A Lesson In Ultra-Violence You Won't Soon Forget

Starting of my concert review blog with one of my most recent concerts that I attended, and that is Death Angel on their 25th anniversary of their seminal debut album "The Ultra Violence". The concert was held at a very tiny club named The Social in downtown Orlando on Sunday Oct. 14th. The lineup for this all-in-all fantastic concert was Potential Threat, Wretched, Bonded by Blood, Threat Signal, and the almighty Death Angel.

Starting of this night of hit-and-miss bands on the 5 band lineup for the night was a thrash band by the name of Potential Threat. Potential Threat is a very little known thrash metal band from the San Francisco bay area, and their obscurity showed from their place on the bill as the doors opened at 6pm, and they were on stage at 6:05 playing to maybe 15 people by the end of their roughly 20 minute set. The band themselves were absolutely incredible, treating the very minuscule crowd to a mix of early Metallica, and Slayer style thrash metal that had myself and my friend throwing the horns and headbanging for their entire set.

The second band that played that night fell into the miss category of the hit-and-miss night of metal. The band  I am speaking of is Wretched, and their name was a perfect description of the absolutely awful Technical Death Metal/Deathcore that they played. The stereotypical Cookie Monster style vocals, with down-tuned guitars, and blast beat style drumming was truly a test for my headbanger ears to endure for their roughly forty five minute long set.

After the absolutely Wretched band that played before (yes, the pun was intended), the saving grace that was Bonded by Blood took the stage, and set the night back onto the hit path of the spectrum. The band played absolutely fantastically, guitar solos flying frantically out of the amplifiers, wailing vocals that could shatter glass from one hundred yards away, and a rhythm section that truly tests the durability of a buildings foundation. The band played an amazing set of early Megadeth style thrash that had the crowd whipped into a moshing frenzy in no time at all. The only downfall of their otherwise perfect show, was the extremely short set time of roughly 25 minutes. Bonded by Blood was absolutely amazing, and the next time they return to the Orlando area, I will surely be at the gig.

The band that followed Bonded by Blood was a Melodic Death Metal band by the name of Threat Signal. Similar in style to Wretched that played early in the night, Threat Signal also had a very cookie monster style vocals that was very heavy during the verse of the songs, but went to a lighter and very much safer tone during the choruses. All-in-all, Threat Signal was a very disappointing act to have as direct support for a band as Death Angel. That honor should have belonged to Bonded by Blood, as you can actually hear the influence that Death Angel had upon their style of thrash instead of the very modern and generic style of metal that Threat Signal played.

After the horrible let down that Threat Signal was, it was finally time for the headlining band of the night, Death Angel. Playing their legendary debut album The Ultra-Violence front to back, they treated the entire crowd of roughly 150 at that point to a brutal hour and a half set of pure headbanging thrash metal that will never be forgotten by anybody in attendance that night. The band opened their set with the song Thrashers that had turned the stillness of the changeover, into nothing but a wall of headbanging maniacs slamming their heads against the stage, and running into each other in the pits in no time at all. The songs Evil Priest, Voracious Souls, and Kill as One all had the same effect upon the crowd as Thrashers. After those few songs, it was time for the 10 minute instrumental thrash opus that is the title track of the album, The Ultra-Violence. The song with its incredible guitar solos, drum patterns, and bass lines had the entire crowd in headbanging unity for the entire length of the song. Finishing their set with the rest of The Ultra-Violence album, and a 3 song encore, Death Angel closed their set with a screaming crowd, and horns held high into the air.

Truly a sight to be seen the concert was, with Death Angel being nothing short of legendary. Although 2 out of the 5 bands playing that night did not fit the thrash vibe that was the concert, Potential Threat, Bonded by Blood and Death Angel redeemed their failures with absolute flying colors. Bad bands behind, this concert was a lesson in Ultra-Violence nobody will soon ever forget.

- Taylor Sandefur