DARK ANGEL: Extinction Level Event North America 2025

This event is General Admission Standing Room Only on the Floor, and Reserved Seated in the Balcony.

There was a time in the mid-‘80s when “thrash” was the fastest, heaviest, most extreme form of metal. That said, a handful of bands thrashed a little harder and with more feral abandon than their peers.

Those chosen few inadvertently led the genre towards an even more brutal style of music that gained underground acceptance a few years later – death metal.

Before that critical point in time, however, ultra-thrash band Dark Angel stood on the precipice of devastation and innovation. Too fast and noisy for some, jawdropping and groundbreaking for others, Dark Angel led a prickly, poisonous path beyond the evil riffs and whirlwind rhythms pioneered by Slayer. And Dark Angel drummer and songwriter Gene Hoglan was right there at the center of the storm (even coaching Slayer’s Dave Lombardo how to play double-bass beats for the breakthrough EP Haunting the Chapel).

Forty years, and multiple seismic shakeups later, Dark Angel have returned with the spine-shattering Extinction Level Event, their first album of original material since 1991’s colossal Time Does Not Heal. “Musically, lyrically, and vocally, I’m so stoked about this album,” says Hoglan, the veteran drummer-of- all-trades and timeclock behind almost too many influential metal groups to count – Testament, Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory, and Death graduate tribute band, Death To All. “I’m really excited about Dark Angel 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, this is my favorite song!’ ‘No, this is my favorite song!!’ ‘Dude, this is totally my favorite song!!!” That’s never a bad sign.”

Extinction Level Event features new guitarist Laura Christine, and a new level of production, thanks to the advancements in technology since the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Yet, the album follows the twisted

barbed-wire path and innovative approach of fan favorites, Darkness Descends and Leave Scars, which remained landmark extreme thrash records decades after their release. That’s hardly a surprise since the majority of the lineup for the album is the same as on the aforementioned releases.

The title track of “Extinction Level Event” was written by guitarist Jim Durkin, a decade ago, long before he suffered from severe liver disease, and, to the surprise of everyone, passed away in 2023. “Jim Durkin left us with this badass tune,” Hoglan says. “It is so Dark Angel and I'm just so excited about it. We made it the lead-off song on the record, not as a tribute to Jim or because of sentimental reasons – like, here is the song that Jim left us – but because it’s just a totally killer song. He wrote it ten years ago, and by today’s standards it’s still ball-crushing.”

Fast and aggressive, “Extinction Level Event” is as fierce and infectious as Dark Angel’s best songs and features the band’s heralded bombastic riffs and vocal structures. Hoglan and guitarist Laura Christine wrote everything else on Extinction Level Event, each song rivalling the ferocity and musicality of the title track; Christine co-wrote five songs, and her writing style rubbed off on Hoglan. “Atavistic,” for example,

is a full-on three-minute thrash metal barrage. “It’s primitive, it’s raw, and it takes you right back to the days of super-aggressive thrash metal,” Hoglan says.

Other songs are a little slower, but no less incendiary. “Woke Up to Blood” is a tangled rollercoaster of jagged riffs and syncopated beats, the title of which stemmed from a dog attack. “[Guitarist] Eric Meyer came in with a big, nasty cut on his arm,” Hoglan says. “We asked him, ‘Eric, what happened?’ and he told us about how his wife’s dog attacked him in the middle of the night. He said, ‘Dude, I was lying in bed asleep and then I was just bleeding profusely. I woke up to blood.’ And I went, ‘Hey, wait a minute. I gotta write that down in the ‘notes’ section of my phone real quick.”

Another track Gene describes as a “total onslaught” is “Terror Construct,” which he wrote about the way the media and corporations team up to spread fear among the masses so they can continue to fill their pockets. “There’s no question about it,” Hoglan says. “We are force-fed fear. It definitely comes at us from all sides – the left and the right – and it’s everywhere, you can’t escape it because it comes from all angles. It’s terrible, but that’s how our society is getting wired. People are forced to live in fear all the time because, for the networks and the big corporations, fear means big money. If you put fear into the audience, they stay glued to the television and they watch all the commercials.”

