DARK ANGEL Hopes To Have 'Really Exciting News' Soon About Long-Awaited New Album

In a new interview with Heavy New York, Gene Hoglan was asked about the progress of the songwriting sessions for DARK ANGEL's long-awaited new album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I tell you, very soon we hope to be able to have a lot of exciting news available for all DARK ANGEL fans or anybody who's interested in our music or thrash metal in particular, hopefully in the very near future we're gonna be able to move things along and be able to announce some really exciting news forDARK ANGEL and for our fans and anybody, like I say, who might be interested. So hopefully that news is gonna make people go, 'Yeah! Yes!' So we're excited about being able to unveil it when — I hate to say 'when the time is right' — but just seriously, when we've got things together and the time is okay to be able to announce, 'We've got something happening, we've got something happening, we've got something happening, we've got something happening,' all these kind of things, being able to just move forward like one big tank, we're hoping to be able to do that very soon."

DARK ANGEL's founding guitarist Jim Durkin died on March 8 at the age of 58. An original member of DARK ANGEL, Durkin played on the band's first three albums — 1985's "We Have Arrived", 1986's "Darkness Descends" and 1989's "Leave Scars" — before departing the group in 1989. He was part of DARK ANGEL's lineup when the band reformed in 2013, and had been playing with them ever since.

DARK ANGEL released two albums with Don Doty on vocals — the aforementioned "We Have Arrived" and "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 — "Leave Scars" and "Time Does Not Heal" — before calling it quits in 1992.

Hoglan previously talked about DARK ANGEL's upcoming LP this past May in an interview with Friday 13th. He said at the time: "Jim and I, we had gotten together a number of times to write some new material for DARK ANGEL. And we weren't able to get it down on tape too much. If DARK ANGELhas any new material, there's a song that he's got on there that is pretty darn DARK ANGEL-esque.

"In tribute to Jim, DARK ANGEL's new material will have a ton of his spirit all over it — his feel. Whether he actually wrote stuff on the new stuff or not, his spirit is very there. His imprint is felt throughout thrash metal, I feel. Even before I was in DARK ANGEL, I'd see Jim's influence on bands. Absolutely. So his legacy will live forevermore in the realm of extreme metal. His style will always be a part of DARK ANGEL, absolutely, big time."

Pressed about the current status of new DARK ANGEL material, Gene said: "All I can say is that there is very, very, very, very exciting news that's gonna be coming from DARK ANGEL very soon. I think it's gonna make a lot of DARK ANGEL fans really happy. Until we are able to let anything out of the bag or anything, there's a number of things that DARK ANGEL is gonna be up to beforehand. The most I can say is I think it's gonna make a lot of people really happy, what's going on — as immediate DARK ANGEL future as we can, that's gonna be pretty darn cool for a lot of folks. So I'm pretty excited about the future… I'm really looking forward to the next coming months when we can let some people know what's happening, let folks know what's going on, and then also when they get the proof of all the things that are happening… We've got a lot of DARK ANGEL shows coming up. We've been doing like a 'Darkness Descends' night, and it's killer. We just did Los Angeles about a month ago — the most psychotic show I played since back in the day. Oh my God. Jesus, Lord Almighty. From minute one of the first show to the final minute of the last show, the three shows that we did, from ten seconds in, it was the most psychotic thing ever. So way to bring it, L.A., man. Let me tell ya."

Asked how the next DARK ANGEL album will compare to the band's previous efforts, Hoglan said: "Well, I can't really even comment on the fact that there might or might not be an album yet. But put it this way — if I were to have any new DARK ANGEL material, I would want it to be an extension of where the band is at now and where I'm at now. And I would probably approach the writing of it in a way as if DARK ANGEL never disappeared for a decade, two decades, three decades, or whatever it's been. It's just like we just kept doing what we do, and this would be where we're at right now. Which I would want to be putting out the most savage, heaviest material that DARK ANGEL could. And I'm no slouch with writing psychotic, heavy material. So I would be very, very excited with where DARK ANGEL's new material would be if that would be able to confirm."

DARK ANGEL 2023 is:

Gene Hoglan - Drums
Ron Rinehart - Vocals
Eric Meyer - Guitar
Michael Gonzalez - Bass
Laura Christine - Guitar