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Blood Red Angel > The Language of Hate > Reviews
Blood Red Angel - The Language of Hate

The Hangman - Smiling cause he's still Aliiiveeeee! - 75%

Planetary_Misfortune, February 18th, 2024
Written based on this version: 2000, CD, Gutter Records

I find it a little concerning that there's a Teutonic thrash band from the Noughties with very little presence or discussion floating around in the ether. Four albums isn't a huge amount by thrash standards, but I suppose that the zeitgeist of this time was a very difficult era for metal bands - many of whom decided to tone it down; hoping desperately to capitalise on the success of their distant genre cousin - groove. This ultimately didn't work too well for anyone not named Metallica, and the entire nadir of the Nineties' thrash scene is a story probably told by many orators and scholars much more eloquently than anything I can muster.

Nevertheless, "The Language of Hate" is the debut album by Blood Red Angel - an act I can honestly say that I have never heard of. An early glance at the line-up doesn't remove any of the fog either. Numerous projects by the members is not necessarily a bad thing - even if I have never heard of any of them (Night in Gales being the sole exception.)

Opening with the title-track, my earlier premonition comes back to kick me squarely in the arse as the guitar riff and vocals are deeply entrenched in the late Nineties' groove movement, albeit with clear elements of thrash - the speed, the melodies and supporting instrumentation sit somewhere between both genres. Early impressions aren't too bad - I wasn't expecting a huge amount, and less than a minute to the song I already thought this was another thrash band with a Pantera problem. I'm delighted to say that the track opened up nicely and has a strong guitar solo, beefing it out into more of a thrashy number. "Jacob's Ladder" is laden with guitar solos and is far more technical than I expected this band to have any right to be. "Hangman" is about as thrash as a song can possibly get - "Watch him, the hangman - Smiling cause he's still alive".

The band does a lot of things correctly. They don't disrespect our time - Forty three minutes is at the upper end of an acceptable length for an album of this style, but they don't feel like a drag or a waste. They have a good grasp on how to sandwich an album. The best tracks appear at the start and towards the end, with the filler material sandwiching it. It's the best way to structure an album if you don't have Eleven "Master of Puppets" or "Tornado of Souls" to fill it with. But who does, especially this early into their career?

There isn't a lot to sit back and truly pick fault with. The album does have the aforementioned groove problem that thrash metal was embroiled with in the mid nineties to early naughties, but I can utterly understand any band wanting to reach the biggest possible audience, and evolving alongside the metal scene. I cannot slate a band for being the product of its time. In truth, the only real issue I have with this is that the vocals took a few songs to placate me. Bias is a serious issue when you've been around long enough!

The Summary

Early preconceptions were entirely unfair and vulgar. Blood Red Angel will not create a new chapter in the page book, but for all of the generic songs on here, this will hugely appeal to fans of Megadeth (Spangenberg's cleaner vocal has Mustaine written all over it) and Destruction (Pesch's leads at times become utterly technical and it's so hard to NOT make this comparison). The drumming has serious meat on its bones and is played with aplomb. The bass is extremely clear and so easy to hear that its true role in supporting the main melodies actually makes it harder to NOT hear and follow than it would be to lose it. There's literally more bass on this one album than there is on the entire first four Metallica albums.

In a slightly different universe, I'd expect to see Blood Red Angel discussed a lot more, especially within the Teutonic thrash circle. It's reasonable for me to say that some of the better songs on here would fit on some of the middle albums by the peers in the "Big Four" over there. Tankard and Kreator in particular have released far worse material, and don't even get me started on another comparison to Destruction. A worthy addition to any thrash fanatic's repertoire, and a genuine surprise to my humble ears.

Sell me this Album

- "Frontline" for its guitar solo. This comes from out of fucking nowhere and is absolutely glorious.
- "Hangman" for the fact that it's just such a fun, typical thrash song.
- "Virus" as I feel it has the best synergy between all instruments and probably best showcases the song writing.

I'd have preferred Spotify links, but in this region the material isn't on there, so YouTube is better than nothing. It at least seems to be posted by a band member so I am quite confident you've got a legal link to listen to.