Death Angel or Annihilator?

Return of the random thrash metal poll! 

For me, it's Annihilator, easily. Their first two albums are excellent and I like some of their other stuff, as well. Death Angel has never really thrilled me. I like Act III and select songs from other albums, but I find them tremendously overrated. I think at least part of their popularity must be due to the more melodic vocals.

Annihilator but I enjoy both. Starting with Killing Season DAs stuff is as good as more recent Annihilator

Death Angel is great and they have one of the best logos ever, but I have to go with Annihilator.

I don't care for either, but I'd go with Annihilator because I too, have always found Death Angel very overrated.

For me, DA just doesn't have a lot of great riffs, especially compared to other classic thrash bands.

I have a friend who thinks Death Angel is the bomb and he has seen them live many times.  I have tried listening to their albums a few times and just don't find their music that compelling.  With Annihilator at least I can see why people would like them.

It's been the same with other Bay Area thrash bands like Vio-Lence, Laaz Rockit, and a few others.  Just could not get into them.  Testament was always my favorite Bay Area thrash band, especially when they were more melodic in the early days.

Vio-Lence has good riffs, but the vocals are very weak. 

I like Lääz Rockit a lot. They remind me a bit of Anthrax with their melody. 

Testament has great stuff, with my favorite still being their debut.

Annihilator!


Jeff Waters is a guitar master. And the first two albums are amazing thrash classics. 

Nothing against Death Angel… they are a good band and have some solid songs (a few great ones).

Pethead wrote:Testament has great stuff, with my favorite still being their debut.

IMO their debut is still one of the best metal albums ever.  
Same with the Exodus and Slayer debuts.  Crappy lyrics but the music is aces.

Honorable mentions to the debuts by Megadeth, Anthrax, and Overkill.

For my money, Slayer's debut blows away Reign in Blood, despite the acclaim the latter receives.

Someone said that Annihilator was the closest thing to early Tourniquet. I’d say that’s a fair comparison. They both had top notch debut and sophomore thrash albums (with quirky elements). In fact, if Guy Ritter was a secular vocalist, he would have been a great fit in Annihilator.

Pethead wrote:For my money, Slayer's debut blows away Reign in Blood, despite the acclaim the latter receives.

Show No Mercy doesn’t come close to the intensity of Reign in Blood. And the drum sound is horrid! The only redeeming factor on SNM is the strong Judas Priest and NWOBHM influence. 

I respect your opinion, but I agree that Reign is correctly praised as top tier. I would even say Hell Awaits is better overall than Show No Mercy. 

With that said… my favorite will always be Seasons in the Abyss. For the reason of: sound quality, performance, songs, and the variety of everything they did up until that point mixed in a blender.

1. Seasons in the Abyss (easily)
2. South of Heaven
3. Show No Mercy

Haven't even heard either, but I went with Annihilator because of the Tourniquet comparisons

Pethead wrote:1. Seasons in the Abyss (easily)
2. South of Heaven
3. Show No Mercy

 
I agree with your number one choice 1000%!

(My top 5)

1. Seasons in the Abyss 
2. South of Heaven 
3. Hell Awaits
4. Divine Intervention 
5. Show No Mercy

Musically speaking I consider Seasons one of the greatest thrash albums ever made.

There’s no denying Reign in Blood’s influence on modern thrash.

That’s one reason modern thrash is so monotonous and dull.

TZ75 wrote:

Pethead wrote:1. Seasons in the Abyss (easily)
2. South of Heaven
3. Show No Mercy

 
I agree with your number one choice 1000%!

(My top 5)

1. Seasons in the Abyss 
2. South of Heaven 
3. Hell Awaits
4. Divine Intervention 
5. Show No Mercy

I thought you were saying you really like Reign...

StevenCressler wrote:

TZ75 wrote:

Pethead wrote:1. Seasons in the Abyss (easily)
2. South of Heaven
3. Show No Mercy

 
I agree with your number one choice 1000%!

(My top 5)

1. Seasons in the Abyss 
2. South of Heaven 
3. Hell Awaits
4. Divine Intervention 
5. Show No Mercy

I thought you were saying you really like Reign...

You’re right!

I mistakenly put Hell Awaits in its place.  
SNM would be my 6th pick.

The correct order:

1. Seasons in the Abyss
2. South of Heaven 
3. Reign in Blood
4. Hell Awaits
5. Divine Intervention 

6. Show No Mercy

Pethead wrote:There’s no denying Reign in Blood’s influence on modern thrash.

That’s one reason modern thrash is so monotonous and dull.

It has some iconic riffs: Angel of Death, Postmortem, Raining Blood etc… and Tom sounds like a maniac! The album is considered very short (which minimizes the monotony effect). It’s not like a doom band that drags on and on at a slow pace… this is a quick assault! An adrenalized soundtrack for a 30 minute workout at the gym. 

Pethead wrote:Musically speaking I consider Seasons one of the greatest thrash albums ever made.

I absolutely agree!

1. Master of Puppets
2. Rust in Peace
3. Seasons in the Abyss

TZ75 wrote:

Pethead wrote:There’s no denying Reign in Blood’s influence on modern thrash.

That’s one reason modern thrash is so monotonous and dull.

It has some iconic riffs: Angel of Death, Postmortem, Raining Blood etc… and Tom sounds like a maniac! The album is considered very short (which minimizes the monotony effect). It’s not like a doom band that drags on and on at a slow pace… this is a quick assault! An adrenalized soundtrack for a 30 minute workout at the gym. 

Well, you named the 3 good songs…

Pethead wrote:

TZ75 wrote:

Pethead wrote:There’s no denying Reign in Blood’s influence on modern thrash.

That’s one reason modern thrash is so monotonous and dull.

It has some iconic riffs: Angel of Death, Postmortem, Raining Blood etc… and Tom sounds like a maniac! The album is considered very short (which minimizes the monotony effect). It’s not like a doom band that drags on and on at a slow pace… this is a quick assault! An adrenalized soundtrack for a 30 minute workout at the gym. 

Well, you named the 3 good songs…

Man, no votes for DA. I didn’t expect it to be this one-sided.

I like it.

Pethead wrote:Man, no votes for DA. I didn’t expect it to be this one-sided.

I like it.

If it was the other DA, I may have voted differently. 

TIME DOES NOT HEAL!