UMUR "The Art of Dying" is the fourth full-length studio album by US, California based thrash/heavy metal act Death Angel. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in April 2004, almost exactly 14 years since the release of the band´s last studio album "Act III" from April 1990. Death Angel disbanded after their 1991 near fatal tour bus accident, where drummer Andy Galeon was badly injured. He would spend the better part of a year recovering from his injuries during which lead vocalist Mark Osegueda departed (and famously auditioned for the lead vocalist role in Anthrax after Joey Belladonna left). The remaining members (including Andy Galeon) would subsequently form The Organization and release two albums under that monicker. When that band folded in 1995 some years went by before the members were heard of again (some members had a project called Swarm, who released a couple of EPs). That happened in 2001 when Death Angel reunited to play at a benefit concert, which was set up to help pay the medical bills for the cancer treatment of Testament´s Chuck Billy.

Guitarist Gus Pepa wasn´t able to return for the reunion of Death Angel, but with his blessing the band asked longtime friend and fan of the band Ted Aguilar to join. The remaining members of the lineup were also members of the lineup who recorded "Act III (1990)".

Stylistically the material on "The Art of Dying" pretty much continues where "Act III (1990)" left off, although "The Art of Dying" isn´t quite as eclectic and uneven as it´s direct predecessor. The funky bass and rhythms have been left behind in the 90s and most of the alternative metal tendencies were also left were they belong (in the 90s). So most of the material on "The Art of Dying" are in the vein of the most hard edged thrash/heavy metal styled tracks from "Act III (1990)". Death Angel haven´t completely shed their tendencies to make bad decisions, and letting other members of the band sing on "Spirit", "Land of Blood", and "Word to the Wise", makes very little sense when you have a skilled and commanding vocalist like Osegueda in your ranks. Other than that "The Art of Dying" is a good quality comeback album from Death Angel. The album features a well sounding production, stellar musicianship, and for the most part well written, memorable, and powerful material. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Warthur Discouraged by their albums languishing in obscurity, shaken by a terrifying bus accident, and disgusted by their record label trying to force them to ditch drummer Andy Galleon rather than waiting for him to recover from his injuries from the crash, Death Angel called it a day in 1991, returning 13 years later with this intriguing reunion album.

It's fairly standard thrash stuff, and on the whole I wouldn't say it's on a par with their original three albums - but it does come pretty close, to the extent that I'd be very interested in hearing more of the post-reunion material (particularly since, judging from the ratings on here, they improve from this point on). To be honest, this album is precisely as good as it needs to be, and no better: it didn't need to be an all-time thrash classic, and it isn't that, but it did need to prove that Death Angel could still thrash like champs, and it certainly does that.

Time Signature Land of metal...

Genre: thrash metal

Death Angel were one of the most promising bands of the thrash metal movement of the 1980s, but they suffered a terrible bus accident while on tour in 1991, and fans would have to wait 14 years for the follow-up to "Act III" from 1990.

The follow-up was to be "The Art of Dying", which is very much a mixed experience. There are some face-ripping metal songs on this album to be sure, such as the fierce thrashers "Thrown to the Wolves", "Prophecy", "Spirit", and "Land of Blood" all of which are mostly quite good tracks ("Land of Blood" limps a bit too much for my tastes), the Motörhead-like "Thicker than Blood", "No" and "5 Steps to Freedom" are more in the vein of traditional metal, and are also quite good tracks, while "Never Me" and "Famine" are more inspired by alternative rock/metal, and these are probably the tracks that impress me the least.

Given the presence of so many uptempo thrash songs, I think that many old school thrash metallers will like this album, which should also appeal to fans of power metal and traditional heavy metal.