The roots of Death Angel can be traced to California and a quartet of cousins, Rob Cavestany, Dennis Pepa , Gus Pepa and Andy Galeon who formed the original line up yet they were known by many other pseudonyms including Dark Fury and Cavestany before eventually deciding on Death Angel. Their first album 'The Ultra-Violence' was released in 1987 after experimenting with different variations of traditional metal. The album was released through Enigma Records, it failed to chart yet it was hailed as a cult success by the band's early fan base.
The band followed this with two albums, 'Frolic Through The Park' in 1989 which remains the only appearance on the US Billboard charts whilst 1990's 'Part III' scored the band moderate chart success across Europe. In late 1990 drummer Andy Galeon was critically injured when their tour bus crashed and this was seen as the catalyst that ended with the band's demise. Their record label encouraged them to replace Galeon with another drummer due him needing a year to recover yet when the band refused they were then dropped. Various members decided to pursue life outside music and by 1991 Death Angel was no more.
However in 2001 the band reunited for a benefit show, although Gus Pepa was unable to attend due to no longer being in the States so Death Angel continued with collaborator and friend Ted Aguilar. They released their first album in 14 years which was titled 'The Art Of Dying' in 2004. The 2010 release 'Relentless Retribution' peaked at #10 on the US Heatseekers charts as well as appearing on numerous European charts.
The Californian thrash metal band have had several stints of music production fame over the years, and have released several studio albums over the years. Death Angel are the kind of band that I wasn’t particularly interested in listening to until I saw them perform live. I was dragged along to a concert with a friend, and absolutely loved every moment. The instrumental talent that the band in incredibly high, and their musical solos demonstrated the complexity of their individual parts. Many people are inclined to think that the vocals in metal bands are simply shouting, but it is a highly difficult skill, and their front man, Mark Osegueda has it absolutely nailed.
Although their line up has changed quite a lot over the years, the band are incredibly strong and work together really well. They bounce their energy off of each other, and are constantly head banging throughout their sets, encouraging the audience to do the same. They played through their newest album The Dream Calls For Blood, as well as revisiting some of their older material, which seemed to please the long time fans.
Towards the end of the show, Ted Aguilar was chatting to us in the audience, telling a couple of funny stories, and revealed that they had a new album in the pipeline, and the band played us a preview of a track, and it sounded awesome!
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