DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll was interviewed by “Reckless” Rexx Ruger for a new episode of the Pod Scum podcast. Asked by Ruger where DEATH ANGEL‘s place is within the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal scene, Will — who joined DEATH ANGEL in 2009 as the replacement for the band’s original drummer, Andy Galeon — responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Ah, that’s a hard question. Where does DEATH ANGEL fit in the Bay Area thrash community? I mean, it’s gonna be a biased answer, obviously, ’cause I’m in the band. But I think DEATH ANGEL should be a hell of a lot bigger than they are. And I’m not quite sure why that is, that they haven’t had more success. I mean, we’re successful, but I think DEATH ANGEL should be much more successful and playing better spots on festivals, better slots on festivals and bigger tours and everything. They’ve paid their dues and they’ve put out a long string of killer albums, before I was in the band and since I’ve been in the band.”
Will continued: “I’m not trying to sound like I’m patting myself on the back, but we’re hard workers, man. And we’ve toured our asses off in the past 16 years since I’ve joined. And we’ve toured way more since I’ve joined than they did the first time around. And I’m not even gonna take the time to figure out why they’re not more successful than they are. But — whatever — I think the band should be further along. And it is not ’cause of lack of hard work on our end.”
Carroll spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital in March 2020. He first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of that year’s “The Bay Strikes Back” tour. The now-52-year-old musician was hospitalized at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco after catching COVID-19 on the aforementioned European tour.
Carroll woke up from a medically induced coma on March 30, 2020 after spending nearly two weeks on a ventilator. Doctors told the San Francisco Chronicle he was in critical condition and came close to dying.
DEATH ANGEL had been touring in support of its ninth album, “Humanicide”, which came out in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast.
The band was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Metal Performance” for the “Humanicide” title track. It was the group’s first Grammy nomination.
Will can be heard on the last four DEATH ANGEL studio albums: “Relentless Retribution” (2010),“The Dream Calls For Blood” (2013),“The Evil Divide” (2016) and the aforementioned “Humanicide”.
DEATH ANGEL will celebrate the 35th anniversary of its “Act III” album by performing it in its entirety on a fall 2025 U.S. tour. The trek, which will feature support from TOXIC HOLOCAUST, LIONS AT THE GATE and MISFIRE, will kick off on November 26 at the Oriental Theater in Denver, Colorado and wrap with two Christmas shows on December 18-19 at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California.
This past May, DEATH ANGEL released its first new music in six years, a brand new song called “Wrath (Bring Fire)”.