The seeds of Extinction Level Event were planted in late 2013 between the time when Testament stopped touring to work on their new record and Hoglan was scheduled to work on his next major project.

“I finally had some time, so I said to Jim and vocalist Ron Rinehart, ‘Hey, I kinda have some time now. Would you guys be interested in trying Dark Angel again?,’ Hoglan recalls. “Because every time I'm over in Europe or some other country, the promoters of all these festivals and journalists are always asking, ‘You ever want to bring Dark Angel back? Let us know. We’d love to get some Dark Angel over here.’ Jim and I had spoken about it, and he said, ‘Hey, it sounds like fun. Let’s see what we can do.’ That’s when we put a toe in the water to find out if this would even work.”

The band played a number of dates in Europe and South America. Then, in late 2014, Hoglan and founding guitarist Jim Durkin got together to write a bunch of riffs. Since Durkin had established a lucrative career outside the music industry and Hoglan was busy touring with Testament and working with Dethklok, Death To All, and other projects, it was difficult for the two longtime Dark Angel members to coordinate their schedules. “It didn’t help that Jim was living in Los Angeles and I was in San Diego,” Hoglan says. “But we did as much as we could, and it was really fun to be jamming again. And the thing that put the cherry on top was that we’d all grown up as human beings a little bit. So, we had really good communication. We weren't just a bunch of 20-year-old kids yelling at each other or getting pissed off over stupid things. It was just such a fun vibe. And we've always been a family. We’ve always felt like one. So, we were like, ‘Hey, let's book some more shows.”

After the first batch of writing sessions for Extinction Level Event, Hoglan had to put writing for Dark Angel on hold until late 2022. With other obligations behind him, Gene laser-focused on Dark Angel, listening back to the jams he and Durkin made earlier, and writing more than 10 new songs over the next three months. With a full album of pummeling new songs, Hoglan flew to Vancouver to track the album at the Armory. There, he and his bandmates worked with Rob Shallcross and Mike Fraser, and over a few sessions, Dark Angel had recorded everything but the vocals.

“Mike and I have worked on a number of occasions before, dating all the way back to the Strapping Young Lad, The New Black, Hoglan says. “He mixed all the last AC/DC records and some classic Aerosmith stuff. We laid down all the drums and as soon as that was done we got right into the guitars. Everybody came up and laid a little bit down and it was an amazing experience. Then, all we had to do was get time with Ron to do the vocals.”

While Extinction Level Event is informed by all the playing and recording experience Hoglan has gained over the decades, it’s deeply rooted in skull-bashing thrash and easily could have slotted into the band’s catalog after their fourth album 1991’s Time Does Not Heal. It’s more than a tremendous comeback from well-respected thrash pioneers, it’s a new chapter for the band – despite the tragic death of founding guitarist Jim Durkin in 2023 – and represents an authentic tribute to the foundations of extreme thrash, while putting a foot forward to a future where anything is possible.

“One thing Dark Angel was really, really good at was reinventing ourselves from album to album,” Hoglan says. “None of our four records ever sounded like each other, and that's why this album will fit perfectly in with the rest of our catalog. It’s another reinvention for Dark Angel, but it’s still really, really heavy.”

No one but Gene Hoglan could keep the heart of Dark Angel burning over the decade like an industrial furnace. Even though he has ventured into multiple styles of thrash, extreme, and experimental metal, he will always cherish thrash, the music form that launched his multifaceted career. As a teenager, Hoglan was already a dedicated drummer and a diehard headbanger who was a fixture of the LA metal scene. Before he joined Dark Angel, he was the lighting tech for Slayer and other underground metal bands and traveled with Slayer on their first tour.

