Death Angel and Vio-lence: The Belasco - Los Angeles, CA - 12/17/25
Bay Area thrash metal band Death Angel announced their headlining tour for the year. On this tour, they would be celebrating the 35th anniversary of their third album Act III by playing it in full. With it being one of their best albums, it was set to be an amazing tour. Joining them on tour would be Vio-lence, Lions at the Gate, and Misfire. Near the end of the tour, the stop was at the Belasco in Los Angeles, California. Lots of metal fans were obviously in attendance even on a Wednesday night because they know they were in for an amazing night with some classic thrash metal.
The second to last band were the old school thrashers, Vio-lence. They are considered to be one of the big six of Bay Area thrash metal alongside bands like Exodus, Testament, and Death Angel. From their original lineup, only vocalist Sean Killian remains even after they reformed in 2019. Vio-lence came out and started their show with “Eternal Nightmare,” the first song from their 1988 debut album of the same name, which is considered to be a thrash metal classic when it comes to metal albums. The fans once again wasted no time in moshing and thrashing to some old school thrash metal. Vio-lence continued the onslaught with classics like “Serial Killer,” “Phobophobia,” and “Kill on Command.” Fans kept moshing and crowd surfing and didn’t show any signs of getting tired. The whole band was on point and didn’t miss a beat. The finale to their show was “World in a World,” and it gave the audience one last chance to let loose. Vio-lence left the stage and made way for the headlining band of the tour.
Grammy-nominated Death Angel are another one of the best metal bands to come out of the Bay Area. Since being active in 1982, they have released nine albums with the latest being Humanicide in 2019. The venue was super packed by the time Death Angel came out on stage. The first song performed was “Seemingly Endless Time” off the Act III album. Once again, the audience quickly went into a frenzy as they started to mosh and shove into each other. Next up was another song from the Act III album, the classic track “Stop”. The dual guitar work from Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar is a thing of beauty and would drive the mosh pits wild. Vocalist Mark Osegueda still sings to perfection and hits every note without missing a beat. More classic Death Angel songs were performed including “A Room with a View”, and “Veil of Deception”. At this point, there were crowd surfers everywhere and anyone who was near the barricade was surely getting pummeled one way or another. The last song on their set was the album’s finale “Falling Asleep”, and it was a fast one that let the audience continue being the wild bunch that they’d been all night. Death Angel finished up their set and left the stage. The audience stuck around and chanted for them. After a quick break, Death Angel came back out for some encores. The first encore was “Humanicide” and that song gave Death Angel a Grammy nomination in 2019 for “Best Metal Performance”. More encores included “The Moth” and “Bored”. The grand finale of the show was “Thrown to the Wolves”. It gave the audience one last chance to mosh and thrash their lives away. The show had to sadly come to an end, but it was an unforgettable night for it being nearly the end of the year. Death Angel thanked the audience once more and then left the stage for the last time. They are long overdue for a new album and hopefully it gets released sometime in 2026.
