Right from the start, I had the tendency to believe that this legendary Bay Area Thrash Metal act would make a great comeback album unlike their fellow countrymen EXODUS- after all DEATH ANGEL had never failed to deliver non stop top notch material, having managed to end up their career with a milestone in “Act III”, something EXODUS failed to do. Enough on EXODUS, you know by now where I stand when it comes to their new album, it’s DEATH ANGEL here and that’s all that matters. “The Art…” is the type of album that leaves a strange sensation after it stops and repeating listens doesn’t change anything because it’s not really the type of album that fullfill my hunger but it’s not bad either. While it starts in a shredding way with ‘Thrown To The Wolves’ – a typical great thrashing talented tune, but as soon as the second tune ‘5 Steps To Freedom’ comes you know that “The Art…” won’t be the total killer album you were expecting and the more you hear, the more it becomes obvious, simply because the Rock influence prevails on the Metal influence. Now don’t take me wrong, Mark Oseguada’s ripping singing mixed with Cavestany’s unreal sense of melody makes songs like ‘Thicker Than Blood’, ‘The Devil Incarnate’ (Mark sounds unreal on this one) very enjoyable tunes and way better than what most of the so called Metal acts around can deliver but it’s simply NOT PURE METAL or I’d say DEATH ANGEL songs. It’s definitively closer to THE ORGANIZATION most of the time than to DEATH ANGEL, no matter what the boys can say everywhere. 15% of this record is Metal but the majority isn’t due to that Rock feel being too obvious but like I said that doesn’t mean that this record sucks because no matter what style those guys play (well SWARM sucked somewhat), their talent allows them to come up with winners most of the time, but this isn’t a record that should have been issued as DEATH ANGEL, as simple as this. As a third THE ORGANIZATION album, I would have called it great- even killer, but as a DEATH ANGEL album I would call it okay and their most dispensable one out of their four studio albums. Highlights are the opening song, ‘Spirit’, ‘The Devil Incarnate’ and the totally awesome closer ‘Word To The Wise’ (a tune that can be compared to the fantastic ‘Veil Of Deception’, a totally emotional track sung by Cavestany). Now you know where I stand with this record, if you’re a real Metalhead and a total DEATH ANGEL freak since the first hour, chances are that you’ll be disappointed but still gives it a chance because again it’s still a good comeback that leaves hope for better things from this band unlike EXOcrap- simply don’t come up to me screaming that it’s a pure DEATH ANGEL album or their best album ever because it’s definitively not. (needless to say that I see things completely different… the new EXODUS fuckin’ rules, while this is by no means a worthy DEATH ANGEL comeback! – Frank).