In a new interview with Strefa Music Art, DARK ANGEL and DETHKLOK drummer Gene Hoglan, who is known for combining great chops with blistering speed and technical brutality, spoke about how he maintains his way of playing extreme metal music after four decades. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’m always trying to keep my chops up. And one thing that I have noticed over the years is that, for whatever reason, there are things that occur where, like, say a Bear McCreary tour is not gonna challenge me physically the way a DARK ANGEL or DETHKLOK is, but I notice I can kind of jump back into the physicality and the cardio or whatever that a DETHKLOK or a DARK ANGEL or a DEATH TO ALL needs pretty quickly after the Bear run, which definitely shows a different aspect of my drumming, a more well-rounded aspect of my drumming as opposed to just [full speed ahead for] 12 songs a night kind of thing.”
After the interviewer noted that Hoglan said in the past that he wanted to keep playing until he is at least 70, Hoglan said: “Into my seventies, yeah, definitely. So, yeah. I’m 57 now. 70 is 12 years away. No problem. 75 is, whatever, 17 years away, and 80 is just, whatever, 23 years away, whatever it’s gonna be. 12 years [until I’m 70]. Shoot, man, as long as I just remain healthy, I see no problem with pummeling people until my eighties. That’s my intent. I’m not gonna hang up the sticks at some point. I’m going to be crushing until very much longer than this.
“I admit, when I was 19 or 18 doing [DARK ANGEL‘s] ‘Darkness Descends’ [album], I never thought this far in advance, that, ‘Hey, 40 years from now, are you gonna be playing this material?’ Never even thought about that. But here we’re now — [I’m] definitely doing it.”
DARK ANGEL‘s first new album in 34 years, “Extinction Level Event”, is due later in 2025 via Reversed Records.
The “Extinction Level Event” title track was written by guitarist Jim Durkin long before he suffered from severe liver disease, and, to the surprise of everyone, passed away on March 8, 2023 at the age of 58. It was recorded and mixed at the Armoury Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, executive produced by Hoglan, produced 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 departing 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 some of DARK ANGEL‘s gigs. He was replaced at the shows by Hoglan‘s wife Laura Christine, who has since joined DARK ANGEL as a permanent member.
The “Extinction Level Event” artwork and layout was designed by Cain Gillis, with concepts by Hoglan.
DARK ANGEL released two albums with Don Doty on vocals — the aforementioned “We Have Arrived” and “Darkness Descends” — before he exited the group and was replaced by Ron Rinehart (after a 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.