Durkin and bassist Rob Yahn formed the band Shellshock in 1981 and recorded the demo “Into the Inferno” in 1983 before they were hit with a cease-and-desist from another band named Shellshock and changed their moniker to Dark Angel. Three demos later, Dark Angel landed the song “Welcome to the Slaughter House” on Metal Massacre VI, which also featured tracks by Possessed, the Obsessed, Hallow’s Eve, Nasty Savage and others. They followed their compilation with their first full-length We Have Arrived in 1985. Dark Angel continued working on new material, including the scorching “Merciless Death,” “Perish in Flames,” and “The Burning of Sodom.” That’s when the Jack Schwartz, the band’s drummer from 1983 to 1984, left and Hoglan happily took his place.

“When I joined, they were already a killer band and they were on the cusp of things,” Hoglan said. “And when I came in, Jim finally had a partner in musical crime. We both wanted everything to be really heavy and brutal. Like, the sky’s the limit for heaviness. Even with Jack in the band, the members of Dark Angel had five different directions they would've liked to see the band go in. When I joined, we finally had a majority of two guys who wanted the same thing. We wanted to be a smack to the jaw, with music that was as savage as we could make it. We wanted to cut heads off with our music.”

Durkin and Hoglan wrote the vast majority of the band’s second album Darkness Descends, which included the blazing title track, the face-scorcher “Death is Certain (Life is Not),” and the eight-plus minute epic “Black Prophecies.” And Hoglan’s demon-crazed performances on “Merciless Death,” “Perish in Flames” and “The Burning of Sodom” brought Dark Angel to a new level of brutality.

“We were already bros, we were pals, so it was a pretty seamless transition for me to step in and work with Jim to make the band way heavier,” says Hoglan. “Our vocalist had some outside interests that

didn’t blend with what we wanted to do, so we really had to work hard with him to get a great performance. I wouldn’t call it coaching. It was more like threats and hazing from me and Jim. We were pretty brutal with him in the studio to get him to perform the songs with the right kind of savagery and anger that they needed. But he definitely stepped it up. You can't say that We Have Arrived had the same kind of vocals as Darkness Descends.”

In search of new ventures, Yahn left Dark Angel after he tracked the bass parts for Darkness Descends, which paved the way for Mike Gonzalez. The vocalist’s decision to quit less than a week before the band was scheduled to launch a tour for Darkness Descends led to a far more complicated situation. “He started getting into some things that didn’t blend well with the band’s touring schedule,” Hoglan explains.

“Meanwhile, Darkness Descends was blowing up and we were scheduled to tour with Possessed in early ’87. So, Jim Drabos, a friend of ours from a band called Death Force stepped in to grab the mic for us, and he did a great job.”

Impressed by how quickly and easily Drabos vibed with the rest of the band, Dark Angel asked him to step onboard. Hoglan was already writing songs for the next album and was hoping the singer he was working with would embrace the opportunity to take part. However, he wasn’t interested in singing on a new album or even playing any more shows.

“It was kind of strange,” says Hoglan. “He said, ‘Thank you very much, guys. It was always my dream to tour the United States. I just did it, and now I'm gonna quit the music industry. My dream was just fulfilled, and now I’m done.’”

For the next 10 months, Dark Angel searched long and hard for a new vocalist. Frustrated, they tried to make the band work again with “the old vocalist,” but after a few shows together, it was clear that they needed fresh blood. They auditioned many singers but couldn’t find one who would fit the band. As it turned out, the perfect match was Ron Rinehart, a guy Hoglan had seen before singing in the LA band Messiahs. Hoglan and Durkin thought Rinehart was a great vocalist, but weren’t impressed by his band, which lacked the ferocity he sought in a vocalist. Jim reached out to Rinehart anyway to ask him to audition for Dark Angel, and as soon as the band started playing, Rinehart picked up the mic and started to roar.

“Jim went, ‘Man, I wish we had this guy all along,’” recalls Hoglan. “I felt the same way 'cause Ron was so enthusiastic, so into it. He was the polar opposite of our other vocalists. He had a good work ethic. He was ready to put the time in. He was a cool guy, and he had a great look. So, we threw Ron right into the mix and started recording.”

