Death Angel -- Atlanta, GA -- July 13th, 2010

[larvtard]

Lord of Hate
Evil Priest
Buried Alive
Voracious Souls
Stop
Seemingly Endless Time
Guilty of Innocence?
The Devil Incarnate
Dethroned
Kill As One
Thrown to the Wolves

Encore:
??????

The first four songs and last two songs are in order but I'm not sure about the rest. There were also at least three songs they played that I didn't recognize, maybe four. They are marked by ? marks. Also, I may be missing one song from the main set.

I missed the encore because my parents wanted me home by midnight (seriously? It's the summer and I'm 18 years old goddammit). I saw all the songs I wanted to though. In the encore, I'm guessing they played "The Ultra Violence" (at least the intro to it) and "River of Rapture," among others. I hope they didn't play "Mistress of Pain" because that song is amazing, though. They probably did play a lot more because the vocalist promised that they would play a long time because we came out on a Tuesday night.

I'm gonna be honest though, this was one of the best shows (headliner only) I've ever been to. That probably was due to a lack of high expectations on my part. In fact, after seeing the openers, I got low expectations: I know they were merely local openers, but power metal bands don't open for thrash bands, do they? Unless...

Well, I was proven wrong. Hearing the first couple of songs, I knew I was on to something special. It just got better from there. 'Voracious Souls" was fairly disappointing because I thought it would be a huge sing-along. The crowd didn't really sing to it. But that was the only low point of the night.

I walked in not knowing much Death Angel, but enough I suppose. There were about 50 people in the crowd and 50% was old people. 45+, at least. Thus, there was no moshing at all, and none of these "old-school thrash circle pits" I've heard so much about. There were actually a couple small pits which lasted about a minute, both of them started by an old guy that looked exactly like Kerry King.

It seems like everyone raves about small crowds. I appreciated the very intimate experience, but I wouldn't have minded 50, even 100 more people in the crowd. Crowd participation was too lacking. It felt way too empty for my liking.

Let's talk about the openers, albeit briefly. The first one, Force of Habbit, sounded like Korn with a hint of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The second, Brazen Angel, was NWOBHM-inspired power metal. The guys on the stage were about 50 years old and the singer looked like a promoter for gay pride. The direct opener, Halycon Way, a crowd favorite, was just really lame power metal. The first song was good, with some Strapping Young Lad riffs and death growls, but the band went downhill very quickly.

I would definitely see Death Angel again. In the back of my mind I had a faint glimmer of hope that this show was gonna be one of those rare times that the band completely surprises you. This was one of those shows without a doubt.

Highlights were "Kill As One" and "Thrown to the Wolves."

Death Angel- 9.5/10
everyone else- 1.5/10

[jhdeity]

They always play Seemingly Endless Time so you're probably right there.

They're encores recently have been Ultra Violence, River of Rapture and sometimes Carnival Justice thrown in.

I'm with you, Mistress of Pain would be a great closer.