing it as track number three on the record certainly makes if far too prominent in the line of sight and disrupts the flow of the album completely.  Having started well enough with one of the first thrash tracks I ever saw the video to with Seemingly Endless Time things take an instant dive with the energetic yet clunky Stop.  But even early on in the album there's obviously very little in the actual way of thrash metal.  And here lies the problem!  This isn't a thrash metal record, not really.  I mean yes, there's some attempt at riffing on The Organisation but it doesn't set the pulse racing.  It is all so underwhelming.

The funk element to Discontinued really grates which is a shame because bass slapping aside it is actually one of the more riff orientated tracks.  Unfortunately it just feels like the band are trying to be experimental beyond the boundaries of their actual talent or skill levels.  Two (yes fucking two) ballads on a thrash metal record?  Give me a break chaps.

Whenever the record starts to give glimpses or glimmers of hope to me there always seems to be something unsatisfactory waiting around the corner that disrupts or completely destroys the flow which suggests to me that even at album number three the band still were not that good at songwriting and learning no real penchant for their chosen art form.