The first Dark Angel album to feature Rinehart, Leave Scars upped the ante on Darkness Descends, featuring more complex rhythmic shifts and longer songs, while retaining the speed-thrash lacerations that pushed the band into the next level of extreme metal. Within the nightmarish firestorms lie welcome experimentations, such as the creepy “Worms,” the cinematic instrumental “Cauterization” and a wild take on Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” But while the album was full of strong material, the lo-fi production marred the overall sonic impact a bit.

“We were all used to hearing bad-sounding thrash records, and that’s okay when you’re first starting out, but when you’re on your third record you gotten step up the production, and that didn’t happen,” says

Hoglan. We should have had a more cohesive sound happening and we take all the blame for the sound of Leave Scars. And that’s why we brought in Terry Date for our next album, Time Does Not Heal. We said, let’s just mitigate the issues and work with someone great. That way, we know it’s gonna sound killer.”

Dark Angel released Time Does Not Heal, in 1991, and along with the upgrade in production came a revised approach to songwriting. The band proved it could still lock it’s foot to the gas pedal on the title track, “Trauma and Catharsis” and “The New Preiesthood.” But “Pain’s Invention, Madness” and “Act of Contrition” are slower and more melodic, giving Rinehart more of a chance to belt out actual notes instead of just bark. Too busy with outside projects at the time of its release, Durkin sat out the album cycle, leaving Hoglan to tackle more rhythm guitar and almost all of the songwriting. He was joined by the new guitarist Brett Eriksen, who contributed to the songwriting, but ultimately left before the band finished touring.

“Time Does Not Heal was a different kind of album for us partially because Jim left, and we got Brett. Before, Jim and I each wrote about 50 percent of the songs, and now I’m suddenly doing 65 or 70 percent of the writing, which added more rhythm changes and complexity because I get bored easily. But also, I did not know how to self-edit songs back then, which is why they were so long.”

By the time the band finished touring for Time Does Not Heal speed-thrash was no longer the most extreme game in town, having been replaced by death metal. Fans who had latched onto Dark Angel because they were the bridge to the next heaviest thing, stepped off the bridge and embraced bands like Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Napalm Death for an even more punishing aural assault than that of Dark Angel.

“Before death metal came along, thrash metal was the heaviest thing around,” Hoglan recalls. “Everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so psychotic and heavy. Nothing’s gonna get heavier than this! Oh, wait…’ And all of a sudden you’ve got Morbid Angel, Death, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse -- all these kick-ass death metal bands that definitely took the spotlight away from a lot of thrash bands.

“Kids went, ‘Hey, thrash metal is not so extreme anymore. Check out grindcore. Check out death metal!’ And all these thrash bands were kind of left in the dust. So Dark Angel kind of dissolved for a while, and I got into this more extreme death metal stuff. But I always knew speed wasn’t everything and that thrash would come back because everything happens in cycles. And if there’s one cool thing I heard straight from the horse’s mouths over the last 30-something years, it’s that Dark Angel had a major influence on all the death metal bands, the grindcore bands, and the black metal bands. And it feels good to know I played a role in all of that.”

As Hoglan says, music – especially metal – is a cyclical style of music, and about 20 years after the dawn of thrash, the old-school fans started turning their cousins, nephews, sons and daughters to the music and suddenly The Big Four were big business, Testament, Exodus and others were major tour attractions, and Dark Angel were back in demand. The band officially reformed in the 2010s and played select shows in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019.

Durkin took the stage with the band, and everyone had a blast playing influential speed-thrash songs for newcomers and old-school fans alike. But while Durkin was dedicated to the band, there was a point where he started dealing with personal issues and he made it clear that he would always be there in

spirit, but there would be times he wouldn’t be able to perform. He handpicked Laura Christine (Warface, Meldrum, Nukem, Zimmer’s Hole) to fill in for him when the band returned to the road in 2022.

