{"id":224600,"date":"2025-09-13T22:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/224600\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T22:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:06:17","slug":"watch-dark-angel-performs-in-san-antonio-during-first-north-american-tour-in-more-than-three-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/224600\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: DARK ANGEL Performs In San Antonio During First North American Tour In More Than Three Decades"},"content":{"rendered":"

California thrash metal pioneers DARK ANGEL<\/b> performed a Vibes Event Center in San Antonio, Texas on Friday, September 12. Fan-filmed video of the entire concert, courtesy of the montopolisTHRASHER<\/a> channel on YouTube<\/b>, can be seen below.<\/p>\n

DARK ANGEL<\/b> is touring in support of its first new album in 34 years, “Extinction Level Event”<\/b>, which was made available digitally on September 5 via Reversed Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

This past June, DARK ANGEL<\/b> released “Circular Firing Squad”<\/b>, the second single from “Extinction Level Event”<\/b>. The LP’s first single, the “Extinction Level Event”<\/b> title track, was written by DARK ANGEL<\/b> guitarist Jim Durkin<\/b> a decade ago, long before he suffered from severe liver disease, and, to the surprise of everyone, passed away in 2023. It was recorded and mixed at the Armoury Studios<\/b> in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, executive produced by DARK ANGEL<\/b> drummer Gene Hoglan<\/b>, produced and engineered by Rob Shallcross<\/b> and mixed by Mike Fraser<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Durkin<\/b> died on March 8, 2023 at the age of 58. An original member of DARK ANGEL<\/b>, Durkin<\/b> played on the band’s first three albums \u2014 1985’s “We Have Arrived”<\/b>, “Darkness Descends”<\/b> and 1989’s “Leave Scars”<\/b> \u2014 before departing the group in 1989. He was part of DARK ANGEL<\/b>‘s lineup when the band reformed in 2013, and had been playing with them, on and off, ever since.<\/p>\n

Prior to his death, Durkin<\/b> had been sitting out some of DARK ANGEL<\/b>‘s gigs. He was replaced at the shows by Hoglan<\/b>‘s wife Laura Christine<\/b>, who has since joined DARK ANGEL<\/b> as a permanent member.<\/p>\n

The “Extinction Level Event”<\/b> artwork and layout was designed by Cain Gillis<\/b>, with concepts by Hoglan<\/b>.<\/p>\n

“Musically, lyrically, and vocally, I’m so stoked about this album,” Hoglan<\/b> previously said. “I’m really excited about DARK ANGEL<\/b> right now, and everyone who’s heard the new album is losing their minds. Every time I’d finish a song and send it over to the guys, everybody was, ‘Gene<\/b>, this is my favorite song!’ ‘No, this is my favorite song!!’ ‘Dude, this is totally my favorite song!!!’ That’s never a bad sign.”<\/p>\n

Hoglan<\/b> and Christine<\/b> wrote everything except for the title track on “Extinction Level Event”<\/b>. Other songs appearing on the effort include “Atavistic”<\/b>, which is described as “a full-on three-minute thrash metal barrage”, “Woke Up To Blood”<\/b>, the title of which stemmed from a dog attack, and “Terror Construct”<\/b>, which Gene<\/b> wrote about the way the media and corporations team up to spread fear among the masses so they can continue to fill their pockets.<\/p>\n

The seeds of “Extinction Level Event”<\/b> were planted in late 2013 between the time when TESTAMENT<\/b> stopped touring to work on their new record and Hoglan<\/b> was scheduled to work on his next major project. After the first batch of writing sessions for “Extinction Level Event”<\/b>, Hoglan<\/b> had to put writing for DARK ANGEL<\/b> on hold until late 2022. With other obligations behind him, Gene<\/b> laser-focused on DARK ANGEL<\/b>, listening back to the jams he and Durkin<\/b> made earlier, and writing more than 10 new songs over the next three months. With a full album of pummeling new songs, Hoglan<\/b> flew to Vancouver to track the album at the Armory<\/b>. There, he and his bandmates worked with Rob Shallcross<\/b> and Mike Fraser<\/b>, and over a few sessions, DARK ANGEL<\/b> had recorded everything but the vocals.<\/p>\n

Having passed away two years ago, Durkin<\/b>‘s sudden death is still traumatic for DARK ANGEL<\/b> and especially Hoglan<\/b>. At the same time, he takes bittersweet pride in knowing that Jim<\/b>‘s playing and performances live on through him and DARK ANGEL<\/b>, not only when the band plays his old riffs, but also in the continued influence Durkin<\/b> has on the band’s new songs.<\/p>\n

“One of the last things I told him was, ‘Jim<\/b>, dude, you’re my original guitar hero,” Hoglan<\/b> recalled. “‘My entire guitar style is based on your style because you are who I really learned how to play guitar from.’ So, my guitar approach with DARK ANGEL<\/b> is Jim Durkin<\/b>‘s approach. When I write for the band, I’m thinking, ‘What would Jim<\/b> do here?’ That’s why his presence is massively all over this new record. Every single song. I wanted to make it to where people are like, ‘Yeah, Jim<\/b> wrote that riff. Oh, there’s another Jim<\/b> riff’ because Jim<\/b> wrote all the best riffs in the band, forever.”<\/p>\n

DARK ANGEL<\/b> released two albums with Don Doty<\/b> on vocals \u2014 the aforementioned “We Have Arrived”<\/b> and “Darkness Descends”<\/b> \u2014 before he exited the group and was replaced by Ron Rinehart<\/b> (after a brief stint with Jim Drabos<\/b> in 1987). The band issued two more studio LPs \u2014 “Leave Scars”<\/b> and “Time Does Not Heal”<\/b> \u2014 before calling it quits in 1992.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with San Antonio Current<\/b>, Hoglan<\/b> stated about his songwriting approach for “Extinction Level Event”<\/b>: “Really, the best way to move forward with a new set of DARK ANGEL<\/b> material would be to acknowledge those earlier eras, of course. They’re very important parts of the DARK ANGEL<\/b> legacy. But anybody who knows DARK ANGEL<\/b> \u2014 who’s familiar with our trajectory \u2014 also will be very cognizant of the fact that we’ve never repeated ourselves on record. The first album, ‘We Have Arrived’<\/b>, did not sound like ‘Darkness Descends’<\/b>, and ‘Darkness’<\/b> didn’t sound like ‘Leave Scars’<\/b> and ‘Time Does Not Heal’<\/b>. So, anybody who considers themselves a DARK ANGEL<\/b> fan, they will be well aware of the evolutionary process of DARK ANGEL<\/b>, the non-repeating of sounds and approaches. So, ultimately, I just kind of felt, ‘Well, hey, what if we were to just take the approach of what if DARK ANGEL<\/b> just kept putting out records throughout this entire 30-plus-year period. Where would the band be right now?’ And that was kind of the most appealing approach.<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to try to replicate ‘Darkness Descends’<\/b>, or ‘Time Does Not Heal’<\/b> or ‘Leave Scars’<\/b> or ‘We Have Arrived’, for that matter,” he clarified. “But, writing from here and now, this is very, very DARK ANGEL<\/b> \u2014 what it’s like to write as a DARK ANGEL<\/b> of our current abilities and mindsets and approaches. So, that was the best way of moving forward with writing new material \u2014 for me anyway. That made it really, really exciting.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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