Act III cover

Act III

Released

Teens at the time of their 1987 debut, by three years later Death Angel had grown up real fast. It’s hard to tag something made by musicians in their early 20s as “mature,” but Act III demonstrated a level of curiosity and ambition most of their peers still haven’t reached three decades later; it’s still one of the weirder late-period thrash metal artifacts. “Seemingly Endless Time” was a jittery wrecking ball of a tune, “Discontinued” showed that bassist Dennis Pepa had been listening to Faith No More for inspiration, and they successfully pulled off an acoustic ballad on “Room with a View.” While it’d be curtains for the band’s first act after this, their comeback record 14 years later might be even better!

Jeff Treppel

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