“I was not part of that decision one iota,” Hoglan says. “I found out later that back in 2018 when we played a show in Oakland, California at the California Death Fest. At the end of the night Jim took Laura aside. I was in an elevator going up to say goodnight to everybody and Jim steps in the elevator and announces to Laura, ‘Tonight was my last Dark Angel show, and I want you to be my replacement.’ Laura was looking at me, and then at him, and then she says, ‘Hey, I'm honored but did you guys talk about this?’ I said, ‘This is the first I’m hearing about any of this.’ And Jim goes, ‘Well, you're my favorite guitarist and if I'm not gonna play any shows with the band, I want you to replace me.’ “As time went on, it wasn’t Jim's last show with the band. He came back and played more shows. But for whatever reason, at that moment, right then and there, he had decided, this is it for me. He later relented and Laura was great about it. She said, “This band should be with Jim Durkin. He's the founding member.”

The rest of the band were aware Durkin had some health issues, but they didn’t seem incapacitating. It seemed like he just didn’t want to tour anymore, and the decision was made that, with his blessings, Laura would take his spot on the stage with the caveat that he could return at any time.

“We did a festival in April of 2023, in Texas called Hell's Heroes. It was to be Laura’s first show with the band. As go-time rapidly approached, Laura rehearsed with Dark Angel, but she also reached out to Durkin to reiterate that he was Dark Angel’s lead guitarist, not her. “She reached out to him right before the gig, and said, ‘Jim, I just want you to know that I'm merely just stepping into your shoes for this gig. If you decide three days before the show that you want to jump in and play the show, that’s great. I’m all for it.’ And he explained to her, ‘Look, that’s not gonna happen.’”

At the time, Durkin was suffering from liver problems that were far more serious than anyone in the band knew. They were completely shocked and utterly unprepared when they found out he died from liver disease on March 8, 2023.

“We knew he had a couple of medical issues, but we didn’t expect him to be taken from us – any of us,” Hoglan says. “We knew Jim had something that was going to keep him from playing shows with us, but we did not know that it was something that was gonna take his life. We had no idea. That's why it was so crushing to hear that our brother passed. Because even though he might not have been a part of the live portion of Dark Angel at that point, we were still writing together. He told me, ‘I might not be playing live with the band as much as I used to, but I still wanna write.’ And I was fine with that.”

Hoglan is pleased that the title track of Extinction Level Event isn’t just 100 percent Durkin, it’s completely unrelenting, bursting with speed, excitement, and Durkin’s knife-slash riffs. Beyond that, Hoglan insists that the rest of the songs on the album – which he and Christine composed before the full band contributed their input in the studio – are heavily inspired by Durkin’s spirit and performance style.

“Before the end of everything, I told Jim, ‘Yeah, let’s keep writing together,’” explains Hoglan. “It didn’t happen, and I ended up with just one full song from Jim. But Jim’s presence is felt all over the record because Jim’s songwriting was a really big influence for me. I had only played guitar for a couple years before I got into Dark Angel, and being around Jim day after day, year upon year, had a huge impact on my songwriting and I have Jim to thank for that.”

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

“One of the last things I told him was, “Jim, dude, you’re my original guitar hero,” Hoglan recalls. “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 is Jim Durkin's approach. When I write for the band, I’m thinking, ‘What would Jim 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 wrote that riff. Oh, there's another Jim riff” because Jim wrote all the best riffs in the band, forever.”

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Twenty-three years after dropping their last full-length, Sacred Reich are returning in force with the towering Awakening, effortlessly demonstrating that they remain a formidable force in metal. Showcasing everything a fan would expect and hope for from the Phoenix, Arizona crew, it is a timeless collection comprised of blistering thrash, crushing grooves, killer solos and socially conscious lyrics that demonstrate a true understanding of everything that matters most in the world today. “Going into it, we had a loose idea as far as knowing that we wanted some fast, heavy songs to honor the old school fans that have supported us and gotten us to this point,” states vocalist/bassist Phil Rind. “We wanted everything to happen naturally. We didn’t want to force anything and we are super stoked with every song. It is easily the best thing we have ever done.“

