Review by Felix on September 25, 2025.

Ah… uh… oh my God… how the hell to begin? Should I start with the obvious that this album is no new "Darkness Descends", no "Time Does Not Heal" and no "We Have Arrived"? That's probably lame. Maybe the other way round – since "Leave Scars", I was aware that Dark Angel do not only have the potential to start a fascinating conflagration of thrash, but are also able to disappoint? To be honest, I wish I would no longer dig in the past of a legendary combat unit whose highlights like "The Burning Of Sodom", "Welcome To The Slaughter House" or "Pain's Invention, Madness" have their firm place in my thrash loving heart forever. But it is impossible to forget their masterpieces, at least for me, and so it is hard for my simple mind to take "Extinction Level Event" just for what it is: a good album with some more or less serious deficiencies.

Perhaps it is a crude analogy, but to me this comeback sounds like a wilder, less repetitive version of Hallows Eve's "Monument", another very controversially debatable output. Why? Well, both works deliver such a homogeneous approach that it borders on monotony. No highs, no lows and a remarkable lack of dynamic and surprising ideas. This is not to say that "Extinction Level Event" sucks. By far not. We are not speaking about pseudo-thrash bullshit of the category "Set the World on Fire" or, not much better, about a non-authentic comeback gone wrong completely ("Third World Genocide"). I find many positive aspects here. For example, who does not appreciate that the line-up is not just one old hero and a couple of interchangeable sidekicks? Furthermore, the riffs are anything else but shitty. They are not the most vital ones ("Monument" sends greetings again), but they appear sinister, pretty sharp and adequately dirty. Admittedly, the quite faceless "Woke Up to Blood" speaks another language, but shit happens from time to time and this alone is no reason to throw the album into the next bin. And I can imagine that some good ideas just get lost during the ultra-short period of 34 years since the full-length's predecessor.

Somehow, the band sails close to the wind and doesn't lack in harshness, roughness and violence. But the energy fizzles out and it is simply sad that the opening title tracks marks a prime example in this context. The songs don't build up to a climax, and there are only few parts that you can't get enough of. Maybe this is not fair, because "Extinction Level Event" does not suffer from the aura of a delayed attempt of yesterday's heroes to make a quick buck. The brutal guitar sound alone shows that there still must be a passion for devastating metal battles. It dominates the mix, but this is a matter of course when it comes to an instrumental metal album.

Oh, what are you saying? Apart from the guitarists, there was also a singer, and he can even be heard somewhere between the wall of guitars? Yes, it is true, Ron Rinehart screams, shouts and yells and his voice has not lost its charisma. In rare moments, he still seems not to have overcome the traumas of the lead actress from the "Leave Scars" / "Time Does Not Heal" phase. But he must struggle to find his righteous place in this celebration of merciless six strings. By contrast, Hoglan does not care about the production. As always, he performs like a berserk on dope, while he still manages to give his contribution a somehow stoic touch. And so, as the album progresses, there are some jewels to discover. You just have to dive deep enough.

"Scalar Weaponry" sounds like a horrible car crash, but as we know, many people look at the wrecked vehicle as they drive past. Death and destruction can be so fascinating... "Atavistic" exudes venom from every pore (I mean this venom that needs no Cronos or Mantas to be dangerous), but the best, most intense and cruellest attack is called "Apex Predator". Here Dark Angel manage to make gold out of their energy and so this track captures the real ferocity, which was actually supposed to enhance the whole full-length. Also not bad: the comparatively slow, almost creeping "Sea Of Hades", which gives Rinehart's voice and the guitars a little room to breathe and take effect. On the other hand, only people who like it boring will listen to tracks like "Scarface The Room" or the really shockingly weak "E Pluribus Nemo". And it surely sounds strange, but a song like the closer "Extraction Tactics" appears adventurous and – to a certain degree – uninspired at the same time. (Thankfully not as uninspired as the artwork, but still problematic.) By the way, the entire last third of the release shows that Dark Angel's self-defined quality standards for the selection of the songs were too low. Why didn't they stop after 40 minutes? Mysterious megalomania might be the reason. So at the end of the day, somehow I am happy that the band returned and somehow I regret that the band returned. The Dark Angel is not guilty and the crime is not a shitty album, but I fear the sentence is death and darkness descends. Forever.

Rating: 6.6 out of 10