Death Angel: The Dream Calls For Blood

Califonia’s ageless thrashers make an incendiary return

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Three years on from the release of their last studio outing, Relentless Retribution, US thrash veterans Death Angel are back with a brand new batch of brutal beatdowns.

The Dream Calls For Blood is notable not only as an album written almost entirely on the road but also as the first time that the band have created and produced a release with the same lineup and studio personnel as the previous one. Although also a continuation of its predecessor in terms of feel and look, The Dream… is very much its own beast and the quintet have somehow managed to ramp up the ruthlessness yet again.

Out of the gates it goes ballistic in a frenzy of staccato riffing and taut rhythms, topped by a searing vocal performance from the irrepressible Mark Osegueda, a livewire frontman who just seems to keep getting better. Musically, the balance between brawn and brains is perfectly struck, and producer Jason Suecof has bottled the mayhem like a petrol bomb. An all-out assault from a band in their prime.