Formed in 1985, Sacred Reich were an integral part of the 80s and 90s thrash movement, dropping four albums before splitting in 2000. They would go on to reform in 2006 but strictly as a live act, dropping the Live At Wacken DVD in 2012, but it was only in 2018 that they started to work on new material. “Over the last year, we wrote and demoed the songs for the new record. Our drummer Dave (McClain, ex-Machine Head) was still on tour with his old band so our buddy Tim Radziwill played drums on the demos along with his son, Joey, and they recorded it all at their studio. We wouldn’t be here today without their help, they helped get down the basic framework of the songs. They rule, and the whole process of recording was so positive, cool and fun.” Being very much aware of how their approach to the record affected the outcome definitely played into the finished product. “Leading up to it, we talked about the fact that you can’t separate the process from the result. Everything you do, how you do it, your attitude while you do it, all comes out in the end. So we tried to do things the right way – and by the right way, I mean, being open to what came.“

The return of Dave McClain, who manned the drum throne from 1991 to 1997, and the addition of Joey Radziwill playing guitar, alongside original guitarist Wiley Arnett, are integral facets of the record. “Dave is such a killer drummer and person. He works every day to become a better drummer, and I mean every day. His work ethic is inspiring. As much as he has accomplished, he is still open to what comes. Being in the studio with him was amazing, watching him try different things and being brave and creative on the spot was incredible to watch. He has brought so much happiness and positivity to Sacred Reich.” The 22-year-old six-stringer Radziwill demonstrates a skill and maturity far beyond his years, having played drums in a band and completed three US tours in the back of a van prior to hooking up with Sacred Reich, so is far from “new” to this world. “From being a drummer, his timing is impeccable. He brings a higher level of musicianship and tightness to our band, and he brings a freshness to us. He gives us an opportunity for us to see things from a different perspective, and all of us were blown away by what he can do with a guitar and how effortlessly he does it. His right hand is a buzzsaw. You show him something once and that’s it. He came into the studio, which can be very intimidating, and just breezed through it like a 25-year pro.“

Always having been drawn to album titles that work on multiple levels, Awakening is no different, referring to not only the band recording again for the first time in more than two decades, but also the lyrical themes on the record. “It encapsulates what I feel is the most important thing we all can do: we can all do a better job of simply paying attention.” Lyrically, though there is a lot of aggression scattered across the tracks, there is also a great deal of positivity and hope, most notably in “Manifest Reality” and “Revolution”, the latter referencing the importance of maintaining a positive mental attitude, not giving up and plainly stating “it’s time for revolution”. Given the current state of the world, Rind believes staying positive is more important than ever. “There is a lot of fear, anger and division going around. At the same time, there are plenty of beautiful, incredible things happening right in front of us, day after day. So if we choose to be optimistic, focus on positive things and understand that it’s all temporary, good and bad anyway, we can enjoy our lives and be more kind and loving to each other. ‘Manifest Reality’ says, ‘Be the change you want to see’. I really can’t say anymore than that.” With “Something To Believe” the record ends on a particularly uplifting high, both in terms of mood and richness of melody. “It was never intended to be the closing track, but it is wonderful that it worked out that way. The fact that I can sing ‘Love’s the only way to live our life each day’ in the last verse is a perfect encapsulation of what the record is about.“

To track the album, the band headed into Platinum Underground in Mesa, AZ, and employed producer Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Cavalera Conspiracy) and engineer John Aquilino, Rind insisting both played integral roles in shaping the sound of Awakening. It was a particularly special time for the front-man and Arnett, being in the studio together for the first time after such an extended absence. “The first day we tracked almost felt like a dream. We would just look at each other and smile and say, ‘We’re doing this!’. 23 years is a long time, but it felt right and natural. Wiley is such an immense talent. He has a very unique sound and feel. He has great hands and vibrato, and his leads are so tasty and such an integral part of our sound. We are lucky to have him, and I love him.” The sessions that followed were a genuine pleasure for all concerned, everything flowing out of the players. “I really hit my stride recording the vocals when I just relaxed and let it happen. In the beginning, I was pushing and trying too hard. When I finally understood all I had to do was sing the songs, it happened quite naturally. John and Arthur, who make records all day, every day, commented throughout the process how great and unique the whole thing was. Regardless of what happens with the record, the experience of making it was enough to satisfy us. Obviously we hope people like it, but even if it tanked, it could not change the way we feel about it. We know what we did.”

