DEATH ANGEL's MARK OSEGUEDA Reflects On 1980s San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Scene: 'We Were Fortunate Enough To Be A Part Of It'

In a new interview with Doc Rock of the Metal Shop 101 podcast, DEATH ANGEL singer Mark Osegueda spoke about the rise — and eventual near-demise — of the 1980s thrash metal scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mark said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We were fortunate enough to be a part of it, and it's just an amazing area to live and grow up, especially back then — especially back then. It's changed dramatically from what it was, as far as the people that occupy it. I mean, back then it was more of a blue-collar city, or this area was mostly a blue-collar area, with a lot of artists and whatnot from the people that carried over from the '60s. And they were having children, and a lot of longshoremen and people like that, that were out here, that had kids, and these kids, us kids basically gravitated to rock and stuff like that. It seemed like just kind of that next generation of heavy music and tangible, that we could pick up instruments and become that. And we formed our own little scene out here, and it ended up becoming extremely healthy, in a weird way, 'cause everyone started forming bands, but everyone was very supportive of each other. There was friendly competition, which made everyone better players. And even though everyone was a thrash band, everyone had their own unique sound — no one sounded like each other. But if METALLICA was in town, they'd be at your shows. If EXODUS was in town, they'd be at your shows. METALLICA moved up here from Southern California because, at the time, Southern California didn't get 'em. But the Bay Area had a blue-collar scene [that] completely latched on to them."

Mark continued: "When SLAYER first came up here from Southern California and played, we went ravenous for 'em — it was crazy… And it still carries on to this day. If all the other bands are in town, we all go to each other's shows. And now there's a whole, I guess, newer crop of younger bands coming up too. And they're putting on their own shows here or at smaller clubs and bars that are having these metal shows, and they're packing 'em out. And it's been great. As I said, it's always been a very communal and supportive scene out here that. I guess that's what it was, friendly competition, that bred wonderful bands that had their own unique sound."

Asked how he thinks the thrash music scene has evolved and changed in the last four decades, Mark said: "Well, it ebbs and flows, 'cause, in all honesty, when DEATH ANGEL went through [the] 'Act III' [album touring cycle], it was peaking; it was peaking up in 1990. That's 35 years ago. And then we broke up in '90, but we still paid attention to what was happening in metal, individually, and you could just basically see the scene basically died throughout the '90s. Thrash metal, or metal in general, at least in the States, thrash metal especially, if the bands didn't break up, they were trying to go down different paths that didn't really stick to their roots. Everyone was just kind of fishing for what they were doing — everyone. And literally almost through all of the '90s, that was the case. And that was for thrash metal. 'Cause if I'm being perfectly honest, during that time in the '90s is when death metal got really big, which is awesome. But for my particular genre that I played in, it nosedived. And then I think what kind of really brought it back, in all honesty, if I could pinpoint a time, it was, to me, once again, the Bay area coming together, and it was in 2001 when Chuck Billy [TESTAMENT singer] got diagnosed with cancer and there was a big benefit show here in San Francisco called 'Thrash Of The Titans'. And all of these metal bands, thrash bands from that time, got together to raise money for Chuck and cancer research, for a great cause. And we were one of them. People flew out from all over the world to see the show. And bands that hadn't played in years, us included, got together for this one-off show. And it's literally like a bomb went off again throughout the world, and the ripple effects kind of brought thrash back alive, if you ask me. All of a sudden we were getting offers to go to Europe, and we toured Europe for maybe three years on just our original three records, and then we started getting offers to record new material, which was a whole other bag of beans. But we stuck with it and have, and we've had a career ever since. So, as I said, the scene shrunk, almost died, and then has now grown to a point where it just keeps growing, and younger bands are coming up and it's just making for a more well-rounded thrash scene. And now you have these huge festivals that mix different types or subgenres of metal. It's bringing a whole different crowd of people who had never seen this type of music and enabling them to see it and judge it for themselves if they're affected by it. But I like to think that if you're into metal and heavy music, there's really no way that you can't be intrigued or affected by the energy and the output of thrash metal in general."

DEATH ANGEL officially kicked off its "Act III U.S. Tour 2025" on November 26 at the Oriental Theater in Denver, Colorado.

"Act III U.S. Tour 2025" celebrates the 35th anniversary of DEATH ANGEL's "Act III" album and sees the band performing the LP in its entirety. The trek, which features support from VIO-LENCE (replacing originally announced support act TOXIC HOLOCAUST),LIONS AT THE GATE and MISFIRE, will wrap with two Christmas shows on December 18-19 at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California.

DEATH ANGEL was nominated for a Grammy Award for the title track of its latest studio album, "Humanicide". Released in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast, the disc 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.

DEATH ANGEL has released two new singles in 2025, "Wrath (Bring Fire)" , which was first made available in May, and "Cult Of The Used", which came out in November.