San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans DEATH ANGEL will release a new live album titled “The Bastard Tracks” on Black Friday, November 26 via Nuclear Blast. Recorded live at The Great American Music Hall in their hometown of San Francisco on May 22, 2021, and streamed live soon after, “The Bastard Tracks” is a deep-cuts collection of rarely and never performed songs from the band’s celebrated catalog that will be released digitally and on CD, vinyl and Blu-ray.
A new trailer for “The Bastard Tracks” in which the members of DEATH ANGEL talk about how the album came to be can be seen below.
Vocalist Mark Osegueda stated: “When we performed and filmed the songs for ‘The Bastard Tracks’, it was such a crazy time, and having missed being able to perform live for so long was taking its toll on me to a certain degree as I have been a live performer for the majority of my life. I must say it was a pretty dark time. I know it was for so many of us. But music once again helped to pull us through it.
“It was a bit odd performing to no crowd, but it felt great re-learning some deep tracks and getting on stage with the guys and unleashing this pent-up aggression. And the response from everyone who tuned into it suggesting that we release it as an album was overwhelming. Well… thanks to them, here it is. I hope you enjoy it.”
Guitarist Rob Cavestany added: “Choosing and sequencing the songs for ‘The Bastard Tracks’ setlist was quite a different trip. All of them had rarely (and in some instances never) been played live. We hadn’t performed in front of a live audience for over a year, the longest ever for this band. It was to be filmed live at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and then broadcast worldwide on the good ol’ interweb! I could get into that…
“From basically re-learning most of these songs to getting them as tight as they should be, we put our energy together and made it happen. I’m thankful for having had this goal to focus on during those (still) crazy earth crisis days. It gave us an important reason to get together at DA studio and JAM! Literally the only time I’ve felt ‘normal’ since 2020 was while we were jamming. Fortunately, we’ve been able to do it a lot. Now, we proudly present the audio and visual recordings of those sessions. Turn it up! P.S. – We cannot wait to exchange live energy with you as soon as possible!!”
Last month, DEATH ANGEL revealed the record’s first single and live music video for “Where They Lay”.
Osegueda said of the track: “‘Where They Lay’ is a prime example of a DEATH ANGEL bastard track. We have rarely played this song live and I’m guessing the last time we did was 2010. I love the release I get singing this song. Namely because the screaming bits I do are so cathartic. And I need a release during these crazy times. And screaming is one of my favorite ways to get frustration out of my system. I look forward to screaming in front of a live audience again soon.”
Cavestany added: “Rise! This empowering message echoes thru the entire song from the first note to the last. ‘Where They Lay’ is one of our pure thrash cuts with those chugging riffs, pounding grooves and vicious lyrics that incites headbanging and thrashing. It’s so fun to play on guitar, I love the percussive, rhythmic attack and the solos are so twangy. I’m stoked to include it in the set and to launch it as the first single from our upcoming release ‘The Bastard Tracks’.”
Last December, DEATH ANGEL streamed its seventh annual “Another Death Angel XMas Show” from The Great Northern in San Francisco.
This past January, DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll confirmed to EXODUS frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza‘s YouTube channel, Zetro’s Toxic Vault, that he and his bandmates have spent part of their coronavirus downtime putting together material for the follow-up to the Grammy-nominated “Humanicide” album.
In October 2020, DEATH ANGEL released a four-song EP, “Under Pressure”. The effort included a cover of QUEEN + David Bowie‘s “Under Pressure”, followed by a new track titled “Faded Remains”, plus acoustic versions of “Act III”‘s classic “A Room With A View” and “Humanicide”‘s “Revelation Song”. The EP was mixed by Max Norman (OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH, BAD COMPANY) and mastered by Ted Jensen (LAMB OF GOD, MACHINE HEAD, HALESTORM).
Released in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast, “Humanicide” saw DEATH ANGEL returning to producer and friend Jason Suecof (DEICIDE, TRIVIUM) of Audiohammer studios for the recording and mixing, along with the mastering of the legendary Ted Jensen (SLIPKNOT, PANTERA) of Sterling Sound, who added the final touches and brought it all to life, with artist Brent Elliott White (LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH) providing the ominous cover artwork.
In March 2020, Carroll spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. He first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of “The Bay Strikes Back 2020” tour.
