Band:	Death Angel
Album:	Killing Season
Style:	Bay Area thrash metal
Release date:	February 26, 2008
A review by:	Baz Anderson

Disc I
01. Lord Of Hate
02. Sonic Beatdown
03. Dethroned
04. Carnival Justice
05. Buried Alive
06. Soulless
07. The Noose
08. When Worlds Collide
09. God VS God
10. Steal The Crown
11. Resurrection Machine
+ Dethroned [promo video][Blood Pack edition bonus]

Disc II [DVD: Live In Strasburg, France, April 17, 2003][Blood Pack edition bonus]
01. The Ultra-Violence, Pt. I - Intro
02. Seemingly Endless Time
03. Voracious Souls
04. Mistress Of Pain
05. 3rd Floor
06. Evil Priest
07. Stagnant
08. Bored
09. Kill As One

American thrashers Death Angel return once more with their brand of thrash metal with attitude. "Killing Season" is the band's second album back in business and once again these ultra violent Americans deliver the goods with a punch. Death Angel have not seemed to follow trends of what is popular at the time, they just lay down good old traditional thrash metal the way the thrash scene seems starved and dry of in the modern today. By no means could you accuse Death Angel of being stuck in the past, as "Killing Season" is a modern sounding album that breathes freshness and life but has its core rooted in the school of thrash metal where there is no obligation to fill every verse and chorus with frantic double bass, and more emphasis is placed upon diversity and staying interesting while still being music to bang your head along and punch the air to as "Carnival Justice" and "Buried Alive" are just two shining examples of how this is achieved.

The cleanly produced album plods along with its fair share of twists and turns and bursts of speed, the seemingly forgotten component these days in the form of the bass guitar creeps in for more of a look-in than with most modern albums these days, and even though "Killing Season" is not over the top and crammed with as much action as musically possible, it is still both suitably heavy and catchy with the odd injection of attitude and a good dose of old fashioned rage in there as well; "When Worlds Collide" and "God vs God" illustrate these aspects to a tee.

"Killing Season" has many great songs in its arsenal, you will find your head banging or foot tapping or yourself generally humming along with pretty much everything during the album's nearly-fifty minute duration, this is catchy material but not to the extent that you will be kept awake at night with the same damn song going through your head over and over again. This may mean that you struggle to find any real high points that stand above anything else throughout the album, and also in general the album may not be one of the most memorable albums you could ever hear, but these are not huge issues as "Killing Season" is a fun sounding album that would do a good job at providing entertainment at a party or as the soundtrack to some road trip with your good friends. This album will be a huge breath of fresh air to most people as these days so-called thrash metal bands more often than not either have no balls to them or sound like they were put together by businessmen or just try to replicate what has already been done before - but with "Killing Season" we have the sound of the traditional and the shine of the modern rolled all into one.