DEATH ANGEL's Writing Sessions For Next Album Are 'Going Great'

In a new interview with El Planeta Del Rock, DEATH ANGEL vocalist Mark Osegueda stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next studio album (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's going great. And we're excited about it. That's where DEATH ANGEL is right now, writing the new record… I think I was at [DEATH ANGEL guitarist Rob Cavestany's] house on Thursday and I laid down vocals to a demo of a new DEATH ANGEL song. And there's more songs I've gotta start writing the lyrics and melodies for, 'cause him and Will [Carroll, DEATH ANGEL drummer] are in the studio and Rob has been tracking Will's drums on these songs for demos and now it's time for me to catch up and write more lyrics and melodies. It's happening. And the only thing that's gonna slow it down — and I don't mind; we're all excited about it — starting next week, we'll switch the gears into rehearsing for the Latin American 'Humanicide' tour. So we'll be rehearsing for the Latin American 'Humanicide' tour, go on that tour, which we're not trying to rush, then we'll come back, take a moment to breathe, and then it's right back into writing. That'll be the main focus after that."

Asked if there is any chance of DEATH ANGEL releasing a new single this year, Mark said: "That's a good question. I don't know. We're more of an album band. 'Cause we wanna write a whole bunch of music and cherry pick the best songs that we think will make a solid, solid, vicious record, especially after — [it being] the follow-up to 'Humanicide' and being that it's already been, we're going on five years since the last [studio album]. So I think we wanna get the best product possible."

In a separate interview with Elevar, Cavestany confirmed that new DEATH ANGEL music was in the works. "I don't like divulging the 'play by play'; I'd rather news came out when there is substantial information to speak of," he explained. "That being said, I can tell you there are around seven songs we are currently working on and I'm currently getting deep into the writing zone, which is my happy place. If we can manage to stop saying yes to every tour offer (we love to tour),then maybe we can finally get this new album done. The plan is to record it this year."

Earlier this month, Carroll said that he was "stoked" about how DEATH ANGEL's new music was shaping up. "The creative juices are flowing and things are moving along at a very productive rate," he wrote on social media. "One more song and we'll have reached our goal we set for ourselves before rehearsing the songs we're doing down in South/Central America in April. Once that tour is over and we're back home we get straight back to making these demos."

He added: "I can't wait for the DA fans around the world to hear this new material and hopefully we'll make some new ones along the way. Exciting times indeed."

A little over a month ago, Will said that he and his DEATH ANGEL bandmates were "hard at work getting" the band's next album "written and completely demo'd."

"It felt good to get back to work with Rob Cavestany," Will wrote on January 26. "It's a real challenge to not rehash the same ideas and beats from previous albums but I think so far things are sounding fresh and inspired."

Last July, DEATH ANGEL guitarist Ted Aguilar told Vikram Chandrasekar about the band's songwriting process: "Well, when it comes down to writing, it's all Rob. It's all Rob. It starts with him. He comes up with a basic structure and him and Will get together and they hash it all out and they record it. And when they get it to a point where, 'Oh, yeah, this is great,' then they send it off to everyone else. And Damien [Sisson, bass] does his parts and Mark [Osegueda, vocals] will listen to it and try to write lyrics and melodies. And I'll listen to it and I'll touch base with Rob: 'What do you want me to do here? Do you want me to play something here? Or do you want me to do something different?' 'Cause Rob has a vision and you kind of wanna see his vision. And as soon as the song comes together to where we play it quite a few times, then we could throw in our ideas, like, 'Hey, maybe that part should be a little longer,' or, 'Maybe cut that out,' or Will will go, 'I wanna do something different here instead.' So, you know, Rob has a vision, we listen, we play along with it. Then if we feel like there needs to be changes, we express our concern, and Rob is really good at, 'Yeah, let's give it a try.' So we try everything. And it comes down to, 'All right, this is what works.' So it starts with Rob. And with regarding the lyrics, every now and then Rob will pick out a song: 'I wanna write lyrics for this song.' And Mark goes, 'Go ahead.' But Mark writes all the lyrics, and what he does is with the music, he'll listen to it over and over by himself. I don't know where he goes. He goes into the far corners of the earth by himself, with the headphones and music, and he'll come up with so many types of different melodies and stuff, and then come up with the ones he's happy with and lay it down on the demo form. Then when we get into the real studio, then things start to evolve 'cause we've played it so many times or we listened to it so many times that when we get in there, [we go], 'All right, let's try this.' It's always evolving to the point where it's handing it in to get mastered. Some songs stay kind of the same from what it was, but we just put more energy into it. Some songs have been rewritten quite a few times, so it differs. Rob's the songwriter, and on the last album I wrote one song. Yeah, it's how it is. And right now I'm writing some stuff, and how it goes is I'll write some stuff, I'll send it to Rob. I always tell him, 'If it's good, use it. If not, if you find parts are good, use it. If it's not good, it's okay, dude.' I'm just throwing some stuff out there, 'cause he knows what the DEATH ANGEL sound should be. And if he likes it, he'll use it. If he doesn't, my feelings are not broken."

DEATH ANGEL released a live album titled "The Bastard Tracks" in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast. Recorded live at The Great American Music Hall in their hometown of San Francisco on May 22, 2021, and streamed live soon after, "The Bastard Tracks" was described in a press release as "a deep-cuts collection of rarely and never performed songs from the band's catalog" that was released digitally and on CD, vinyl and Blu-ray.

In October 2020, DEATH ANGEL released a four-song EP, "Under Pressure". The effort included a cover of QUEEN + David Bowie's "Under Pressure", followed by a new track titled "Faded Remains", plus acoustic versions of "Act III"'s classic "A Room With A View" and "Humanicide"'s "Revelation Song". The EP was mixed by Max Norman (OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH, BAD COMPANY) and mastered by Ted Jensen (LAMB OF GOD, MACHINE HEAD, HALESTORM).

Released in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast, "Humanicide" 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.

In March 2020, Carroll spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. He first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of "The Bay Strikes Back 2020" tour.

DEATH ANGEL was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" for the "Humanicide" title track. It was the group's first Grammy nomination.

Carroll joined DEATH ANGEL in 2009 as the replacement for the band's original drummer, Andy Galeon.

Will can be heard on the last four DEATH ANGEL studio albums: "Relentless Retribution" (2010),"The Dream Calls for Blood" (2013),"The Evil Divide" (2016) and the aforementioned "Humanicide".