DEATH ANGEL Guitarist Says Resurgence Of Thrash Metal Is 'Amazing'

The Rock Pit recently conducted an interview with guitarist Rob Cavestany of San Francisco Bay Area metallers DEATH ANGEL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Rock Pit: I wanted to ask you also about the [new DEATH ANGEL] album title, "The Dream Calls For Blood". I get the impression that it signifies some kind of battle cry or something. What's the meaning behind the name?

Rob: Yes, that is truly what it is; it's a battle cry, but it's also a mantra for us. Mark [Osegueda, vocalist] came up with that phrase when he wrote the lyrics for that song. I loved it when I read that. I was, like, "That's awesome, brother. I can totally feel where you're coming from," and he's representing our entire feeling about that which is for us, the dream is what we do. It's our band, it's keeping our band alive and staying in this musical world that we live to do and we have always done since we were little kids. That's the dream, and the blood represents everything that you put into it, and I mean everything. The countless hours, the blood, sweat, the tears, the heart and soul, all the sacrifices that goes along with it. Without trying to sound like it's all negative and dark, which it's obviously not, but a lot of it is. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. People don't realize, nor do they really care to know about it, because it's not really the important part, doesn't have much to do with the music that they are listening to and stuff but if you want to know the fuel behind what drives something like this, and what pushes you to bring out these things, it's just exactly that. And for us, it's all the personal reality that we are experiencing going through being in this band. The curse and the blessing that music is to us and the dream is your goal. The thing that you are reaching, your goal. Everyone has one, or at least hopefully they do. Many people do and they do everything in their power to make it happen, and that's what we do and we are just kinda pointing out. It's like us just releasing and venting out what it is to us and also a message to others that it's possible for other people to achieve their goals and their dreams but they have to put into it to get out of it.

The Rock Pit: In recent years, thrash metal seems to have gained quite a bit of interest with a lot of newer bands popping up and more fans getting into it. What's your take on this resurgence of thrash metal?

Rob: I think it's fucking amazing, man! It's great and about time. It doesn't surprise me, just because to me it's a solid genre, or sub-genre of metal, it's a solid brand of music. It's timeless in its own way. Of course, there are aspects of it that are dated, just like anything else, but the style of music in and of itself, it has such elements that just makes the blood pump and it's exciting and it's got killer musicianship, but it's got fucking loads of attitude and it's street level. It can really relate, and especially to the youth, and that's why we got turned on to it when we were so young. It's exciting, and it has all those elements, and I'm just really glad to see that a lot of younger bands and a lot of people in general are, if they didn't catch it the first time round, if they were too young or just weren't paying attention, maybe now is the chance for them to latch on and taste the flavor of this music that's called thrash. It's fun, it's a fucking killer time and there's a lot to be gained from delving into it and letting it take over your mind and your soul.

Read the entire interview at The Rock Pit.