In a brand new interview with the Brutally Scrumptious podcast, drummer Gene Hoglan of California thrash metallic pioneers DARK ANGEL spoke in regards to the band’s first new album in 34 years, “Extinction Stage Occasion”, which was made out there digitally on September 5 by way of Reversed Data. Concerning the fan response to the LP, Gene mentioned (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Properly, up to now folks appear to be digging it. That is all we ever needed. It is out there on reversedrecords.com proper for the time being, and we have been attempting to get everyone to get our model of it earlier than we ever ship it to a streaming service or something like that. Simply because Spotify would not sound good. [At the moment it’s available directly] by us solely. So you’ve got gotta go to reversedrecords.com to seize it.”
Concerning whether or not “Extinction Stage Occasion” will ultimately be made out there by way of all of the streaming music providers, Gene mentioned: “Sooner or later probably, however proper now I let you know, my administration has been guiding me within the route of what is been taking place with quite a lot of the, the streaming providers. And quite a lot of them proper for the time being are at present simply amending their phrases of service. And it’s even worse for the artists. So we’re simply gonna sort of wait it out a bit bit.”
Requested if he was involved that not making “Extinction Stage Occasion” out there on the streaming music providers would restrict the LP’s visibility, Hoglan mentioned: “Properly, it’s what it’s. And so we’re simply attempting to assume in the long run proper for the time being. So, for true DARK ANGEL followers, they will know to go to Reversed, and the album is promoting by Reversed, which is lucky. However so long as folks get to listen to it, that is all I care about. ‘Trigger you by no means make a ton of cash at this, however we simply need folks to have the ability to hear it, test it out, hear it in its true type as nicely. ‘Trigger we put quite a lot of work into it and we produced it in a method that is sort of unusual as of late — simply having reside enjoying, actual amps, actual guitars. There was no one sitting in entrance of a station at house of their basement with their little Professional Instruments. No, we did all of it reside — actual mics, actual performances, nothing gridded or no A.I. put to vocals.”
After the interviewer famous that listeners can inform when recorded music been quantized, Gene concurred. “Oh, God, yeah,” he mentioned. “The whole lot is as of late. All I do know is that we did not wish to sound sterile or processed the place every thing’s simply sort of that even airplane with not quite a lot of life to it. There is a ton of life to the manufacturing on the brand new file. In order that’s actually thrilling. So, we’re excited to have the ability to put that half ahead for people. And I am not saying we’re gonna begin a development or something, ‘trigger it is vitally arduous to supply an album the way in which that we simply did. It is a problem, and we did face our challenges. And our producer, Rob Shallcross, he was very vehement and adamant in sticking to the plan… However in the long run, he is appropriate and the manufacturing got here out killer. I really like the album, man. There’s quite a lot of simply nice vibes across the sonicness of it, the tones and the sounds. So, test it out the way in which we would like you to listen to it, reversedrecords.com. And we’re excited in regards to the songs, the manufacturing, the music, the lyrics, the vocals, the art work, the leads, the drums. The whole lot got here out actually killer on it. So we’re actually excited.”
This previous June, DARK ANGEL launched “Round Firing Squad”, the second single from “Extinction Stage Occasion”. The LP’s first single, the “Extinction Stage Occasion” title monitor, was written by DARK ANGEL guitarist Jim Durkin a decade in the past, lengthy earlier than he suffered from extreme liver illness, and, to the shock of everybody, handed away in 2023. It was recorded and blended on the Armoury Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, govt produced by DARK ANGEL drummer Gene Hoglan, produced and engineered by Rob Shallcross and blended by Mike Fraser.
Durkin died on March 8, 2023 on the age of 58. An unique member of DARK ANGEL, Durkin performed on the band’s first three albums — 1985’s “We Have Arrived”, “Darkness Descends” and 1989’s “Go away Scars” — earlier than departing the group in 1989. He was a part of DARK ANGEL‘s lineup when the band reformed in 2013, and had been enjoying with them, on and off, ever since.
Previous to his loss of life, Durkin had been sitting out a few of DARK ANGEL‘s gigs. He was changed on the reveals by Hoglan‘s spouse Laura Christine, who has since joined DARK ANGEL as a everlasting member.
The “Extinction Stage Occasion” art work and format was designed by Cain Gillis, with ideas by Hoglan.
