Death Angel - Switchtense

Well, I guess... it is no secret: time flies. Time runs. And makes us getting older... Something easily to forget about. Something brought back to awareness now when bands I grew up with musically celebrate anniversaries, their 20th, 25th or even 30th anniversary of the band’s formation or alternatively the anniversary of the debut or breakthrough album. And 2012 sees a lot of these kinds of anniversaries.
This week it’s up to my favorite Bay Area thrash metallers DEATH ANGEL to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their grandiose 1987 debut album The Ultra-Violence. Celebrated live on stage of course, played in its entirety. What a feast!

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And which place would be better qualified than the • Turock Club• ? ;) DEATH ANGEL must really feel home here. The guys are of course on festival tour throughout Europe and fill the days between the weekends with club shows. As for tonight’s party circumstances weren’t the best. It was one of the better days regarding weather and Germany’s soccer team playing at the European championship. Besides, in the cities nearby other metal concerts took place. So, not a sold out hot and permanent cuddles atmosphere…

Much more it was still clearly arranged when :: WEAK ASIDE :: entered the stage. Hailing from the North Sea, the death metallers had vanished for quite some time. Obviously due to line-up changes as singer and guitarist Tom Zorn got a completely new crew consisting of Jeff Brown (git) as well as ex-Dew-Scented members Marc-Andrée Dieken (drums) and Alex Pahl (bass). Time to gain some new ground I guess. No new material so far, instead the band played songs from their debut Ghostleader and the demo Fire At Will. As for me they left a good impression ;)
Setlist: Death Waits, Collective Failure, Bloodstorm, Ghostleader, With Human Eyes, Fire At Will, Taking And Saving

Next up are Portuguese thrashers :: SWITCHTENSE :: No new material either but songs from the self-titled 2011 release and its predecessor Confrontation Of Souls, including the fastest song the cats have ever written called This Is Only The Beginning. Well, there is still room left to accelerate ;) However, SWITCHTENSE were really crazy about to play live! They were really under fire, almost exploding of energy and delight in playing. Unfortunately there were not enough people for circle pits and such. At least the crowd honored the band while headbanging and raising fists.
Setlist: Concrete Walls, Face Off, Into The Words Of Chaos, Unbreakable, Second Life, Unbreakable, State Of Resignation, Let Them Die Alone, In Front of Your Eyes, This Is Only The Beginning, Infected Blood

Meanwhile the guys of :: DEATH ANGEL :: scurry around, chat with fans, sell merch or just have fun. Equipment is uncovered in a twinkling of an eye (oh, I’d have so loved to snatch the DEATH ANGEL canvas) and promptly the crowd starts screaming and chanting “DEATH ANGEL”. Ready to go? Alright. Ready! Now the usual DEATH ANGEL madness breaks loose. A collective freak-out. On both sides. 4-stringer Damien has some technical problems, but nothing that would do any harm. Hey… I remember… last year it was also Damien with some probs… However, the band goes wild and so does the audience. Everybody has a blast. Setlist was clear, of course, as an encore the band played songs from the most recent album Relentless Retribution, while Marc Osegueda again was at a loss of words to express what he felt and to say thank you for tremendous friendship and support all over the years. Man, these dudes are so lovely. Can’t get enough of DEATH ANGEL :)
Setlist: Thrashers, Evil Priest, Voracious Souls, Kill As One, The Ultra-Violence, Mistress Of Pain, Final Death, I.P.F.S. // Relentless Revolution, Claws In So Deep, Truce, Thrown To The Wolves