DEATH ANGEL Guitarist Talks Next Album, Upcoming DVD

BamMagazine.com recently conducted an interview with guitarist Ted Aguilar of San Francisco Bay Area metallers DEATH ANGEL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

BamMagazine.com: Have you played all the songs off "The Ultra-Violence" before?

Ted: I'm sure the band did back in the '80s. Since the band reformed, we've played everything off that album except for "Final Death". But when we started to do this 25th-anniversary run and had to play the "The Ultra-Violence" instrumental, that was a task, having to re-learn everything. It was challenging, and it was also fresh, because we haven't done [the songs] in a very long time, and "Final Death" was so new to everyone. It's getting us more into that thrash vibe. We're ending the "Relentless Retribution" cycle, and having to do "The Ultra-Violence" is getting us into that thrash, which is also going to transpire into the next record. And it's starting to sound like we're playing faster on these newer songs we've been writing.

BamMagazine.com: Is it the first time that DEATH ANGEL has played an album in its entirety?

Ted: Ever since the band formed, it's the first time the band has done the album in its entirety like this. So, it's cool. It's been challenging and fun to do "The Ultra-Violence".

BamMagazine.com: You guys have been writing for a new album while on tour?

Ted: Yeah, we've been writing for a while, when we're on the road, and riffs have been written. At least ideas have been getting recorded. When we go home during any gaps in-between tours, we start piecing them together. We have songs, no lyrics yet, eight skeleton songs. And Mark's [Osegueda, vocals] gonna start trying to put some lyrics to them. So, hopefully, by the end of the year, we're looking at probably having 16 songs, maybe more. We'll start picking out the best ones and start recording.

BamMagazine.com: And you guys have a DVD coming out?

Ted: Yes!

BamMagazine.com: Anytime soon?

Ted: We thought it would be in the fall, but a lot of things started to come up. We started to see the final cuts, and we wanted to add more. First it was supposed to be a live show with behind-the-scenes footage. Then, when we saw it — it was killer, and our minds started changing. Like, "No, let's just do a documentary." It's a "thrashumentary." So we had all these ideas: "Let's push back the release date and start doing this…" We hoped to get it out by the summer… but summer came, and we got busy, and our video guy, Tommy, got busy with other stuff. Right now, I can say it'll be before the end of the year. We just turned in the final edit notes, and hopefully by the end of next week we will see the final edits. It's looking good. Basically, it's going to give you a little history of [DEATH ANGEL], from the beginning until the band broke up, and all the side projects in-between, the band reforming, all the way until now. It's really good. And it's going to be a pretty long one, but it's going to be worth the wait!

Read the entire interview from BamMagazine.com.