“Musically, lyrically, and vocally, I am so stoked about this album,” Hoglan beforehand mentioned. “I am actually enthusiastic about DARK ANGEL proper now, and everybody who’s heard the brand new album is dropping their minds. Each time I would end a track and ship it over to the blokes, everyone was, ‘Gene, that is my favourite track!’ ‘No, that is my favourite track!!’ ‘Dude, that is completely my favourite track!!!’ That is by no means a foul signal.”
Hoglan and Christine wrote every thing apart from the title monitor on “Extinction Stage Occasion”. Different songs showing on the hassle embrace “Atavistic”, which is described as “a full-on three-minute thrash metallic barrage”, “Woke Up To Blood”, the title of which stemmed from a canine assault, and “Terror Assemble”, which Gene wrote about the way in which the media and companies group as much as unfold worry among the many lots to allow them to proceed to fill their pockets.
The seeds of “Extinction Stage Occasion” had been planted in late 2013 between the time when TESTAMENT stopped touring to work on their new file and Hoglan was scheduled to work on his subsequent main mission. After the primary batch of writing periods for “Extinction Stage Occasion”, Hoglan needed to put writing for DARK ANGEL on maintain till late 2022. With different obligations behind him, Gene laser-focused on DARK ANGEL, listening again to the jams he and Durkin made earlier, and writing greater than 10 new songs over the following three months. With a full album of pummeling new songs, Hoglan flew to Vancouver to trace the album on the Armory. There, he and his bandmates labored with Rob Shallcross and Mike Fraser, and over a couple of periods, DARK ANGEL had recorded every thing however the vocals.
Having handed away two years in the past, Durkin‘s sudden loss of life continues to be traumatic for DARK ANGEL and particularly Hoglan. On the identical time, he takes bittersweet satisfaction in figuring out that Jim‘s enjoying and performances reside on by him and DARK ANGEL, not solely when the band performs his previous riffs, but in addition within the continued affect Durkin has on the band’s new songs.
“One of many final issues I instructed him was, ‘Jim, dude, you are my unique guitar hero,” Hoglan recalled. “‘My whole guitar fashion is predicated in your fashion since you are who I actually discovered find out how to play guitar from.’ So, my guitar strategy with DARK ANGEL is Jim Durkin‘s strategy. After I write for the band, I am considering, ‘What would Jim do right here?’ That is why his presence is massively throughout this new file. Each single track. I needed to make it to the place individuals are like, ‘Yeah, Jim wrote that riff. Oh, there’s one other Jim riff’ as a result of Jim wrote all the perfect riffs within the band, ceaselessly.”
DARK ANGEL launched two albums with Don Doty on vocals — the aforementioned “We Have Arrived” and “Darkness Descends” — earlier than he exited the group and was changed by Ron Rinehart (after a short stint with Jim Drabos in 1987). The band issued two extra studio LPs — “Go away Scars” and “Time Does Not Heal” — earlier than calling it quits in 1992.
In a latest interview with San Antonio Present, Hoglan acknowledged about his songwriting strategy for “Extinction Stage Occasion”: “Actually, one of the best ways to maneuver ahead with a brand new set of DARK ANGEL materials can be to acknowledge these earlier eras, after all. They’re essential components of the DARK ANGEL legacy. However anyone who is aware of DARK ANGEL — who’s accustomed to our trajectory — additionally will likely be very cognizant of the truth that we have by no means repeated ourselves on file. The primary album, ‘We Have Arrived’, didn’t sound like ‘Darkness Descends’, and ‘Darkness’ did not sound like ‘Go away Scars’ and ‘Time Does Not Heal’. So, anyone who considers themselves a DARK ANGEL fan, they are going to be nicely conscious of the evolutionary technique of DARK ANGEL, the non-repeating of sounds and approaches. So, finally, I simply sort of felt, ‘Properly, hey, what if we had been to only take the strategy of what if DARK ANGEL simply saved placing out information all through this complete 30-plus-year interval. The place would the band be proper now?’ And that was sort of probably the most interesting strategy.
“I am not going to attempt to replicate ‘Darkness Descends’, or ‘Time Does Not Heal’ or ‘Go away Scars’ or ‘We Have Arrived’, for that matter,” he clarified. “However, writing from right here and now, that is very, very DARK ANGEL — what it is like to write down as a DARK ANGEL of our present talents and mindsets and approaches. So, that was one of the best ways of shifting ahead with writing new materials — for me anyway. That made it actually, actually thrilling.”