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HIRAX began in Los Angeles in 1984, but because of the weak metal scene in their area, they spent most of their time playing in San Francisco along with Slayer, Metallica, and Exodus, who were all part of the exciting new metal emerging from the Bay area. The original lineup was Katon W. De Pena (vocals), Bob Savage (guitar), Gary Monardo (bass), and Brian Keith (drums). They released a four-song demo in 1984. Their songs at the time were more similar to the metal bands such as Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal period. This demo was widely circulated and the band became known and respected worldwide through the metal tape trading underground.

Later in '84, guitarist Scott Owen and drummer John Tabares replaced Savage and Keith. Influenced by such great acts as Motorhead, Anvil, and Venom, Vocalist De Pena wanted the band to go in a heavier and faster direction musically; and HIRAX's thrash metal style was born.

Because of their notoriety in the underground, HIRAX were signed to Metal Blade Records and contributed a track to the legendary compilation "Metal Massacre VI," which also featured Slayer, Voivod, Celtic Frost, Fates Warning, Metal Church, and Trouble. HIRAX contributed the track "Bombs of Death,” which was the first song recorded with the new line-up. The bands on the "Metal Massacre VI" compilation were at the forefront of a new metal movement and the record sold well.

"HIRAX, along with label mates Trouble, Slayer, Celtic Frost, Voivod, Destruction, and Possessed, helped start something very, very important that has lasted the test of time," said vocalist Katon W. De Pena.

In 1985, HIRAX contributed the track “Destruction And Terror” for the compilation "Angelican Scrape Attic" 7” flexi disc, which was Earache Records first release. They were the only U.S. band featured on the limited edition compilation. HIRAX were gaining fans at a rapid pace.

HIRAX released their first full-length recording in 1985 on Metal Blade titled "Raging Violence". The band's combination of the heaviness of metal and the speed of hardcore became known as “crossover”. Bands such as Corrosion Of Conformity, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, and Cryptic Slaughter were all part of this new scene, but Katon W. De Pena's upper-range clean vocals stood out from the pack and HIRAX gained a rabid following. HIRAX played regularly throughout California- the Bay Area bars Mabuhay Gardens, On Broadway, and Ruthies, L.A. clubs The Troubador and Country Club, and Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, California. "One of the best shows there was when we played with Megadeth and Exciter," De Pena said. "As soon as HIRAX hit the stage, the whole club, 1,000 headbangers strong, went completely NUTS!!"

Drummer John Tabares was replaced with former D.R.I. drummer Eric Brecht and HIRAX released a second album for Metal Blade in 1986 titled "Hate, Fear, And Power”. The band had been through a lot by this time, constantly touring and some changes in the line-up, but they continued on. HIRAX released this mini LP because the y were under pressure from the record label to put out a new product. “We weren’t their typical band so we stood out like a sore thumb," De Pena said. "The record is only 22 minutes long and we probably confused even some of our fans at the time. We didn’t want to fit in. We wanted to do our own thing. We knew that we didn’t want to follow the satanic trends of the other metal bands at the time." It was the last release the band would record for Metal Blade.

HIRAX continued on without any label support and released a 3-song demo titled "Blasted In Bangkok”. The '87 demo, which took only six hours to record and mix, was recorded the day after Katon's 23rd birthday. HIRAX was back to where they started, selling demos on their own, but now they had a loyal fan base behind them that had grown larger from the two Metal Blade releases. Because of these releases, the band would live forever in the hearts of true metalheads. Lautrec Records from Los Angeles, California released a 7" record of two songs from the "Blasted In Bangkok" demo.

