Death Angel
is a Filipino-American thrash metal band from Concord, California. Initially active from 1982 to 1991, the band reformed at the Thrash of the Titans
benefit concert for Chuck Billy in 2001.
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DEATH ANGEL TICKETS
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Biography
Early years (1982–1986)
Death Angel was formed in
San Francisco,
California, in 1982 by cousins Rob Cavestany (lead guitar), Dennis Pepa (vocals, bass), Gus Pepa (rhythm guitar), and Andy Galeon (drums). After considering a number of different names for the band, including "Dark Fury," Cavestany and D. Pepa settled on the name "Death Angel" after coming across a book by that title in a book store.
[1] In 1983, the band released their first demo,
Heavy Metal Insanity
, with
Matt Wallace serving as producer. According to Mark Osegueda, the group was then "more like a metal band, more like
Iron Maiden,
Tygers Of Pan Tang and stuff like that," as the so-called
Bay Area thrash movement was only just beginning to rise to prominence at the time, and make its influence felt.
[2] Osegueda, a second cousin of the other four members who had been working as their roadie, became the group's vocalist in 1984 and performed his first show with the band on a bill with
Megadeth in April of that year (at one of the four Megadeth gigs to feature
Kerry King on guitar).
Death Angel continued to play club gigs in and around the San Francisco Bay area for nearly 2 years, writing songs and refining their stage show. In 1986, the band recorded the
Kill As One
demo with Metallica's
Kirk Hammett (whom they had met at a record store signing in 1983) as producer. Due to the underground
tape trading wave of the early 1980s, the demo was distributed extensively and brought the band to the attention of a still-wider audience; Osegueda later recalled that prior to the release of the band's first album, "we were playing in
L.A. and
New York, and the crowd was singing our songs, because there was this underground tape trading....That's what keeps it alive, and I think that's absolutely wonderful."
The Ultra-Violence
and Frolic Through The Park
(1987–1989)
The success of
Kill As One
led to a record deal with
Enigma Records, who released Death Angel's debut album,
The Ultra-Violence
, in 1987. The band recorded the album when all the band members were still under 20 years old, and the album sold 40,000 copies in just four months. A video was filmed for "Voracious Souls," a song about a band of cannibals, but it never aired on
MTV due to the nature of the lyrics. The group released the follow-up album
Frolic Through The Park
in 1988, which spawned the single "Bored" (which was also used in the 1990 movie
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
), the video for which did receive regular airplay on MTV's
Headbanger's Ball
.
Frolic
featured more diverse material than the straightforward thrash of the first album; the album included a cover of
Kiss's "Cold Gin," and the relatively light, playful "Bored" was written under the seemingly unlikely influence of
U2, and the guitar playing of
The Edge in particular.
The band toured worldwide for the first time and found notable success in
Japan, selling out 2 full Japanese tours.
Act III
and breakup (1989–1991)
Geffen Records bought out the band's contract with Enigma Records in 1989 and released the third Death Angel album,
Act III
, in 1990. Produced by
Max Norman (who had previously worked with
Ozzy Osbourne and
Megadeth), the album showcased the band's newfound use of full-band backing vocals, while fusing elements of funk, thrash, and heavy metal with the use of acoustic guitars to give the album a varied feel, while staying true to the group's heavy roots. The album featured the singles "Seemingly Endless Time" and "A Room with a View" (a ballad sung mostly by guitarist Rob Cavestany), and both songs also received airplay on
Headbanger's Ball
, but a mainstream breakthrough still proved elusive. (The band released the "A Room with a View" video and single under the name "D.A.," and Cavestany explained to a reporter at the time that he now found the band's original name "restricting. The name Death Angel seems to imply hardcore thrash gloom-and-doom death metal, and we're not like that at all. If I were presented with 10 records, and one of them was by a band called Death Angel, and I'd never heard of them, I'd stick that one on the bottom!")
[3]
Also in 1990, Enigma Records -- after already having sold its interest in the band to the Geffen label -- illegally released and distributed
Fall from Grace
, an unauthorized bootleg live album featuring songs from their first two releases recorded at the Paradiso in
Amsterdam,
Netherlands. The album was released without any input from the band members with regard to its songs, contents, credits, concepts, artwork, or anything at all. They did not even learn of its existence until they stumbled upon it in a record store in
Tucson,
Arizona on the night prior to suffering a near-fatal auto accident (see below). Evidently Enigma Records folded after the release, cashing in on the sales and the album was also unknowingly picked up, manufactured and illegally distributed by Capitol Records. (The legal ramifications of this remain unresolved to the present day.)
Death Angel had embarked on what was scheduled to be a worldwide tour in support of
Act III
in 1990, selling out shows at the
Warfield Theater in San Francisco,
The Ritz in
New York, and
England's
Hammersmith Odeon. The band was also slated to be the opening act for the "Clash of the Titans" tour featuring
Megadeth,
Slayer,
Suicidal Tendencies, and
Anthrax later in the year (but were ultimately replaced by
Alice in Chains, since they were unable to perform). Additionally, around this time, Death Angel and Geffen were making plans to release a live album recorded at shows in the Bay Area, and the band was also intending to tour and perform in a number of other countries it had not previously visited.
But while on the road in late 1990 in
Arizona, en route to a show in
Las Vegas,
Nevada, the vehicle that the group was traveling in crashed, and drummer Andy Galeon was critically injured, needing more than a year to fully recover. Cavestany said at the time that "[i]n a way, it made perfect sense to have a major accident right now, it really fit the story line. We've been pushing so hard for 8 years and just not getting that far, and getting so frustrated with not being where we should be after so long, it was time for something climactic to happen!"
