Spoke angrily as Times once almost died (9)

'spoke angrily' is the definition.
(thunder can mean to speak loudly or angrily)

'times once almost died' is the wordplay.
'times once' becomes 'Thunderer' (The Times newspaper was nicknamed the Thunderer).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'thunderer' with its final letter taken away is 'thundere'.
'thundere'+'d'='THUNDERED'

'as' is the link.