Death Angel Bring the Act III 35th Anniversary Tour to The Observatory

Death Angel brought their Act III 35th Anniversary Tour to The Observatory in Santa Ana on June 19, and it was a full house of old-school metalheads there for one thing: pure Bay Area thrash. With Vio-lence and Incite along for the ride, this was a triple bill built to level the room, and it did exactly that.

Incite

Incite kicked the night off with the kind of groove-heavy aggression that has become their trademark. The Phoenix band, fronted by Richie Cavalera, plays it mean and modern, and their set was all momentum, a straight shot of adrenaline to get the pit loosened up early. By the time they finished, the room was already warmed up and hungry for more.

Vio-lence

Then Vio-lence reminded everyone why they are a cornerstone of the second wave of thrash. Born in the Bay Area in the mid 80s, the band tore through their set at breakneck speed, Sean Killian's motor-mouth delivery snarling over some of the most relentless riffing of the night. Classics off Eternal Nightmare hit like a freight train, and the crowd matched every second of it.

Death Angel

Death Angel closed it out by doing something special. To mark 35 years of Act III, they played the 1990 record front to back, ten songs of the melodic, ferocious thrash that made them legends, plus a few select cuts from across their catalog. Watching a band with this much history still hit this hard, this many years later, was the kind of night that reminds you why thrash never really goes away. It just keeps sharpening.

All photos by Joma Mandocdoc.