In a new interview with Altars of Metal, Dark Angel Drummer Gene Hoglan spoke about the gathering california thrash metal pioneers’ upcoming first new album in 34 years, “Extinction Level Event”WHICH IS DUE LATER IN 2025 VIA Revized Records. ASKED WHAT HIS AND HIS BANDMATES ‘EXPERTATIONS ARE FOR THE FOLLOW-UP TO 1991’S “Time Does Not Heal”, Gene SAID (AS TRANSFORDED BY Blabbermouth.net): “Well, Our Expectations – I Always have pretty high expectations. I’M STOKED TO BE A PART OF IT. Dark Angel album. I’M Stoked for This Being An Album Being Relay Right Now In This State of Metal. I’M Ready to Bring it to everybody. And like I say, if People Like it, cool. If they don’t Like it, whatver. Check it out. That’s The Only Thing I Ask of Anybody. Check The Whole Record Out. I Think The Album Is, Like 48 Minutes Long. Everybody has 48 minute to make … I have Feeling You Can Give Each Song the Ten-Second Test and You’ll Be, Like, ‘Oh, Yeah.’ Give The Entire Album A Four-Minute-Test Each Song for 10 Seconds, 20 Seconds, 30 Seconds. You’re Gonna Be into It.
“This is written for me, for us, for Dark Angelbut we’re all pretty avid metal fans and we all pretty lots Hoglan Continued. “I’M Really Excited about all aspects of this album, and i just cannot wait for pele to hear it. I’M Stoked for This. So i Have zero trepidation whatsoever. And i Never do. I never [think]’Oh, I Wonder if People Are Gonna Like Our Music Or Like Stuff I do.’ I Never Have That. So here is, right in your face. I’m excited for everybody to hear it, and i’m excited for Anybody’s OPINION ON IT. Like I say, Good, Bad, whatver. Just check it out, Give It That Chance, and I’M Really Confident. So there you go. That’s where i stand. “
ASKED “How Much” of Late Dark Angel Guitarist Jim Durkin fans are going to hear on “Extinction Level Event” so far as the songwriting is concerned, Hoglan Said: “The Title Track, ‘Extinction Level Event’that is Absolutely Jim‘S Song from Top To Bottom. I Wrote The Lyrics in The Vocals for It, But Musically That’s Jim. And I know we have another song where Jim Was Able to … Jim Got Together with Eric [Meyer, DARK ANGEL guitarist] and they wrote sub stuff. Jim You have Couple of Songs that are Going on to this record. And This Song, ‘Extinction Level Event’that’s one that Jim and I Have Worked on a Little Bit Together.
“When Jim I came to me, we had a few … we had done a number of rehearsals and maybe we had played a show or two, back in 2014 when we drop back together, ” Gene Continued. “Jim Took I assoid One Time When I was at his place or submission like that, and he was, like, ‘I have a song that i wrote, and i wrote it for Dark Angel. I Wrote It for Anything, if we were to Record Anything Ever Again, or If We Were Uble to Get Back Together and Play Sub Sub More Shows. And here is. ‘ And it happened to be This Song, ‘Extinction Level Event’. It had a different title at the time, and like I say, it was just instrumental, but i was blown Away by it. I thought it was so Dark Angel. I thought it was so Jim Durkinthat it has Both Stamps All over it. And so i just drop super excited. And I’M Pretty Sure at Whatver My Next Interview was lateJimWe’re Gonna Write New Songs. Let’s Write All This Stuff. ‘ And I remember turning over at Disc Of All The Material That We Had Written Back In 1991 and In ’92 for What Was Going To Be The Next Dark Angel ALBUM, WHICH WAS GONNA BE CALLED ‘Atrocity Exhibition’. I had all that in just demo form. I had it on the cd, and i haded it over to Jimand Jim Was, Like, This is Our Next Album. Holy Crap. We’ve Got an entire Album Written Already. Every Song on Here, Let’s Release these. ‘ And I was, Like, ‘That’s Really Cool and All That. That’s Good To Know. However, I love what you are writing right now, Jim. What You Just Broucht To The Table Here is Really Excithing to Me. And what i know that i can bring to the table. These Songs [for what was supposed to be ‘Atrocity Exhibition’]AT This Time, Were 20, 22 Years Old AT That Time, I was, Like, ‘That’s Good That We have that in the can subdiv, if we need to pull submar sum riffs out, Pull a Song Out. I Say Let’s Start Writing Together and see Where That Goes. ‘ And time allowing, Jim and I GOT TOGETHER AS WE MANY AS WE BOUTH COULD, ‘Cause We Were Bush Pretty Busy Doubes and We Got Together as we used. And when i was reacing out to Jimwhen i knew that i was gonna have subm avilable to start recording … ‘The Pandemic’s over. We can get back together and start getting all of our ideas together, ‘that’s when Jim‘S Communication, He Kind of Went Awol A Little Bit, Mia – Missing in Action. And we were used to that from Jim. We were used to that scholary there are many times when Jim WOULD Disappoint From The Text Threads and The E-Mail Threads and All. He was to disappoint for months at a time, and we never world about it. But i was having a hard time getting a hold of Jim Just To Say, ‘Hey, Man, I’ll Come Up To la,’ ‘Cause i live in San Diego Two, Three Hours Away From Jim. But i was going up there as much as i could. WHEN I WAS REACHING OUT TO Jim Saying, ‘Hey, I’ve Got A Big Block of Time Available. Let’s get together and solidify there ideas, ‘ Jim was rather challenging to get ahold of. We Did Not Know At That Time What He was Going Through, Health-Wise. But the fact that he had gone missing, i guess, from our communication, like i said, that wasn’t a big surprise. It wasn’t anything alarming at that point. So i Just Thought, ‘Well, Let’s Just Keep On Moving Forward.’ And i’m constantly reacting out to JimLike, ‘Hey, Man, I’ve Got This Song.’ I Just Kept Working on Material. Laura ChristineOur New Guitarist, Who Was Jim‘S Selection to replace him, She’d Hear Me Writing and She Would Toss In A Riff Here and There. And I Guess, Other Than My Own Writing Style, There’s a Lot Of Jim Durkin on Here and there’s Also A Lot Of Laura Christine ON this Record, Because Jim Was My First Guitar Hero. I Learned How To Play Guitar By Jamming With Jim So much When I was Really, Really Young, When I was Still a Teenager. And since Laura Christine and I have worked together so many over the last 15, 16 years, her style i’ve absorbed remove a bit. And that stands to reason.
