Death Song is the fifth studio album by American psychedelic rock band The Black Angels released on April 21, 2017, 4 years after their last album Indigo Meadow. Recording took place during September 2016 at Arlyn, Avast! and Electrokitty Recording Studios. Phil Ek produced, mixed and engineered the album.[1]

Death Song
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 21, 2017
RecordedSeptember 2016[1]
Studio
  • Arlyn Studios, Austin, Texas
  • Avast! Studios, Seattle, Washington
  • Electrokitty
GenrePsychedelic rock
Length48:42
LabelPartisan
ProducerPhil Ek
The Black Angels chronology
Clear Lake Forest
(2014)
Death Song
(2017)
Wilderness of Mirrors
(2022)

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [1]
American Songwriter     [3]
The A.V. ClubB[4]
Paste          [5]
The Skinny     [6]

The album was released to generally favorable reviews scoring 75 on aggregate website Metacritic, based on 12 reviews.[2] Giving the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, AllMusic critic Mark Deming said of the album "Death Song is an album that's big on cool sounds and not as strong in terms of songs (despite the title), and if you're searching for compelling melodies or hooks, this album may not be your cup of acid. But if you're in the market for an album that will summon the dark atmospheres, Death Song certainly delivers the goods, and it demonstrates that the Black Angels slowly but surely improve each time they go into the studio."[1] Paste Magazine's Beverly Bryan gave the album 8.8 out of 10 in a rave review and said "...a dark, mysterious and sweeping record that returns to the combination of politics and mysticism that made their gritty anti-war themed first album Passover so fascinating.[5]

Track listing

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Death Song track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Currency"5:16
2."I'd Kill for Her"3:37
3."Half Believing"4:19
4."Comanche Moon"4:51
5."Hunt Me Down"3:53
6."Grab as Much (As You Can)"3:51
7."Estimate"5:09
8."I Dreamt"4:22
9."Medicine"3:31
10."Death March"3:24
11."Life Song"6:29
Total length:48:42

Personnel

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The Black Angels

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  • Christian Bland – bass, guitar, mellotron, vox continental, vocals
  • Stephanie Bailey – drums, electric organ
  • Jake Garcia – bass, guitar, vocals
  • Kyle Hunt – bass, guitar, Moog synthesizer, organ
  • Alex Maas – bass, harmonium, vocals

Technical and design personnel

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  • Phil Ek – engineering, mixing, producing
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Joe Hogyn – assistant engineer
  • Cameron Nicklaus – assistant engineer
  • Jacob Sciba – assistant ebgineer
  • Pierre Schmidt – album artwork[1]

Charts

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Chart performance for Death Song
Chart (2017) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[7] 79
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[8] 40
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[9] 78
French Albums (SNEP)[10] 92
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[11] 73
UK Albums Chart[12] 68
US Billboard 200[13] 94

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Deming, Mark. "Death Song". AllMusic. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Death Song reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  3. ^ Terich, Jeff (May 8, 2017). "The Black Angels: Death Song". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  4. ^ Bray, Ryan (November 17, 2017). "The Black Angels offer their most political record yet". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Bryan, Beverly (April 19, 2017). "The Black Angels: Death Song Review". Paste. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  6. ^ Wild, Pete (June 12, 2017). "The Black Angels – Death Song". The Skinny. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  7. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Black Angels – Death Song" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  8. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Black Angels – Death Song" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  9. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Black Angels – Death Song" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  10. ^ "Lescharts.com – The Black Angels – Death Song". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  11. ^ "Swisscharts.com – The Black Angels – Death Song". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  12. ^ "Death Song". Official Charts Company. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  13. ^ "Death Song". Billboard 200. Retrieved 17 December 2017.