A year removed from their big label debut, Greece’s Suicidal Angels gets back on their podium of rage and spews out a vitriolic batch of rampaging thrash metal free of any modern mumbo jumbo save for the very strong production job. From the straight-forward drum rolls to the gruff vocals and the menacing cover art by Ed Repka (the man behinds classic images from Death, Megadeth and Vio-Lence among others), the band’s affection towards the old school has remained more than intact.

Within that old school style, I’d say the band’s vibe has leaped a continent. Their previous piece, Sanctify The Darkness, took its most considerable bows to the Central European masters in the vein of Kreator et al. On Dead Again, the overall atmosphere harkens to the Bay Area and notably the slightly more technical representatives like Megadeth and Testament. While still mashing in barrelfuls of Slayer, of course. The musicianship and song writing feels just a tad more slick and streamlined compared the unhinged swarm of sound that comprised the previous album. Whether this is a positive or not is of course up to the listener.

The clean guitar-intro song Damnation harkens towards the mellow interludes of Ride The Lightning or Arise and leads into Reborn In Violence, a hellraisin’ piece that skilfully combines a few bars of chugging grooves with utterly traditional and rapid thrash beats. The guitars rip and tear riffs in unison and the crowd feels the frenzy. The chorus employs some nice interplaying between the rhythmics and the vocal lines to create a slightly off-beat vibe that doesn’t become outright proggy, but hooks you in nicely. I also dig the inclusion of Damnation’s melody line in the middle of this song as well, which gives the intro song itself a distinct purpose beyond the admittedly played-out “Hey, let’s have an acoustic-like instrumental amidst all the distorted mayhem for the sake of creativity and dynamics”.

After this commendable start, Dead Again falls into a frustrating form of on again/off again. Tracks like The Trial and Victimized mix some fist-pumping mid-tempos in with the face-bashing riffage and wallbuzzing guitar solos to great effect, while tunes like Suicide Solution (not an Ozzy-cover, mind you) and Violent Abuse are the kind of slices of sonic destruction that should by all senses make you start up moshpits in lunch rooms and taxi cabs but…something is just missing. More than a half of the songs on this record suffer from the same effect. Yes they’re punishingly fast and heavy, in your face beyond a doubt. No there are absolutely no takeyourpickcore-breakdowns or turntables within thousands of miles but…my brain isn’t melting. While everything on paper seems perfect, the song material as a whole leaves the impression of really good stuff, without reaching beyond.

Really good was what Suicidal Angels already reached in flying colors on their previous album, so my expectations were higher. In comparison, that’s what this review boils down to – the lack of the element of surprise. If Dead Again was my first sample of the band, I’d most likely hype it with the same enthusiasm that I did with Sanctify The Darkness. Any fan of uncompromising thrashing should love this disc. But in my mind, these guys clearly have the potential to do better. The slight moments of deviation from the 3-minute hurricane-paced bloodbaths were what stood out to me here, so that may be something the band could emphasise next time around.