Days of Anger ~ Death Path

Days of Anger
Death Path
2011


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When I talk about thrash, I am not talking about some farming technique, your dad taking to you with a belt after you disrespected your mother, or even a skate boarding reference. I am talking about metal. I fell in love with it a couple decades back when I heard "The Big 4" and all of their brothers and cousins. Technical, in-your-face, and aggressive, thrash has influenced many sub-genres and evolved considerably over the years. I still have a hankering for the old days, and with that said, enter the band Days of Anger and their newest release, Death Path.

As the band's name suggests, there is a boat load of anger in their music. Days of Anger's aggression washed over me like an old friend. My first impression was that there is a classic Nuclear Assault/NY City thrash influence in the music. I even hear some So Far, So Good, So What? era Megadeth in there too. As the songs on the cd progress, there is a definite groove to them as well, much in the way you would hear on many Pantera songs.

Death Path opens with "Damaged", and it was a full frontal assault on my suburban sensibilities. The first half of Death Path is a full-on beat down. The real treat for me is in the deep cuts, the songs towards the end of the CD. "Hands of Evil" and "Life Form" are thrash songs all the way, but they have added dimension to them because of some musical break downs such as tempo changes and hauntingly clean picking.

If there's one song on "Death Path" that rubbed me the wrong way, it was "F@*k That (Silly God)". As you can imagine, the song rallies against religion. Musically it is simplistic compared to the other songs, but that's not what got to me. The approach to the lyrics was very elementary. Bands like Slayer (and just about every black metal band) have countless songs of this nature and they manage to say the same thing, just in a more intellectual way. I know a great many people will disagree with me on this point and call me a pinhead or worse, but that is how I feel.

Other than my complaint about one song, Days of Anger's Death Path is a solid and aggressive release. If you feel like flipping off the world as you listen to music when you are cruising down the interstate, then this should be in your arsenal.

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Live Long and Rock Hard,
SpaceKev




SpaceKev's Rating: 8 out of 10