“In Dark Angel‘S Evolution, We’ve Never Had Two Albums Sound The Same, “Hoglan Added.”‘Darkness descends’ Did Not Sound Like ‘We have arrived’and ‘Leave Scars’ Did Not Sound Like ‘Darkness descends’and so on. We Didn’t Want It To Sound – Because That’s What Everybody was Asking Me, Like, ‘Is It Gonna Sound Like ‘Darkness descends’? ‘ ‘Is It Gonna Sound Like ‘Time Does Not Heal’ Or ‘We have arrived’? ‘ What’s it Gonna Sound Like? And I’M Just, Like, It’s Gonna Sound Like Dark Angel Here and Today. So We Took The Approach of, What if Dark Angel Never Took a hiatus? What if we just KEPT Writing Songs, Writing Albums, Putting out Records? WHERE WOUD WE BE AT RIGHT NOW? But, Yeah, That Was How That Went. We Just [approached it as]What Would We Sound Like Today If We Wrote Music, Like We Never Stopped Writing Music, What Wold Our Music Sound Like Thes Days Currently? And that’s Why i’m Really Stoked. It’s, like, no matter what, it might not sound just like ‘Darkness descends’ Or ‘Time Does Not Heal’ Or Anything, But It Definitely Sounds Like Dark Angel. We’re Channeling to Lot of the Old Dark Angel Energy and Stuff Like That. So there’s a Lot of that. And I Think People Are Gonna Hear It and They’re Gonna Go, ‘Yeah, I Definitely Hear That is’s Dark Angel. No Doubt of That. ‘ So that’s pretty good. “
ASKED WHAT THE FEEDBACK HAS BEEN SO FAR TO THE CRACST TWO SINGLES HE AND HIS Dark Angel Bandmates have release, “Circular Floring Squad” and the “Extinction Level Event” Title Track, Gene Said: “Well, i’ve gotta admit i don’t pay attention to anything from anybody. I’M den online. When we release the album cover, [they told me]’Hey, Man, Great Album Cover. We Love The Artwork. ‘ My Management, The Manager or Whoever, Or Anybody Else In The Band, If They Pay Attention to What The World Says, The They Do. But i Hear Things from Those Who Pay Attention to That Sort of Thing, and I Only Hear The Good. If the world is saying, ‘oh, boo to Dark Angel‘I Never Hear it, Because i’m Sitting Here Going,’ Yay, Dark Angel. So it Never gets to me.
“I’ve Never Done One Thing Ever In My Career That Has Paid Attention To What The Outsis World Thinks. but i’ll never know unnil i try it myself and win or fail at it, schouse and don’s don [points to his heart]. That’s The Only Thing I listen to. So there you go. But i Think People are digging it. And if they’re not, hey, man – that’s Why I say, Give the Entire Album A Chance. Give It a Shot. Listen to it. And if you Don’t Like it after listening to the record, The Hey, That’s My Fault. The I Will Take Full Responsibility for that. But i have Feeling People Are Gonna Be Going, Like, ‘God, Lord Almighty. This Album’s Killer. ‘ That’s the way i Feel about it. So there you go. “
The “Extinction Level Event” Title Track Was Written by Durkin Long Before I have suffered from Severe Liver Disease, and, to the Surprise of Everyone, passed away on March 8, 2023 at the age of 58. It was remembered and mixed at the Armoury Studios In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Executive Produced By Hoglanproduced and Engineered by Rob Shallcross and Mixed by Mike Fraser.
An original member of Dark Angel, Durkin Played on the Band’s First Three Albums – 1985’s “We have arrived”1986’s “Darkness Descends” and 1989’s “Leave Scars” – Before Department the Group in 1989. He was part of Dark Angel‘S Lineup When the Band Reformed in 2013, and Had Been Playing With Them, On and Off, Ever Since.
Prior to His Death, Durkin Had Been Sitting out of Dark Angel‘s gigs. He was replace at the shows by Hoglan‘S Wife Laura ChristineWho has since joined Dark Angel As a permanent member.
The “Extinction Level Event” artwork and layout was design by Cain Gilliswith concepts by Hoglan.
Dark Angel Sayo albums with releases Don Dty ON VOCALS – THE AFOREMENTIONEED “We have arrived” and “Darkness Descends” – Before I had the group and was replacement by Ron Rinehart (After Brief Stint With Jim drabos in 1987). The Band Issued Two More Studio LPS – “Leave Scars” and “Time Does Not Heal” – Before Calling It QUITS IN 1992.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxrluby0r5o