That same year, Katon, along with drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, Testament, and Strapping Young Lad), original Metallica bassist Ron McGovney, and guitarists Nathan Williams and Rodney Nicholson formed the band Phantasm and recorded a six-song demo with Bill Metoyer of Metal Blade Records. Phantasm toured briefly with Nuclear Assault and disbanded in 1988 because of power struggles between the members.

The Phantasm demo finally got a proper release on Black Devil Records and Deep Six Records on the CD titled "Wreckage,” which also includes a show from the Phantasm / Nuclear Assault tour.

Disillusioned by the music industry, De Pena left HIRAX at the end of 1988 and he was briefly replaced by Exodus frontman Paul Baloff. This lineup didn't last long and by 1989, HIRAX was no more.

For the next 8 years, De Pena continued to support the underground, working at record labels and stores. He was never far from the music that he grew up with and played.

The reunion of HIRAX was put into motion in 1997 when their friends in the band Spazz asked them to be on a split 7". HIRAX decided to use the third song ("Dying World (Shock)") from the "Blasted In Bangkok" demo and the single was released on Pessimer-Theologian Records. The record found its way to a whole new generation of underground music fans and generated a buzz about the band once again. "Later on, we would realize it was the spark that would eventually bring the band back together," De Pena said.

In 1998, HIRAX began to receive a lot of feedback and fan mail, which triggered the reformation of the band. The original line-up (Katon W. De Pena, Johnny Tabares, and Gary Monardo) reunited in 2000 and released the EP titled "El Diablo Negro". This was the first release on Black Devil Records, De Pena's label, and Deep Six Records. HIRAX had come full circle at this point, redefining their sound with a combination of speed and aggression similar to their early style.

The reunion of HIRAX didn't last long, but De Pena was determined to keep the band going since interest in the band was regenerated with the release of "El Diablo Negro". In 2001, the band followed up "El Diablo Negro" with "Barrage Of Noise,” which received critical acclaim by magazines and fanzines all over the world, putting HIRAX back on the map and introducing them to a whole new audience of thrash metal fans.

A new chapter had been forged in the legacy of HIRAX. Since their reformation, the band has toured constantly throughout North America and Europe. In 2003, HIRAX played at the prestigious “Bang Your Head” Festival in Germany to an enthusiastic early-morning crowd. “Everybody had told us that the Saturday morning 10 AM slot is the hardest of the festival, " De Pena said.” Because of all the late night/early morning parties the night before, most of the crowd is in no condition to get up that early, but they did for us. It only took a few songs before the whole huge floor was packed with headbangers. We were told by festival organizers that HIRAX had the best turnout for the opening slot in the history of the festival." HIRAX spent the last half of 2003 writing material for their new studio recording titled "The New Age Of Terror".

In February 2004, they entered Speed Semen Clove Factory in North Hollywood, Calif. with producer Michael Rozon (Melvins, Adrenaline O.D.) and recorded and mixed 11 tracks in an unbelievable 9 days.

The combination of HIRAX's powerful new songs and musicianship with Rozon's thick, ultra-sharp production will guarantee "The New Age Of Terror" to be HIRAX's most successful release. The sound and feel of the recording is dark and hellish," said De Pena.

HIRAX is a band consisting of 5 talented musicians- lead guitarists Glenn Rogers and Lance Harrison, bassist Steve Harrison, and drummer Jorge Iacobellis, but the band is a dream and obsession of one man. Katon W. De Pena could have left the band and never looked back and HIRAX would have become a footnote in the history of metal. But De Pena envisioned something more. HIRAX had more to prove, more songs to write, and more countries to conquer, so he reformed the band. Metal flows through Katon W. De Pena's veins and HIRAX is the band that will keep true metal alive.

“The New Age Of Terror” was released worldwide in 2005. HIRAX’s live assault continued with a headlining slot at Minneapolis Mayhem 2 Festival, as well as appearances at the Metal Devastation Festival in Arizona, Tijuana, Mexico, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Massachusetts.

Links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

Links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify

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