Following the accident, both Geffen Records and the band's manager pressured the group to hire another drummer and immediately go back to work. The band decided on doing a few shows in Japan with a different drummer but the chemistry was not there. When the band members declined to get a long term replacement and go on the road, they were dropped from the record label. At this point, Osegueda left the group and moved to New York to pursue a life outside of music, and Cavestany later explained that "[w]e weren't going to try to replace him and with all that stuff happening we were just totally disgusted at how things had turned out and we felt that this was a sign that the band was not going to go on."
[4] Following the split the remaining members performed just a few shows in the Bay Area, appearing as "The Past," and playing acoustic-only sets.
Post-Breakup (1991–2001)
In the summer of 1991, with Galeon fully recovered, Death Angel's remaining members, without Mark, reformed with the band under the name of
The Organization (the title of a song on
Act III
), with Cavestany taking over lead vocal duties. The band continued their exploration into new sounds, focusing less on traditional metal, and more on funk and alt rock. 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 US and Europe, including two appearances at the
Netherlands's
Dynamo Open Air Festival, a support slot on
Rob Halford's "Fight" tour and as the main support act for
Motörhead in
Europe. Unfortunately, both 1993's
The Organization
and 1995's
Savor the Flavor
(including a cover of
Steely Dan's "
Do It Again") distributed by, (
Metal Blade Records) failed to make waves with the record buying public, Rob Cavestany and Andy Galeon decided to call it quits.
In 1998, Rob Cavestany and Andy Galeon reunited with Mark Osegueda for the first time since 1990. Along with bassist Michael Isaiah, the trio formed
Swarm (USA) and released a four-track self-titled EP in 1999, along with the five-song
Devour
EP in 2001. Swarm toured with
Jerry Cantrell of
Alice in Chains in 2000, and in 2002 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." Although Swarm did not become a commercial success, it did bring the core of the band back together, setting the wheels in motion for a Death Angel reunion.
Reunion (2001–present)
Death Angel officially reunited in August 2001 for
Thrash of the Titans
, a cancer benefit show for
Testament frontman
Chuck Billy. Unfortunately, original guitarist Gus Pepa couldn't participate in the reunion since he was out of the country. At Rob Cavestany's suggestion and with Gus's blessing, the remaining band members enlisted their 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 the show led not only to a string of other well-received gigs around the San Francisco area, but also a pair of European tours -- despite the band not having issued an album in over a decade.They also participated in Wacken Open Air 2004. In 2004, 14 years after their last album, the band at last 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.
Mark Osegueda has since announced his involvement in the band All Time Highs, but has emphasized that he intends to remain a member of Death Angel.
[5]
Also, on April 2007, they played a show in the Philippines, at the 7th Pulp Summer Slam, which featured them as the main act.
In an interview with bassist Dennis Pepa
[6], he stated that a new Death Angel album would be recorded in September/October 2007 and released in early Spring 2008. Recorded at
Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, California,
Killing Season
was released on February 26, 2008.
In August 2007, Rob Cavestany released a solo CD of acoustic songs,
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).
Death Angel’s video for "Dethroned," a track off their latest album, Killing Season, debuted online on Thursday, April 17th, 2008, on Headbangers Blog.
At the October 28th show at the Grand in San Francisco, Death Angel announced that Dennis Pepa would be leaving the band and the show would be his final live performance with the band
[7].
On January 10 2009, Death Angel announced the addition of bassist Sammy Diosdado to the group's ranks. Sammy 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 Mark Osegueda.
[8]
On May 28 2009, Death Angel announced founding member Andy Galeon quit the band. He will be replaced on tour by Will Carroll (formerly of
Scarecrow,
Old Grandad and
Vicious Rumors).
Members
Current line up
- Mark Osegueda - vocals (1982–1991, 2001-Present)
- Rob Cavestany - guitars, backing vocals (1982–1991, 2001-Present)
- Ted Aguilar - guitars (2001-Present)
- Will Carroll - drums (2009)
- Sammy Diosdado - bass (2009)
Former members
- Andy Galeon - drums (1982–1991, 2001-2009)
- Gus Pepa - guitar (1982–1991)
- Dennis Pepa - bass guitar, backing vocals (1982-1991, 2001-2008)
Discography
Studio albums
- The Ultra-Violence
(1987)
- Frolic Through the Park
(1988)
- Act III
(1990)
- The Art of Dying
(2004)
- Killing Season
(2008)
Live albums
- Fall from Grace
(1990)
- Sonic German Beatdown - Live in Germany (2009)
Compilation albums
- Archives and Artifacts
(2005)
- The Long Road Home
(2007)
Singles
- "Bored"(1988)
- "Seemingly Endless Time" (1990)
- "A Room With A View" (1990)
- "Thrown to the Wolves" (2004)
- "5 Steps of Freedom" (2004)
- "Famine" (2004)
- "Prophecy" (2004)
- "No" (2004)
- "Spirit" (2004)
- "Never Me" (2004)
- "Lord of Hate" (2008)
- "Sonic Beatdown" (2008)
- "Dethroned" (2008)
- "When Worlds Collide" (2008)
- "God vs God" (2008)
Demos
- Heavy Metal Insanity
(1983)
- Kill as One
(1986)
Other appearances
- Metallic Attack: Metallica - The Ultimate Tribute
album ("Trapped Under Ice") (2004)
- Alone in the Dark
movie soundtrack (song: "The Devil Incarnate") (200
References
- Death Angel
- [1]
- DEATH ANGEL A fan who won a pair of tickets to Death Angel's December 1 show at Oakland's
- http://web.textfiles.com/ezines/COC/coc074.txt
- Metal News - All Time Highs To Release Split CD ( Metal Underground . com )
- The Gauntlet
- http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=107814
- http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=112220