Reactivated California thrash metal pioneers DARK ANGEL are continuing to work on material for their long-awaited comeback album. The band’s first CD since 1991’s “Time Does Not Heal” will feature the lineup that has performed sporadic live shows since reuniting in 2013: Gene Hoglan (drums), Eric Meyer (guitar), Jim Durkin (guitar), Ron Rinehart (vocals) and Michael Gonzalez (bass).
Speaking to DEATH ANGEL guitarist Ted Aguilar for the band’s “Alive & Streaming” Internet show, Hoglan stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for DARK ANGEL‘s next disc (see video below): “We are attempting to write another DARK ANGEL record. A bunch of things happened outside the music business that just sapped any sort of time, creativity… The time that I had allotted to spend on, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be home for a few months here’ kind of thing, ‘and I’m gonna write the hell out of DARK ANGEL stuff.’ No. I had to take back two months and deal with some stuff that happened outside the biz for me. And so that really just wiped out my creativity.
“Since this lockdown happened, I haven’t been able to get up to L.A. [to get together] with Jim Durkin, who is the legendary creator of DARK ANGEL. He’s back in the fold now. We did ‘Time Does Not Heal’ without Jim. But we’ve always found that we work best together when we’re just face-to-face. We both have guitars, and then we bought ourselves a little electronic kit, so I can drop a couple of beats and track over that.
“It’s been 31 years since Jim originally left the band,” Hoglan added. “Jim really [built for] himself a really beautiful career [outside the music business], so between his schedule [and] my schedule, it has been challenge. But I’m hoping for the best.”
DARK ANGEL released two albums with Don Doty on vocals — 1984’s “We Have Arrived” and 1986’s “Darkness Descends” — before he exited the group and was replaced by Rinehart (after a brief stint with Jim Drabos in 1987). The band issued two more studio LPs — 1989’s “Leave Scars” and the aforementioned “Time Does Not Heal” — before calling it quits in 1992.
