Death Angel: Американдық трэш-метал тобының тарихы

American thrash metal band

Death Angel is an American thrash metal band from Daly City, California, initially active from 1982 to 1991 and again since 2001. It has released nine studio albums, two demo tapes, one box set and three live albums. The band has gone through several line up changes, leaving guitarist Rob Cavestany as the only constant member; he and vocalist Mark Osegueda (who joined the group in 1984) are the only members of to appear on all of their studio albums. Death Angel is considered one of the key bands in the Bay Area thrash metal movement of the 1980s, and secured opening slots at club venues that decade, including opening for their peers Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Testament, Overkill, D. R. I., Mercyful Fate and Possessed. They are also often credited as one of the leaders of the second wave of thrash metal movement from the 1980s, and considered one of the "big eight" of the genre (along with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament, Exodus and Overkill), as well as one of the so called "Big Six of Bay Area thrash metal" (alongside Exodus, Testament, Lȧȧz Rockit, Forbidden and Vio lence). Following the underground success of their first two studio albums, The Ultra Violence (1987) and Frolic Through the Park (1988), Death Angel signed to Geffen Records in 1989, and released their only album for the label, Act III, the following year. While touring in support of Act III, then drummer Andy Galeon was injured in a bus accident and took over a year to fully recover. This resulted in the band's break up in 1991. It reformed in 2001 (without original rhythm guitarist Gus Pepa) at the Thrash of the Titans benefit concert for Testament singer Chuck Billy. It has since released six more albums, including Humanicide (2019), whose title track gave Death Angel a Grammy Award nomination. They are currently working on their tenth studio album, which is tentatively due in 2024 or 2025. The band holds a semi regular Christmas concert.

In the summer of 1991, with Galeon fully recovered, Death Angel's remaining members, minus Osegueda, reformed under the name the Organization (which was the title of a song on Act III), with Cavestany taking over lead vocal duties. The band focused more on funk and alternative rock than traditional metal. The Organization's first demo was recorded and produced at City College of San Francisco's multitrack studios by Eric Kauschen and Dana Galloway. The Organization toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including two appearances at the Dynamo Open Air Festival in the Netherlands, a support slot on Rob Halford's "Fight" tour, and as the main support act for Motörhead in Europe. Both 1993's The Organization and 1995's Savor the Flavor albums, distributed by Metal Blade Records, failed to make waves with the record buying public, and Cavestany and Galeon disbanded. Around 1992, Osegueda was invited to audition for Anthrax after the departure of Joey Belladonna. The band eventually hired John Bush of Armored Saint, and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian later wrote that Osegueda "had a great voice but was strangely too metal for us." In 1998, Cavestany and Galeon reunited with Osegueda for the first time since 1990. Along with bassist Michael Isaiah, they formed Swarm and released a four track self titled EP in 1999, and the five song Devour EP in 2000. Swarm toured with Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains in 2000, and released the compilation album Beyond the End, which combined the contents of the two EPs with a cover of the Doors' "My Eyes Have Seen You", in 2003. Although Swarm did not become a commercial success, it did bring the core members of Death Angel back together, setting up an official reunion.

Death Angel officially reunited in August 2001 for Thrash of the Titans, a cancer benefit show for Testament frontman Chuck Billy. Original guitarist Gus Pepa could not participate in the reunion since he was out of the country. At Cavestany's suggestion, and with Pepa's blessing, the band enlisted longtime friend and fan, Ted Aguilar, to handle rhythm guitar duties. Originally planned as a one off show, the band received such a positive response that they played a string of other well received gigs around the San Francisco area and a pair of European tours, despite the band not having issued an album in over a decade. They also participated in Wacken Open Air and the Bang your Head 2004. Osegueda had since announced his involvement in the band All Time Highs, but had emphasized that he was going to remain a member of Death Angel. In 2004, 14 years after their last album, the band released The Art of Dying on Nuclear Blast records. Archives and Artifacts, a box set with remastered versions of the long out of print The Ultra Violence and Frolic Through the Park, along with a bonus Rarities CD and DVD, followed in 2005. In April 2007, they headlined the seventh Pulp Summer Slam in the Philippines. In August 2007, Rob Cavestany released a solo CD of acoustic songs called Lines on the Road, the material on which was written in collaboration with Gus Pepa, and performed by Cavestany (vocals, bass, guitar) Gus Pepa (guitar) and Andy Galeon (drums). The band's fifth album, Killing Season, recorded at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, California, was released on February 26, 2008. The video for the album's track "Dethroned" debuted online on April 17, 2008, on Headbangers Blog.

