Review Summary: One Of The Best Thrash Metal Albums To Date
4th Studio Album By The Thrash Metal Band Death Angel.
The Album Opens Up With An Acoustic Intro then flys into the head smashing riff by Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar. while Thrown To The Wolves has the thrashing mad riffs the vocals are not at all the best in this album. With one of the greatest Thrash Metal Songs of all time (My Personal Opinion!)
Then 5 Steps Of Freedom opens with a distorbed bass line then comes into the hard beating riff once again with the first "GOOD" vocal performance of the album. Overall 5 Steps Of Freedom is a pretty decent song. it has the beat,and vocals just what were all looking for.
Thicker Then Blood: best song on the album in my point of view. has the slow intro to make you want more and more. then it gets into the vocals where Mark Osgueda hits the top of the chart of Thrash Metal singers. perfect performance by Death Angel.
The Devil Incamate: once again a slow start to a song. perfect vocals by Mark. along with Mark the band sings along with him to make it a truley great slow song. on of the top 10 slow thrash songs i have ever heard.
Famine: Has a wierd yet good bass line to open up the song. Has a bit of "Rappy" vocals on the opening vocal lines. and uses just a bit of auto tune.
Prophecy: Opens up with a great solo by Rob Cavestany. Then gets into a "Thrashing Mad!!!" Riff along with a solo in the backround. Another great vocal performance by Mark. as the album goes on it seems that he picks up his vocal work.
No: Best Opening on the album then leads into a thrashing riff along with a great solo by Rob Cavestany. Marks good voice ends here on this song as his voice hits to high of a pitch after the riff. Then the middle of the song it slows down into another solo Then after the solo Mark picks his vocals back up just a bit into the ending of the song.
Spirit: Spirit begins with a small yet good "Thrashy" Riff. Then the riff slows down into Andy Galeon who is lead vocals on this song and does a very impressive job. Mark has a very short vocal performance but Andy fills the gap.
Land Of Blood: Dennis Pepa takes over Andys lead vocal Domination in Land Of Blood which begins with a very impressive Bass line then kicks into a "Thrashy" Riff then Ted And Rob do a domination duo of solos. Dennis Pepa doesnt prove he can sing in this song but he can be a reliable Backing Singer.
Never Me: Probably the only song i would recommend to anyone not to buy on this album it just doesnt match up to any other song on the setlist. it does have good Riffs but i would not recommend buying this if you bought 1-5 songs on itunes.
Word To The Wise: Rob Cavestany takes the lead vocals for the final song of the album. Which begins with an Acoustic opening. and Rob proves he can sing with his stunning performance. Yes some of you probably think he sounds like the guy from Nickelback. but he is 10 times better then Nickelback by himself.
Overall:
4/5
8.5/10
The album is a must buy for a true "Metal Head" and any Thrash Metal Fan out there Death Angel is one of the most underrated Thrash Metal bands but one of the Most Talented.
The Album Name "The Art Of Dying" was chosen because:
"That was actually an idea that (drummer Andy) Galeon brought in. He had seen an interview with Bruce Lee around that time, and he was speaking about this philosophy that he had gotten from the Tibetan Book of the Dead (a.k.a. the Bardo Thodol). He was describing the passage about the path you choose in your life, and the way that you live your life as the art of dying. Whereas if you are living in a morbid kind of way as though you’re just on your way to your death slowly but surely, every day that you walk the earth, well, becomes the art of dying. Sometimes it’s just the way that you treat your life that determines your destiny."
Personally One Of The Best Thrash Metal Albums Of All TIme Definitely In The Top 100
