Dark Angel reunion is 'super fun’ - Hoglan

Gene Hoglan has described the reunited Dark Angel’s upcoming material as “super awesome and super dark” – and says it was “super fun” to write.

The drummer is working on the band’s fourth album following a 10-year break, with vocalist Ron Rinehart, guitarists Eric Meyer and Jim Durkin and bassist Michal ‘Gonz’ Gonzales. It will be their first studio release since 1991’s Time Does Not Heal.

Hoglan tells Broken Neck Radio: “Right off the bat, it’s been super fun – we’re all interested and we’re all into it.That’s all it really needs. We want to write some songs, we want to put out a record, we want to go on the road and we want to see what happens. That was our attitude when we started playing some shows.”

In the 23 years since their last release, Hoglan has played with artists including Testament, Viking and Strapping Young Lad. His most recent work was with Dethklok on their fourth album The Doomstar Requiem.

And he acknowledges the fact he’s been lucky to have experienced such a varied career.

He continues: “I was fortunate. Right after Dark Angel split, I was getting calls from Death’s Chuck Schuldiner, saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you come out and do this?’ So I landed on my feet after Dark Angel. So that’s when my the next chapter was – me playing with a tonne of bands, which still continues to this day.”

Throughout the years, Hoglan and the other members of Dark Angel have remained close and he says that’s one of the reasons it was exciting to work together again.

He adds: “We’ve all remained buddies. When I cruise into New Mexico, I hang out with Michael Gonzalez. When I cruise up to Washington, Ron comes out, and Eric has come out to quite a few shows in the LA area, and Jim I stay in contact. So we’ve always been pals, so getting back together was done out of fun. We’ll see where it goes.”