At a show at the Grand in San Francisco on October 28, 2008, Death Angel announced that founding member Dennis Pepa would be leaving the band, and that the show would be his final live performance with them. Citing creative differences, he stated: "I've been with Death Angel since its inception in the '80s and believe it is time for me to move on. Throughout my career with the band, I've brought a punk influenced edge to the Death Angel sound, and as an open minded musician in need of change, I'd like to diversify and explore other opportunities within and beyond the genre of metal.". On January 10, 2009, Death Angel announced the addition of bassist Sammy Diosdado to replace Pepa. Diosdado is a Bay Area native who previously played with the San Francisco hardcore band the Sick and is a member of the rock and roll outfit All Time Highs, which is fronted by Osegueda. Drummer and founding member Andy Galeon left Death Angel in May 2009 for family and personal reasons. He stated in a September 2009 interview: "We had a tour booked, and basically, I had personal things I had to deal with — I had a newborn baby — and I just was like, 'Well, I've gotta do stuff at home.' We [the members of Death Angel] weren't communicating well or nothing. I wasn't about to ask them to not go [on the road], so I just said, 'I'll just leave then. This left Rob Cavestany as the only founding member remaining in the band. Galeon was replaced by Will Carroll (formerly of Scarecrow, Old Grandad and Vicious Rumors). In November 2009, Sammy Diosdado was replaced by bassist Damien Sisson, formerly of the thrash bands Scarecrow and Potential Threat, as well as progressive instrumental trio Points North. The band's sixth studio album, Relentless Retribution, was released in September 2010. The album was recorded at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (Trivium, August Burns Red, the Black Dahlia Murder, All That Remains, Whitechapel, DevilDriver). It was the first Death Angel album recorded without longtime drummer Andy Galeon or either of the Pepa cousins. Death Angel toured in support of Relentless Retribution for two and a half years. They embarked on the European Thrashfest tour in late 2010 with Kreator, Exodus and Suicidal Angels, and supported Anthrax and Testament on the Worship Music tour in North America three times (in October–November 2011, January–February 2012 and September–October 2012). Death Angel released their seventh album, The Dream Calls for Blood, on October 11, 2013. The album landed at #72 on the Billboard 200, making it the band's first chart entry since 1988's Frolic Through the Park, and their first to crack the Top 100 on the American charts.

Death Angel entered the studio in late 2015 to begin recording their eighth studio album, The Evil Divide. The album was released on May 27, 2016 and peaked at number 98 on the Billboard 200, giving them their second highest chart position. Testament on their Brotherhood of the Snake tour in Europe, and Sepultura on their Machine Messiah tour in Australia, as well as taking part in the 2018 edition of the MTV Headbangers Ball European tour, also featuring Exodus, Sodom and Suicidal Angels. The band began the recording sessions of their ninth studio album in mid 2018, again teaming up with producer Jason Suecof, who they had worked with since Relentless Retribution. The resulting album, Humanicide, was released on May 31, 2019. Prior to the album's release, they (along with Mothership) toured North America by supporting Overkill on their Wings of War tour. The band also toured Europe that summer, opening for bands such as Arch Enemy, Testament and Anthrax on selected dates as well as headlining their own shows,

In November 2019 the title track to Humanicide was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance", becoming Death Angel's first Grammy nomination. The award ultimately went to Tool for their song "7empest". Death Angel continued touring into 2020 in support of Humanicide, including taking part in The Bay Strikes Back European tour with Testament and Exodus in February–March.

After the Bay Strikes Back tour, which took place as the COVID 19 pandemic was beginning to spread around the world, drummer Will Carroll contracted COVID 19 and was admitted to an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital. Gary Holt of Exodus and Testament members Chuck Billy and Steve Di Giorgio also fell ill after returning from the tour, as did various members of their crews. On April 2, 2020, after nearly two weeks on a ventilator, Carroll posted a lengthy update on his condition, thanking his family and friends for supporting him, and revealed that he had been "getting some new files from Mr. Rob Cavestany which will eventually be DA's 10th record." By mid 2020, Carroll had fully recovered from COVID, and confirmed in an interview with Rock Immortal in August that he and Cavestany were already working on new material for the next Death Angel album. In December 2021, Osegueda stated that the band had "started writing in the very, very early stages" for their new album, but indicated that its release could be pushed back to 2023, due to the COVID 19 pandemic and their tour schedule for 2022. They began recording demos for the album in March 2022, and progress continued to be slow by January 2024, when Carroll confirmed that he "tracked drums for a demo of a new Death Angel song". On October 9, 2020, without prior announcement Death Angel released the digital EP Under Pressure. Unlike previous releases, it is almost entirely acoustic. It contains a cover of the Queen song "Under Pressure", one new original song "Faded Remains", and remakes of the tracks "A Room with a View" from Act III and "Revelation Song" from Humanicide. The band released a new live album on November 26, 2021, titled The Bastard Tracks, which was recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on May 22 where Death Angel played tracks that had rarely or never before been played live. Death Angel resumed touring in the spring of 2022 by supporting Testament and Exodus on the North American leg of The Bay Strikes Back tour, which was initially set to take place in October and November 2021 but the COVID 19 pandemic caused the tour to be rescheduled for another six months. The band toured with Testament and Exodus again in Europe during the summer of 2022, and then in North America in the fall as part of the Bay Strikes Back tour. Death Angel continued touring in 2023, including supporting Kreator and Sepultura on the Klash of the Titans tour in North America, followed by an Asian tour in the fall with Testament and Exodus, and co headlining the Night of the Living Thrash European tour with Sacred Reich.